Characterizing Packet Loss in City-Scale LoRaWAN Deployment: Analysis and Implications

With the popularity of LoRaWAN network deployments, it is critical to understand the packet transmission performance in various application settings. Previous efforts on LoRaWAN network measurement are either simulation-based or small-scale, which is not sufficient to reflect the true state of large operational LoRaWAN networks. In this paper, we provide an in-depth investigation of the packet loss rate (PLR) using the trace collected from a large-scale LoRaWAN network in Shanghai over eight months. We extract the performance parameters that have a direct impact on PLR from the trace information of packets and analyze the influence of these parameters on PLR. We also provide a comprehensive case study to find out in what circumstances the data packets are more likely to be lost. Our study shows the relationship between several indicators that are commonly considered to affect PLR. The lessons learned provide important guidelines for future LoRaWAN network optimization and deployments.