Reinforce Your Device Connectivity
with LoRaWAN Solutions

Long range (LoRa) protocol was launched by Semtech, the unquestionable global leader in chip production, to define the method of encoding information via manipulating radio waves by dint of leveraging a multi-symbol format known as chirped. As a result, radio frequencies from the roster of unlicensed frequency bands are converted into bits, which allows their transmission over a network.
Being benchmark know-how, LoRa technology was elaborated in medium access control (MAC) layer protocols to suit various application models. One of such models is based on LoRaWAN architecture – an organizational networking protocol that determines a specific structure of the system. It has a star-like topology where all LoRaWAN modules (that can be different gadgets or just sensors) communicate through gateways with the central server typically located in the cloud. The wireless connection between elements of LoRaWAN architecture utilizes standard IPs enabling encryption and identification as essential elements of the entire linking procedure.

The connection between end devices in the Long Range Wide Area Network can be established in two ways:

• Activation by personalization (ABP). Here, network keys are hardcoded into the device which facilitates connection making it less secure, though.
• Over-the-Air Activation (OTAA). A network key and an application session keys have to be configured for each device when it is linked to the network.

For a layman, resorting to such intricacies may seem like a relapse of obsolete technologies. Indeed, why turn to the trivial radio in the age of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers? The experts of Sirin Software with their profound competence in the field of wireless development can assure you that it makes perfect sense because LoRa network solutions have a considerable edge even over state-of-the-art data-transmission methods.

Being most useful in the domains where the Internet of Things know-how is applied, LoRaWAN technology reigns supreme in the following realms.

• Agriculture. Smart farming is all the rage in the industry nowadays. Thanks to the introduction of the IoT sensors and devices connected via LoRaWAN, agricultural workers can control the level of moisture in the soil or in crop storage facilities, optimize irrigation systems’ schedules, watch for insect proliferation in the fields, monitor fertilizer application, track cattle health and calf delivery, etc.
• Healthcare. Medical applications of LoRaWAN solutions are not less numerous – from employing sensors to ensure the proper temperature of drug and vaccine preservation or transportation to providing wearables for mentally disabled patients to control their health parameters (blood pressure, pulse rate, etc.) or detect falling accidents.
• Utilities. Gas, electricity, and water meters can be equipped with LoRaWAN modules that would read and transmit consumption indices thus streamlining the billing procedure immensely and paving the way for the advent of smart homes.
• Parking. Finding a vacant parking space is often a challenge for busy inner-city traffic participants. Drivers can benefit greatly from installing LoRaWAN sensors that would monitor the parking lot for free spaces and tell them if one is found in the special app.
• Urban infrastructure. The concept of a smart city is getting traction nowadays where LoRaWAN solutions become part and parcel. They can be applied for tracking rented bikes, identifying leaks in water supply networks, sending alerts to maintenance teams if a waste bin is full, monitor vehicles, passengers, and luggage in airports, and doing dozens of other errands modern cities need.
• Retail. The industry is a vast market for leveraging LoRaWAN solutions such as smart shelves in shops and warehouses informing the personnel when a product is running low, sensors and RFID tags to enhance inventory management, control mechanisms to ensure foodstuffs’ adequate maintenance conditions, tracking customer behavior in retail outlets, etc.
• Workstation efficiency. If the management of an organization wants to optimize expenditures and improve working conditions of their employees, LoRaWAN-fueled devices can monitor room occupancy, the temperature in the office or shop floor, or energy consumption by the personnel.

This list of use cases is by no means complete since LoRaWAN technology can be used for other purposes, sometimes even quite offbeat, such as tracking the movement of animals belonging to endangered species.