Real Time Performance Testing of LoRa-LPWAN Based Environmental Monitoring UAV System

Aerial drones are emerging in industrial and environmental monitoring as they are effective tools that are able to reach far and isolated areas. However, the regularity communication developments have not grown as fast as the technology needs. Either due to the lack of communication coverage or power inefficiency. As a result, some other solution should be proposed such as the internet of things. Internet of Things technology has a great potential of becoming a leading industry since it makes objects able to communicate with each other. IOT/M2M (Internet of Things/Machine-to-machine) communication could be used in a wide range of applications such as environmental surveillance and monitoring systems. These systems could be fixed ends or moving ends like an Unmanned Ariel vehicle (UAV). In this case, LoRa/LPWAN (Long Range Communication) / (Low Power Wide Area Network) is selected to be the best candidate, since it provides a wide coverage area and power efficient systems. This thesis develops and tests a communication scheme prototype for environmental UAV monitoring system using LoRa-LPWAN. Also, a functional testbed for testing the prototype is proposed as well. The prototype was tested in different environmental sites such as line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight environments. The developed scheme performs successfully in harsh environments and its readings were fully documented throughout this thesis

Synchronous LoRa mesh network to monitor processes in underground infrastructure

Collecting precise real-time information on urban drainage system performance is essential to identify, predict, and manage critical loading situations, such as urban flash floods and sewer overflows. Although emerging low-power wireless communication techniques allow efficient data transfers with great above-ground performance, for underground or indoor applications in a large coverage range are difficult to achieve due to physical and topological limitations, particularly in dense urban areas. In this paper, we first discuss the range limitations of the LoRaWAN standard based on a systematic evaluation of a long-term operation of a sensor network monitoring in-sewer process dynamics. Analyses reveal an-on average-five-fold higher data packet loss for sub-surface nodes, which steadily grows with increasing distance to the gateway. Second, we present a novel LPWAN concept based on the LoRa technology that enhances transmission reliability, efficiency, and flexibility in range-critical situations through meshed multi-hop routing and ensures a precise time-synchronization through optional GPS or DCF77 long-wave time signaling. Third, we illustrate the usefulness of the newly developed concept by evaluating the radio transmission performance for two independent full-scale field tests. Test results show that the synchronous LoRa mesh network approach clearly outperforms the standard LoRaWAN technique with regard to the reliability of packet delivery when transmitting from range-critical locations. Hence, the approach is expected to generally ease data collection from difficult-to-access locations such as underground areas

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN): Technology Review And Experimental Study on Mobility Effect

In the past decade, we have witnessed explosive growth in the number of low-power embedded and Internet-connected devices, reinforcing the new paradigm, Internet of Things (IoT). IoT devices like smartphones, home security systems, smart electric meters, garage parking indicators, etc., have penetrated deeply into our daily lives. These IoT devices are increasingly attached and operated in mobile objects like unmanned vehicles, trains, airplanes, etc. The low power wide area network (LPWAN), due to its long-range, low-power and low-cost communication capability, is actively considered by academia and industry as the future wireless communication standard for IoT. However, despite the increasing popularity of mobile IoT, little is known about the suitability of LPWAN for those mobile IoT applications in which nodes have varying degrees of mobility. To fill this knowledge gap, in this thesis:1. We present a thorough review on LPWAN technology focusing on the mobility effect. 2. We conduct an experimental study to evaluate, analyze, and characterize LPWAN in both indoor and outdoor mobile environments.Our experimental results indicate that the performance of LPWAN is surprisingly susceptible to mobility, even to minor human mobility, and the effect of mobility significantly escalates as the distance to the gateway increases. These results call for development of new mobility-aware LPWAN protocols to support mobile IoT

A LoRaWAN testbed design for supporting critical situations: prototype and evaluation

The Internet of Things is one of the hottest topics in communications today, with current revenues of $151B, around 7 billion connected devices, and an unprecedented growth expected for next years. A massive number of sensors and actuators are expected to emerge, requiring new wireless technologies that can extend their battery life and can cover large areas. LoRaWAN is one of the most outstanding technologies which fulfill these demands, attracting the attention of both academia and industry. In this paper, the design of a LoRaWAN testbed to support critical situations, such as emergency scenarios or natural disasters, is proposed. This self-healing LoRaWAN network architecture will provide resilience when part of the equipment in the core network may become faulty. This resilience is achieved by virtualizing and properly orchestrating the different network entities. Different options have been designed and implemented as real prototypes. Based on our performance evaluation, we claim that the usage of microservice orchestration with several replicas of the LoRaWAN network entities and a load balancer produces an almost seamless recovery which makes it a proper solution to recover after a system crash caused by any catastrophic event.Postprint (published version

A Viable LoRa Framework for Smart Cities

This research is intended to provide practical insights to empower designers, developers and management to develop smart cities underpinned by Long Range (LoRa) technology. LoRa, one of most prevalent long-range wireless communication technologies, can be used to underpin the development of smart cities. This study draws upon relevant research to gain an understanding of underlying principles and issues involved in the design and management of long-range and low-power networks such as LoRa. This research uses empirical evidence that has been gathered through experiments with a LoRa network to analyse network design and identify challenges and then proposes cost-effective and timely solutions. Particularly, practical measurements of LoRa network dependencies and performance metrics are used to support our proposals. This research identifies a number of network performance metrics that need to be considered and controlled when designing and managing LoRa- specific networks from the perspectives of hardware, software, networking and security

