LoRaWAN for Underwater System: Early Results from Performance Testing on the Swimming Pool

This paper presents the experimental results of testing the performance of LoRaWAN operated underwater. The parameters that were tested are RSSI and SNR. The data collection testing was done in a ground environment and a swimming pool. The experiment was divided into 4 (four) scenarios determined by the placement of the LoRaWAN gateway and sensor nodes and the SF (spreading factor) settings, which are AW2UW (Above water to Underwater) with 4 meters distance, AW2UW (Above water to Underwater) with a distance of 8 meters, UW2UW (Underwater to Underwater) with a distance of 4 meters, and UW2UW (Underwater to Underwater) with a distance of 8 meters. The experimental results demonstrate that the choice of SF and the distance between LoRa modules substantially impact the SNR and RSSI levels; this result helps when selecting technology for some use cases, especially those requiring low power and wide coverage.