Investigation on Conventional LoRaWAN Communication System

The LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) technology enables communications over extended distances in a license-free radio spectrum. LoRa is significant because it enables low-data-rate, long-range communication for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. In order to suit LoRa for higher data rate applications, certain modifications to the present state of the art need to be executed. The objective of this research is to address the above requirement for LoRa. LoRa employs Chirp Spread Spectrum Modulation (CSSM) for signal modulation. In this research, the conventional LoRa system, comprising a LoRa Transmitter and Receiver along with an AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) channel, is simulated in MATLAB R2018. This modulation technique involves the generation of a chirp signal with the frequency increasing or decreasing over a time period. Data is modulated using the chirp signal and encoded using Hamming encoders. It is spread over a wider frequency range and transmitted over the AWGN channel. The envisioned system efficacy is measured in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) vs. Signal-To-Noise Ratio (SNR), with spreading factors ranging from 7 to 12. From the results obtained, it is found that a higher spreading factor results in a lower data rate, and vice versa. Hence, a lower spreading factor is recommended to achieve an improved data rate.