Evaluation of receiver-feedback techniques for fragmentation over LPWANs

© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksThe Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has standardized a new framework for IPv6 support over Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs), called Static Context Header Compression and Fragmentation (SCHC). SCHC includes acknowledgment (ACK)-based mechanisms for reliable fragmented packet transmission. For the latter, SCHC defines a Receiver-Feedback Technique (RFT), called Compressed Bitmap (CB), by which a receiver reports to the sender whether the fragments carrying a packet have been received or not. Such information is carried as ACK payload. Considering the extraordinary frame size and message rate constraints of LPWANs, ACK payload size becomes crucial. In this paper, we compare the performance of CB with that of several alternative RFTs, namely List of Lost Fragments (LLF), List of Deltas (LoD), and Uncompressed Bitmap (UB), where the latter is used as a benchmark. We evaluate the considered RFTs in terms of ACK size, number of Layer 2 (L2) frames needed to carry an ACK, and ACK Time on Air. Our analysis shows that the use of RFTs different from CB offers significant performance improvement in many scenarios. Furthermore, we provide guidance on which RFT should be used for different packet sizes, error rates and error patterns.This research is funded in part by the ERDF and the Spanish Government through project TEC2016-79988-P and project PID2019-106808RA-I00, AEI/FEDER, EU.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Lora technology and its Iot integration in agriculture: a bibliometric analysis

Introducción: El presente artículo es producto de la revisión “Tecnología LoRa y su integración IoT en la agricultura”, desarrollada en la facultad tecnológica de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas realizada durante 2019 y 2020. Problema: En la actualidad la agricultura enfrenta desafíos y problemas como el calentamiento global, la escasez de agua y la demanda alimentaria. A causa de dichas dificultades se han venido desarrollando tecnología que facilitan el monitoreo de cultivos y granjas. Objetivo: Resaltar las principales y más importantes características en común entre los artículos revisados, identificar las principales revistas que realizan publicaciones durante los años comprendidos entre 2015 y 2020. Metodología: A partir de esto, se realizó una revisión sistemática en las bases de datos científicas en áreas clave de la agricultura, teniendo en cuenta los artículos publicados entre los años 2015 a 2020. Resultados: Los resultados arrojaron 150 artículos de los cuales sólo 50 cumplieron los criterios de inclusión, Se excluyeron artículos de revisiones, metanálisis y publicaciones en idiomas diferentes al español e inglés. Conclusión: En esta investigación se discute y se analiza los dispositivos más usados dentro de la investigación, módulos LoRa, localizaciones exitosos y beneficios a nivel costos de la implementación de estos sistemas. Originalidad: Mediante la metodología de revisión sistemática y herramientas bibliométricas como bibliometrix R permitieron identificar la información más relevante y los autores más citados. Limitaciones: Existen muy pocos estudios a nivel local que involucran o implementen estas tecnologías.Introduction: This article is the product of the review "LoRa Technology and its IoT integration in agriculture", developed in the technological faculty of the Francisco José de Caldas District University carried out during 2019 and 2020. Problem: Agriculture: now faces dsnophysis and problems such as global warming, water scarcity and food demand. Because of these difficulties, technology has been developed to facilitate the monitoring of crops and farms. Objective: Tohighlight the main and most important characteristics in common amongthe revised articles,identify the main journals that publish during the years between 2015 and 2020. Methodology: From this, a systematic review was carried out in scientific databases in key areas of agriculture,taking into account the articles published between 2015 and 2020. Results: The results yielded 150 articles of which only 50 met the inclusion criteria, Articles of revisions, meta-analysis and publications in languages other than Spanish and English were excluded. Conclusion: This researchis discussed and analyzed the most used devices within research, LoRa modules, successful locations and benefits at the cost level of the implementation of these systems. Originality: Through the systematic review methodology and bibliometric tools such as bibliometrix R they allowed to identify the most relevant information and the most cited authors. Limitations: Existen very few studies at the local level that involve or implement these technologies

Experimental Characterization of LoRaWAN Link Quality

International audienceIn this paper, we present the results of extensive experiments on a testbed in the The Things Network (TTN), a public LoRa network. We evaluate the transmission quality of LoRa links by measuring the Packet Reception Rate (PRR) as a function of the payload length. The results show that there is only a slight impact of the payload length on PRR, which means that the bit error rate does not strongly influence the probability of packet reception. Our measurements show that the LoRa channel behaves like a slow fading Rayleigh channel, which translates into probability Ps of being (or not) in a favorable condition for each frame reception: once the frame preamble is received, there is great chance that the whole frame is correctly received. Probability Ps depends on the Spreading Factor and the Signal to Noise Ratio, and often becomes a dominant factor of successful reception depending on the signal strength at a gateway