Enhancing LoRa Communication: A Comprehensive Review of Improvement Techniques

This review examines the application of LoRa (long-range) technology in real-world test environments in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT). It provides an overview of the types of test environments used in LoRa-based experiments that maximize the capabilities of the traditional LoRa application, highlighting key features. Through a literature review, the articles are categorized into four main approaches: Energy Efficiency, Packet Loss Reduction, Range Efficiency, and Key Applications that Demonstrate the Importance of LoRa Implementation with Architectures Focused on System Enhancement. This taxonomy allows for the classification of elements into specific categories, enabling a structured analysis of the state of the art in LoRa testbed studies. For each scenario, a variety of performance enhancements are evaluated. The focus on efficiency and performance includes metrics such as energy efficiency, range extension and reliability. Results show applications that further unlock LoRa's potential, demonstrating energy savings and range extensions from 40% to 55%, as well as reliability results averaging over 90% packet loss reduction under extreme conditions. A comparison table is provided to analyze the different proposals studied.