LoRa

Pr.  F.  Vannel  

fabien.vannel@hesge.ch

IoT
Technology  resume

§ Long  range  (max  5km  indoor  /  20km  outdoor)

§ Low  power  consumption
§ Good  indoor  coverage  and  underground  like  cave  
§ Bi-­directional  communication  (not  full  duplex)
§ Geo-­localisation  using  time  of  flight  (needs  of  multiple  localized  receivers)
§ Work  during  displacement  (up  to  200km/h)

§ Asynchronous  communication
§ Packet  size  up  to  250  Bytes
§ Message  number  limitation  (duty  cycle)  =  1%  /  hour
Use  cases

§ Industry  :  
§ Technical  data  :  weight,  temperature,  counters  values,  chemical  measurements
§ Maintenance  alerts  and  diagnosis
§ Geo-­localisation
§ Domotic
§ Security  alarms
§ Water  leaks
§ Smoke  sensor
§ Heating  remote  control  and  temperature  measurements
§ Smart  city
§ Intelligent  parking  
§ Wastes  quantity  monitoring
§ Streets  lighting
§ Energy
§ Distance  measurements  :  water,  electricity,  gas
§ Transportation
§ Tracking
Bi-­directionnal rules

§ Uplinks  and  downlink  can  not  be  done  simultaneously.  (half-­duplex)

§ Downlink  can  not  emits  more  than  10%  of  the  time.
Radio  characteristics

§ LoRa modulation  or  GFSK  modulation  can be used for  LoRa communications
§ Uplink:  
§ LoRa 0.3-­50  kbits  per  second  (Adaptive  Data  Rate)  
§ Link  budget  =  +14dBm  (Tx)  – -­140dBm  (ntw sensitivity)  =  154dB  >>  GPRS  
§ 10-­50  bytes/message  payload
§ Message  duration  =  40ms  – 1.2s  
§ Energy spent per  message  Etx =  1.2s  x  50mA  =  17μAh  at  full  sensitivity
§ Energy spent per  message  Etx =  40ms  x  50mA  =  0.6μAh  at  min  sensitivity
§ Downlink:  
§ LoRa 0.3-­50  kbits  per  second  
§ Link  budget  =  +27dBm  (Tx)  – -­135dBm  (node sensitivity)  =  162dB  >>  GPRS  
§ Message  duration  =  40ms  – 1.2s  with average latency of  2s  
§ Energy spent per  message  Erx =  3s  x  11mA  =  9μAh  at  full  sensitivity

Source  :  nickhunn.com
LoRa modulation

§ Refer to  Semtech documentation  AN1200.22  :  LoRaTM Modulation  Basics  

http://www.semtech.com/images/datasheet/an1200.22.pdf
Radio  Frequencies

§ Frequencies  of  the  868  MHz  SRD  band  for  Europe  (data  usage)

Note  :   LBT  =  Listen  Before  Talk

AFA  =  Adaptive  Frequency  Agility Source  :  IMST
Source  :  Avnet,  Sillica
Spreading factor

Source  :  Avnet,  Sillica

Spreading factor

Source  :  https://revspace.nl/DecodingLora
Packet  time  on  air

§ Libelium LoRa mode  and  their time  on  air  

CR  =  Coding  Rate.  Exemple 4/5  mean  4  bits  enconded in  5  bits  

(1  bit  used  for  FEC  – Forward  Error  Correction) Source  :  libelium
LoRa network  capacity

§ LoRa technology  capacity  depends  mainly  on  used  spreading  factor.  

Source  :  KPN
LoRa packet

§ The  LoRa packet comprises  three elements:  

§ A  preamble
§ An  optional header
§ The  data  payload.  

Source  :  Semtech
LoRa packet

Explicit  Header  Mode  

This  is  the  default  mode  of  operation.  Here  the  header  provides  information  on  the  
payload,  namely:  
§ The  payload  length  in  bytes.
§ The  forward  error  correction  code  rate
§ The  presence  of  an  optional  16-­bits  CRC  for  the  payload.  

Implicit  Header  Mode  

This  mode  allow  to  reduce  packet  length  and  avoid  sending  payload  length  
information  and  also  information  about  CRC  payload  presence  or  not.

Implicit  header  mode  should  be  used  when  packet  structure  is  know  by  all  devices  of  
the  network.

An  ACKnowledge can  be  transmit  by  the  receiver  once  the  packet  sent

Source  :  Semtech
LoRa libelium packet

17
LoRa libelium ACK  packet

18
Libelium packets  and  configuration

19
Other LoRa packet

Source  :  Semtech
Mobility

§ LoRa technology  is  resilient  to  mobile  objects.  

§ A  message  can  take  several  seconds  to  be  transmistted.  
§ Based  on  the  way  that  used  modulation  is  based  on  chirp  spread  factor,  first  part  
of    the  message  may  arrive  to  receiver  using  one  way,  whereas  end  of  the  
message  may  follow    another  path  with  different  time  on.
§ Used LoRa error correction  technology allow messages  to  be correctly decoded
on  receiver side.
Long  Battery Autonomy

Example  for  :
§ 20  transactions  /  day  
Assumptions  :
§ Sleep  current  ~1uA  (including  the  MCU)
§ MCU  is  mostly  Off  during  Tx
§ ACK  not  used
§ Pout=+14dBm,IDDTX=40mA  

Tx Payload 290  bps   1  kbps 5.4  kbps

size  (Bytes)   SF12   SF10   SF7  

4   ~5.3  uA ~2.3  uA   ~1.2  uA

16   ~8.4  uA   ~3.2  uA ~1.4  uA
32   ~12.5  uA   ~4.4  uA   ~1.6  uA

Typical  solution  using  a  16  byte  payload  and  mostly  SF10  needs  only  300mAh  
battery  for  10  year  autonomy  
Source  :  Microchip
Long  preamble used for  energy reduction

Source  :  Semtech
Geolocation

§ Geolocation  can  be  used  to  position  the  emitting  device.

§ This  task  could  only  be  done  when  at  least  3  receivers  are  presents.  This  
receivers  should  have  fixed  position  and  GPS  to  get  accurate  timing.
§ Accuracy  depends  of  indoor  or  outdoor  devices.  Device  located  in  a  city  can  be  
inaccurate.

§ To  some  extent,  yes.  But  we  invite  you  to  read  Wireless  Position  Location:
Implementation  Strategies,  and  Sources  of  Error  
http://faculty.poly.edu/~tsr/wp-­ content/uploads/CV/ICP/1997-­05-­Wireless%20Position%20Location-­
%20Fundamentals,%20Implementation%20Strategies,%20and%20Sources%20of%20Error.pdf