Merjenje dosega komunikacije med končno napravo in prehodom LoRa

SLUGA, DAVID (author), Kos, Anton (mentor)

LoRa in LoRaWAN sta skupek protokolov, ki naj bi omogočila efektivno in cenovno sprejemljivo implementacijo nizko energijskih prostranih omrežij, za namene interneta stvari (IoT), pa naj bo to v industriji, logistiki ali pametnih mestih. LoRaWAN predstavlja omrežje, v katerem komunicirajo naprave s protokolom LoRa. V tej nalogi sem se osredotočil predvsem na protokol LoRa in njegove lastnosti. Organizacija LoRa Alliance, razvijalec tehnologij LoRaWAN ter LoRa, oglašuje visok doseg komunikacije, 2-4 km v mestnem okolju in pa vse do 15 km izven mest. Kako pa se le ta obnese v praksi? Predpostavil sem, da so zaradi različnih okoljskih vplivov realne sposobnosti te tehnologije slabše od oglaševanih. Odločil sem se, da zadevo preverim v več okoljih z različnimi parametri povezave. S prehodom LoRa na različnih fiksnih točkah, pomočnikom in končno napravo sem se tako z avtomobilom podal po cestah v Ljubljani in njeni okolici in prišel do pričakovanih zaključkov. Seveda je v zakup treba vzeti, da je bila oprema vstopnega ranga ter da LoRa prehod ni bil vedno optimalno pozicioniran, vendar rezultati pokažejo, da je realni doseg protokola LoRa za več kot polovico manjši od oglaševanega.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: IoT, LPWAN, LoRa, meritve, doseg
• Work type: Bachelor thesis/paper
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Year: 2019
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-107857
• Publication date in RUL: 31.05.2019

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: Measuring the communication range between the LoRa node and gateway

Abstract

LoRa and LoRaWAN are a group of protocols that are supposed to help with effective and not too costly implementation of low power wide area networks for purposes of the Internet of Things (IoT) – let that be in the industrial, logistics or smart cities sectors. LoRaWAN is a network through which various LoRa-enabled devices can communicate. In this thesis I focus on the protocol LoRa and its properties. The LoRa Alliance organization, the developer of LoRaWAN and LoRa technologies advertises a very high range for LoRa, that is 2-4 km in the city and up to 15 km outside urban areas. But how does this work out in reality? My supposition was that due to various environmental factors the performance is lower than advertised. I decided to test this claim on multiple terrain types and connection parameters. With the LoRa gateway set up at different spots, an assistant, and a LoRa node in a car I drove in and around Ljubljana and came to the expected conclusion. While taking into consideration that the equipment I used was in the lower price range and that the LoRa gateway was not always optimally positioned, the results show that the range of the LoRa protocol in the real world is not even half of the advertised one.

• Keywords: IoT, LPWAN, LoRa, measurements, range