lora implementation challenges

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by

Pedram Johari

Department of Electrical Engineering

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedramjohari/

LoRa Implementation Challenges:A technical breakdown from hardware design to user interface

October 3, 2019

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• LoRa Network Overview

• LoRa end-device

- Hardware: Hardware design consideration to build a LoRa end-device

- Firmware: Firmware development challenges and approaches

• LoRa Network Topology

- Star: Gateway / Base Station considerations such as network deployment and coverage

- P2P: Communication range considerations, some applications

• LoRa Network and Application Servers

- Software: Backend and frontend integrations

• Review

PJ Invited Talk Series – EE701 Fall 2019


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3PJ Invited Talk Series – EE701 Fall 2019


- LoRaWAN is a media access control

(MAC) protocol for wide area

networks.

- LoRaWAN is designed to allow low-

powered devices to communicate with

Internet-connected applications over

long range wireless connections.

- LoRaWAN can be mapped to the

second and third layer of the OSI

model.

- It is implemented on top of LoRa or

FSK modulation in industrial, scientific

and medical (ISM) radio bands.

Introduction: LoRa Network Overview

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- LoRa is a spread spectrum modulation technique derived from Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) technology

and is the first low-cost implementation of chirp spread spectrum for commercial usage. It was developed by

Cycleo of Grenoble, France, and acquired by Semtech in 2012, a founding member of the LoRa Alliance.

- The LoRaWAN protocols are defined by the LoRa Alliance and formalized in the LoRaWAN Specification. (Latest version is 1.0.3 released in July 2018)

- A NetID which is a 24bit network identifier is assigned to LoRaWAN networks by the LoRa Alliance.

- Values 0x000000 and 0x000001 are reserved for experimental networks and networks that are not

using roaming. These values can be used by any network without getting permission from the Alliance.

- LoRaWAN networks that use roaming need to obtain a unique NetID value assigned by the LoRa Alliance

- https://lora-alliance.org/lorawan-for-developers

Introduction: LoRa Network Overview

Institutional Adopter Contributor Sponsor

Free – Subject to Approval USD $3,000 USD $20,000 USD $50,000

https://lora-alliance.org/lorawan-for-developers

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• End Device, Node, Mote: An object with an embedded LoRa communication device.

• Hardware

• LoRa Radio and Antenna

- Semtech SX126x or SX127x series

• Micro-processor

• A variety of sensors and actuators

• Some extra peripherals/interfaces and a battery!

• Firmware

• LoRaWAN endpoint stack implementation and example projects

- https://github.com/Lora-net/LoRaMac-node

• Most of the devices come with their own SDKs based off of the LoRaMac-node

LoRa end-device



Things Uno

Things Node

MicroChip

RN2483

https://github.com/Lora-net/LoRaMac-node

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• Hardware

• You can build your own from scratch (probably not scratch scratch!)

- Semtech SX126x or SX127x

• One of the SX1276 family members is most probably what you want

- Challenges:

• Schematic, PCB, and antenna design

• Sensors and/or actuators design and implementation

• Power budget analysis and choose the right battery/power source



LoRa end-device

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• Hardware

• You may rather use a System in Package (SiP) module:

• MicroChip: The SAM R34/R35 is a family of ultra-low power microcontrollers combined with a UHF transceiver

communication interface. It uses a 32-bit ARM® Cortex® -M0+ processor and offers up to 256 KB of Flash and

40 KB of SRAM. The UHF transceiver supports LoRa® and FSK modulation.

• ACSiP: The AcSIP S76S module is designed and manufactured in a small form factor and integrates the Ultra-

low-power 32-bit ARM®-based Cortex®-M0L MCU (STM32L073x) and Semtech SX1276 radio module with

LoRa™ modulation supporting global 868 MHz or 915 MHz ISM-Bands. It support LoRaWAN™ protocol Class A.

• These products are designed with multiple easy to use interfaces (I2C/SPI/UART/GPIO), fine-tuned RF

performance and will be offered with complete SDK libraries.

• It can significantly help the users to shrink the size of end device and simplify the development efforts for

any LoRa applications.



LoRa end-device

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LoRa end-device

ACSiP-

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Power budget analysis

Current consumption profile of a

MultiConnect mDot LoRaWAN end-

device performing an acknowledged

transmission with DR0 is shown here.

During the transmission time, in most

cases, your device consumes the

highest power.

Based on your application, you will need

to also take into account the power

consumption of sleep time, reading a

sensor, controlling an actuator, etc.



Casals, Lluís, Bernat Mir, Rafael Vidal, and Carles Gomez. "Modeling the

energy performance of LoRaWAN." Sensors 17, no. 10 (2017): 2364.

