Evaluation of Low-Power Long Distance Radio Communication in Urban Areas: LoRa and Impact of Spreading Factor

LoRa is a wireless communication technology for long-range applications such as; smart city, smart industry, product monitoring and control. Throughout this article, the performance of LoRa technology in terms of coverage area has been reviewed. LoRa technology allows long-distance connections thanks to chirp spread-spectrum modulation. Spreading factor is another component for LoRa that contributes to the coverage area. For that reason, spreading factor and its effect on the coverage are examined in real environment. The LoRa radio has been experimented in different spreading factors, in order to verify the theoretical limits obtaining the practical performance profile of the radio. Thus, in a dense urban areas the radio is tested and performance profiles are given in the end of paper. Theoretically presented RSSI and SNR values have been observed and their evaluations have been experimented under real conditions. Experiments were carried out in a crowded residential area in the centre of Trabzon. In the scenario, line of sight connections were avoided and the transmitter was placed inside the building and measurements were taken in this condition. The outcome of the article may vary under different circumstances but would provide an general assessment.