Closed-Form Approximation of LoRa Modulation BER Performance

LoRa has been demonstrated as a front runner when it comes to evolving low-power wide area networks. At its core is LoRa modulation which depicts a patented chirp spread-spectrum modulation technique that supports energy-efficient and reliable long-range communication. The underlying bit error rate (BER) performance of LoRa modulation has not been yet rigorously analyzed in the literature. In this letter, closed-form approximations for LoRa BER performance are derived for both additive white Gaussian noise and Rayleigh fading channels. Accuracy of the derived approximations is confirmed by comparisons against numerical results.