IOT LoRa Basics

INTERNET OF THINGS and LoRa
• The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a network of physical devices that are connected to the Internet and are able to “talk” to each other.
• The prediction is that by 2020 there will be over 25 billion devices connected to the Internet.In the future, all solutions based LoRa only.

There are many wireless technologies
You can use to connect these devices to The Internet, such as:
– Short-range wireless communication
– Cellular communication
– LPWAN communication

LPWAN:

• LPWAN stands for Low Power Wide Area Network and this type of wireless communication is designed for sending small data packages over long distances, operating on a battery. There are a number of competing technologies in the LPWAN space such as: Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Sigfox, LoRa and others.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION COMPARISON:

* Data packages are very small

SEMTECH
• The LoRa wireless technology was developed by a French start-up company Cycleo which developed the LoRa modulation technology.
• In 2012 the Semtech Corporation (NASDAQ: SMTC) acquired Cycleo.
• The LoRa radio and modulation part is patented and its source is closed.
• Semtech has licensed its LoRa intellectual property (ip) to other chip manufacturers,such as HopeRF, Microchip, Dorji, etc.
• The word LORA is a trademark of Semtech Corporation, filed in 2015.
• More information about Semtech:  https://www.semtech.com/lora

LORA RANGE:
• The range between LoRa sender and receiver depends on the environment the equipment operates in. Indoor coverage largely depends on the type of building material used.

• Some notable records:
Andreas Spiess, ground to ground connection: 212 km (= 131.73 miles)
Weather balloon to ground connection: 702.67 km (= 436.61 miles)

FEW USE CASES USING LORA TECHNOLOGY
• Smart utilities:
Power transformer monitoring
Water level monitoring
Utility meter
Fuel monitoring (monitoring fuel levels in fuel tanks for heating houses)
• Health & Hygiene:
Temperature / humidity monitoring
Environmental monitoring
Waste management (monitoring waste level in waste bins)
• Safety:
Smart lightning
Water level monitoring
Radioactivity level monitoring
Dike monitoring (prevent peat dikes from drying out)
• Efficiency:
Asset management (e.g. tracking containers, pallets, etc.)
Fleet management (e.g. tracking cars, vans, trucks, etc.)
• Agriculture:
Monitoring animal welfare
Monitoring plant growing conditions

for more information: https://electronicsforengineer.com/category/latest-iot-technologies-and-projects/lora-iot/