LoRa end-device

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• Firmware

• Deep understanding of LoRaWAN endpoint stack protocol and the LoRaWAN Specification

- https://github.com/Lora-net/LoRaMac-node

• Most of the devices come with their own SDKs based off of the LoRaMac-node

• Take into consideration some of the very important parameters and set them up appropriately:

• Frequency Bands and Device Class

• Registration method: ABP vs OTAA

• Adaptive Data Rate (ADR) and Channel Maps

• Maximum Transmitted Power

• In October of 2018, LoRa Alliance™ announced that enhanced LoRaWAN™ Protocol with new

Specifications to support Firmware Updates Over the Air (FUOTA)



LoRa end-device

https://github.com/Lora-net/LoRaMac-node

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• Firmware skillset requirements

• Deep knowledge in Digital Principles

• Digital communication and interfaces protocols, GPIO, UART, RS-232, SPI, I2C, CAN

• Coding skills C and C++, and algorithm design

• Good knowledge of IDE’s, e.g., Eclipse, uVision, etc. Sometimes better to use what is recommended

for your processor.

• Git operations, Source Control and Version Control

• Question

• Are State Machines the ultimate solution?!



LoRa end-device

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• Star Networking

• Gateways form the bridge between devices and the network backend. Devices use LoRaWAN to connect

to the Gateway, while the Gateway uses high bandwidth networks like WiFi, Ethernet or Cellular to

connect to the backend network servers.



LoRa Network Topology

• All gateways within range of a device will

receive the device’s messages and forward

them to the network. The network will

deduplicate the messages and select the

best gateway to forward any messages

queued for downlink. A single gateway can

serve thousands of devices.

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• Radio Coverage

• Can be part of public, private (you need a NetID!) or hybrid network

• Can be deployed by yourself or you can use one of the existing networks, e.g., Senet, Comcast (MachineQ), etc.

• Gateway/Base Station Selection

• Available in two major coverage categories of outdoor and indoor gateways, and different capacities (8, 16, and

64 channel), that are provided by different vendors, e.g., MultiTech, Tektelic, etc.

• Things to consider when setting up your gateways

• packet forwarder setup and notification target (HTTP, MQTT, etc.), ADR settings, channel map configurations,

radio coverage, maintenance to name a few.

• Can I make my own gateway?!

• Yes you can! What you need is a SX1302IMLTRT which is a LoRa Gateway Baseband Transceiver

• Push a little more: The above chip uses a SX1250 Multi-band Sub-GHz RF Front End, so good luck with your

adventure ;) or you can even go to the cleanroom and make the chip yourself really from scratch!




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• Point to Point (P2P)

• You may not need the LoRaWAN

• They PHY layer is still the LoRa

Example: LynQ (https://lynqme.com/)

It’s called the ‘People Compass’: Perfect for finding people anywhere even when cell phones fail. It provides the distance and direction of your people in crowds, remote areas, festivals or anywhere under the sky!

Key Features: No phone, no cell service, no WiFi or monthly fees, range up to 3 Miles




https://lynqme.com/

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LoRa Network and Application Servers

• Some of the available IoT platforms

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Google Cloud Platform / IoT Core

• IBM Watson IoT Platform

• Azure IoT Hub

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LoRa Network and Application Servers

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17PJ

• Hardware evaluation kits and ready to use LoRa nodes are available off-the-shelf, but after doing your

prototype, you should probably start thinking about designing your own end-device. Firmware coding skills

is crucial, either learn or have your software folks help you!

• Publicly deployed LoRa network is available in US but still needs to be improved. One alternative is to

deploy your own private (or hybrid) network.

• Network and application servers are also readily available, but maybe a full-scale company prefer to have

its own servers.

• Reuters says: The global internet of things market was valued at $190.0 Billions in 2018 and is projected

to reach $1,111.3 Billions by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 24.7% in the forecast period.

• Can you now build your own LoRa prototype and start your company?!

• Next Step is fundraising! Good Luck. Don’t forget that UB has great resources:

• https://www.buffalo.edu/entrepreneurship.html

• http://www.buffalo.edu/research/business/start.html

Invited Talk Series – EE701 Fall 2019


Review

https://www.buffalo.edu/entrepreneurship.html

http://www.buffalo.edu/research/business/start.html

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18PJ

• https://lora-alliance.org/

• https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/

• https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/lorawan/

• https://docs.senetco.io/docs/

Invited Talk Series – EE701 Fall 2019


References:

https://lora-alliance.org/

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/lorawan/

https://docs.senetco.io/docs/

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Thank you for your attention!


By: Pedram Johari

Department of Electrical Engineering

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

E-mail: [email protected]

Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedramjohari/


lora implementation challenges

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