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Advantages and Disadvantages of LoRaWAN

Plate type: Use Cases
Time: 2023.02.24
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Designed for battery-operated wireless devices in a regional, national, or international network, LoRaWAN is a low-energy wide area network (LPWAN) protocol. The LoRa Alliance claims that LoRaWAN focuses on important IoT (internet of things) demands such as geolocation services, flexibility, and secure bi-directional communications. The LoRaWAN protocol enables the deployment of IoT applications by enabling seamless interconnection between smart objects without the requirement for difficult native deployments.


End devices link to one or more gateways through single-hop wireless communication in the LoRaWAN network architecture, whereas gateways communicate to the network server via normal IP connections. Overall end-point communication is typically bidirectional, but it also includes functions like multicast, allowing over-the-air software updates and other mass distribution messaging to cut down on on-air time available. We'll go through a few LoRaWAN applications in this article, along with some of the main LoRaWAN Advantages and Disadvantages.

 

Applications of LoRa Technology

LoRaWAN has several uses in the Internet of Things because of its superior performance.


Smart Cities

IoT and LoRaWAN can be combined to create the following smart city applications:

· Waste management

· Smart lighting

· Monitoring and controlling fires

· Smart vehicle management and parking


Industrial Applications

The following are some of the uses for LoRaWAN in various industries:

· Smart sensor innovation

· Shipment and delivery

· Detection of radiation and leaks

· Item location and tracking


Agriculture

Smart agriculture and farming can employ LoRaWAN for:

· Monitoring and tracking of animals

· Smart water metering;

· Monitoring of moisture and temperature


 Smart Healthcare

LoRaWAN can effectively help with interconnecting healthcare devices

• Wearable technology

• Connecting and controlling health monitoring devices

As a result, it is clear how significant and well-known LoRaWAN is in all spheres of life. It will become more pervasive in our daily life in the future.


Advantages of LoRaWAN

Far-reaching transmission distance

The LoRaWAN's greater transmission range is one of the primary factors contributing to its market popularity. Its coverage area is very broad. For instance, in suburban settings, it can communicate up to 15 km away and up to 5 km away in cities.


Minimal power module

There has been a long-standing issue in wireless communication. How can one ensure that a wireless module continues to have a great transmission range while also using little power? The advent of the LoRa module was necessary to solve this issue. This contributes significantly to its market success.


powerful anti-interference capabilities

Strong interference immunity is a feature of the LoRaWAN module. The LoRaWAN modulation mode can separate and extract information from interference with its superior spread spectrum and forward error-correcting technologies. The stability and dependability of the transmitted data increase with the wireless module's anti-interference strength.


High sensitivity

The signal is processed by LoRaWAN using a special spread spectrum technique. Compared to other modulation techniques, its spread spectrum modulation technique can achieve a sensitivity of 8–10 dBm higher when using the same data rate conditions. 


Utmost Security

Cybersecurity is at its highest level today. Thus, it is essential to protect data. Yet, since all the data is encrypted, LoRaWAN Ra allows safe communication.


Internet not required

Its advantage over competing technology is still another important one. No additional communication channel is required while using LoRaWAN.

 

Disadvantages of LoRaWAN

Low rate of transmission

Many individuals only grasp the benefits of the LoRa module's extended transmission range and need to be made aware of its technical limitations. Reaching an extremely long transmission distance compromises the transmission rate in the process. The transmission range is inversely correlated with the module's transmission rate in wireless communication. While the signal is more easily degraded at greater rates, the opposite happens for lower transmission rates. LoRaWAN is a bad option if your application has stringent requirements for data transmission.  


It has a considerable transmission range, without question, but do you understand why and how this is conceivable? There will always be a low transmission rate when the communication range is great. The transmission rate increases in wireless communication as the transmission distance decreases.


Limited Bandwidth

The LoRaWAN network size is constrained by the duty cycle. Also, periodic and brief communications are best served by it.


Broadcast Interference

Because LoRaWAN and its associated technology constantly improve, network adoption is rising. In turn, this will cause interference in the spectrum.


Certain Apps Cannot Be Used

LoRaWAN is incompatible with real-time applications that need low latency and border distortion.


We have covered the applications and LoRaWAN Advantages and Disadvantages in this article. Hence, consider the information given here if you wish to create a unique LoRa protocol for your requirements.

 

Summary

In this article, we have explained the applications, advantages, and disadvantages of LoRaWAN. So, if you want to have a LoRaWAN module for your device test, you can contact MinewSemi. We have a good background inwireless connectivity module  development and well have served lots of in the past. We share our the latest LoRaWAN module MS23SF1 features as bellows :

Ø Small dimension, built-in 48MHz Arm Cortex-M4

Ø Programmable bit rate, 64KB internal RAM, 256KB Flash

Ø Transmission Range up to 5KM

Ø Multi-IO port, support GPIO24

Ø Tx Power maximum up to +20.5dBm, RSSI -146dBm


So, we can say that MinewSemi’s LoRaWAN module is the best option for your LoRaWAN design services. You can try our LoRaWAN connectivity modules and we ensure that you’ll not regret it.