LoRaWAN – is a Media Access Control (MAC) protocol for wide area networks, the second layer of Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Additionally, many find LoRaWAN to be a valuable tool in IoT solutions development for agriculture.
Basic terminology
LoRa, which stands for “Long Range” – is a type of modulation based on spread spectrum modulation, and it uses a chirp spread spectrum sub-variation. Modulation takes place in the physical layer, layer 1 of OSI model.
LoRaLPWAN – “Long Range Low Power Wide Area Network”.
LoRaWAN means “Long Range Wide Area Network”. This is a type of Media Access Control (MAC) protocol sublayer on top of PHY layer, the second layer of OSI model.
MAC Layer Functions:
- Assigns each device to a frequency, spreading code, data rate;
- Eliminates duplicate receptions;
- Schedules acknowledgments;
- Adapts data rates;
LoRaWAN MAC layer
Initially, it was called LoRaMAC and it was developed by Semtech only. And when the Lora Alliance was created (it unites Semtech, IBM, and more than 160 other members) a new name was adopted – LoRaWAN.
Members collaborate to drive the world success of the LoRa protocol and sharing knowledge and experience to guarantee one open global communication standard.
We also encourage you to delve deeper into the topic of IoT solutions development.
MAC layer provides 3 classes of communication style. The difference between each other:
Class A:
Class B:
Class C:
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