Updated LoRaWAN Wireless Standard Enhances End-Device Efficiency, Network Capacity
Key Highlights
- What are the performance increases brought by the updated LoRaWAN spec?
- The new data rates for SF5 and SF6.
The release of the latest LoRaWAN Regional Parameters RP2-1.0.5 specification from the LoRa Alliance minimizes time-on-air, maximizes the quality of service, and reduces the energy use of end-devices.
Optimizing network capacity allows more devices to operate on the same number of gateways. And the improved data rates enable end-use devices to benefit from longer battery life or the ability to leverage smaller, cheaper batteries or photovoltaic panels.
Supporting both indoor-to-indoor or outdoor-to-outdoor applications, the updated parameters will significantly enhance performance across smart city, building, home, industrial, and logistics applications.
The new raw data rates are 9.4 kb/s for SF6 and 15.6 kb/s for SF5; higher data rates correlate with shorter time on air. For end-devices that use SF5 data rates, RP2-1.0.5 delivers 3X faster performance, while end-devices using SF6 data rates achieve 1.5X faster transmission.
LoRaWAN leverages an adaptive-data-rate (ADR) algorithm managed by the LoRaWAN Network Server, ensuring that end-devices use the optimal data rate. SF5 and SF6 integrate smoothly in the existing set of data rates: As with SF7 to SF12 previously, SF5 to SF12 can now be received concurrently on the same channel by a LoRaWAN gateway.
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About the Author
Alix Paultre
Editor-at-Large, Microwaves & RF
Alix is Editor-at-Large for Microwaves & RF.
An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the U.S. military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications, most recently as Editor-in-Chief of Power Systems Design.
Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.