Long-Range ICN for the IoT: Exploring a LoRa System Design

This paper presents LoRa-ICN, a comprehensive IoT networking system based on a common long-range communication layer (LoRa) combined with Information-Centric Networking (ICN) principles. We have replaced the LoRaWAN MAC layer with an IEEE 802.15.4 Deterministic and Synchronous Multi-Channel Extension (DSME). This multifaceted MAC layer allows for different mappings of ICN message semantics, which we explore to enable new LoRa scenarios. We designed LoRa-ICN from the ground-up to improve reliability and to reduce dependency on centralized components in LoRa IoT scenarios. We have implemented a feature-complete prototype in a common network simulator to validate our approach. Our results show design trade-offs of different mapping alternatives in terms of robustness and efficiency.