LoRaWAN - A Low Power WAN Protocol for Internet of Things: a Review and Opportunities

The Internet of Things (IoT) vision requires increasingly more sensor nodes interconnected and a network solution that may accommodate these requirements accordingly. In wireless sensor networks, there are energy-limited devices; therefore techniques to save energy have become a significant research trend. Other issues such as latency, range coverage, and bandwidth are important aspects in IoT. It is considering the massive number of expected nodes connected to the Internet. The LoRaWAN (Low Power WAN Protocol for Internet of Things), a data-link layer with long range, low power, and low bit rate, appeared as a promising solution for IoT in which, end-devices use LoRa to communicate with gateways through a single hop. While proprietary LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) technologies are already hitting a large market, this paper addresses the LoRa architecture and the LoRaWAN protocol that is expected to solve the connectivity problem of tens of billions of devices in the next decade. Use cases are considered to illustrate its application alongside with a discussion about open issues and research opportunities.