by Lucian Corduneanu
5 months agoWe need to talk. To tech talk. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between us and technical stuff we want to explore together, in order to (better) understand our solution and especially how it can benefit businesses. We begin by giving you an introductory technical overview of LoRa and LoRaWAN. Technical, but in human words. Let’s do this!
In human words, LoRa is a way to safely transfer sensor readings over radio, allowing you to send data with low energy consumption at long distances up to 15 Km. In tech words, LoRa is a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) protocol based on spread spectrum modulation techniques. It uses a licence-free sub-gigahertz radio frequency which, for example, here, in Europe, is 868 Mhz.
Image source: Semtech
Now that we know what LoRa is, let’s find out what LoRaWAN is. Well, it is an open-standard networking layer from LoRa Alliance. This protocol is responsible for device battery life, network capacity, security, quality of service, and more. So much more!
Image source: LoRa Alliance
We sure do! Why? Why not?! Look at all these cool features:
See? Lots of things to like!
In human words, gateways make possible the connection to the cloud. They receive incoming radio transmissions from nearby devices and forward them over the internet to a network server. They act as a bridge from radio to the network server and vice-versa.
Without going too much in detail, you can expect your devices to have a high data rate (bitrate) near the gateway spending less time on-air, on the other hand, distant nodes will work harder to transmit, investing more energy using low data rate.
Find out more about gateways here.
Image source: TheThingsNetwork
In more human words, if we may say so, let’s imagine this scenario: two lovers on a date. On that note, think that with gateways is similar.
First, the two are having a conversation at the same table in a noisy bar. All sweet and cool. You still need to speak up so that your significant other understands what you are saying. But it does not compare to how you would have to shout from the other corner of the noisy bar. You need to invest more energy and also speak slowly. Right? You know it! With gateways, it’s exactly the same.
Fun fact: the LoRa gateways are very sensitive and can actually receive a message below the noise level. So even if the noise level in that bar is high, your date will have ears only for you.
Find out more about Signal-to-Noise Ratio here.
If you are tech-savvy and want to learn more about this tech, here are some good resources:
Enjoy the reading/ride!
P.S. See you at the next tech talk (to be read technical blog post)!
Tis the season to give you and us a few highlights from a year to remember (or rather to forget). The lockdown/the pandemic hit us had right from the start, but there were also opportunities. For example, we experimented with a new hardware tech that could be revolutionary. No, really. So, personal and business growth were achieved. Thanks, 2020! 2021, may you bring more compassion worldwide.
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