Image Transmission with LoRaWAN in Agriculture

LoRaWAN technology is utilized in various critical infrastructure protection areas, including agriculture. Low data rates, small payload sizes, and long data transmission distances characterize this network communication technology. It can be a suitable choice for simple agricultural sensor data collection applications where small data sets need to be transmitted over distances of several kilometres at periodic intervals. However, image transmission is not a typical application, as LoRaWAN is not designed for this purpose. In agricultural applications, there may be cases where images need to be transmitted, but no cellular network is available. Such issues typically occur in agricultural areas in Africa. This research deals with image transmission solutions using LoRaWAN technology while considering the technological limitations associated with image transmission. In the case of pest monitoring, it may be necessary to send one or two images per day. The paper also describes relevant applications for LoRaWAN image transmission methods under various conditions.