What is LoRaWAN?
Before we can start talking about LoRaWAN, we must first define its two components: LoRa and WAN.
-LoRa: Long Range
LoRa is the wireless modulation used to create a long-range communication link with low power consumption. It is in the physical layer and is a Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standard. It is a spread spectrum modulation technique based on Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) which maintains the low power aspect of Frequency Shifting Keying (FSK) modulation, but has a much greater communication range. It has become the technology for Internet of Things (IoT) networks around the world.
-WAN: Wide Area Network
WAN is the connection of multiple Local Area Networks (LANs) to make a single geographically distributed telecommunication network. Different from LAN, it operates in the physical and data link layer. WAN is a secure infrastructure used for sharing and utilizing digital data.
Together, LoRaWAN is a Long-Range Wide Area Network.
Thus, LoRaWAN is a LPWA networking protocol designed to target IoT requirements. It is different from LoRa in that it is a Media Access Control (MAC) layer protocol that is built on top of LoRa and is rarely used for industrial applications. All the channels of LoRaWAN are tuned to the same frequencies as to avoid collision issues for single area use. Therefore, only one operating network is required, which makes LoRaWAN useful for public Wide Area Networks (WANs). LoRaWAN defines the system architecture and communication protocol for the network while the LoRa physical layer provides long-range capabilities. It is built using Semtech’s LoRa modulation scheme.
Image courtesy of the LoRa Alliance
History
In the last three years, Semtech Corporation, a company which produces high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, developed a new modulation technique, which allow signals to operate above and below the noise floor while operating in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio bands. This increased the link budget by allowing the signals to operate above and below the noise floor. The result the engineers at Semtech found was LoRa. In March of 2015, a nonprofit association called the LoRa Alliance was formed to promote and drive the success of the LoRaWAN protocol and ensure the interaoperability of all LoRaWAN products and technologies. They have since grown to more than 500 members. This makes them the largest and fastest-growing alliance in the technology sector. Due to this support and growth, LoRaWAN has been deployed by major mobile network operators globally.