LoRa and LoRaWAN are the two hottest wireless communication technologies in the Internet of Things (IoT), and many people who are new to the IoT field find it difficult to distinguish between them. This article mainly introduces the differences between LoRa and LoRaWAN, with the aim of helping engineers who are new to the IoT field to distinguish between the two more quickly.
Figure: LoRa vs LoraWAN
LoRa, which stands for Long Range, is a type of LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) communication technology. It is based on a low-power wireless standard developed by Semtech, and its goal is to solve the contradiction between power consumption and transmission distance. Generally speaking, low power consumption means a shorter transmission distance, while high power consumption means a longer transmission distance. By developing LoRa technology, the problem of longer transmission distance than other wireless methods under the same power consumption conditions was solved, thus achieving the unity of low power consumption and long distance.
What is LoRa?
LPWAN communication technology LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network) is a wireless network used in the Internet of Things (such as battery-powered sensors) that allows long-distance communication at a low bit rate. The low power requirement, low bit rate, and low usage frequency distinguish LPWAN from wireless wide-area networks, which are designed to connect businesses or users and can transmit more data but consume more energy. The transmission rate of each channel in LPWAN is between 0.3 kbit/s and 50 kbit/s.
LoRaWAN is a media access control (MAC) layer protocol maintained by the LoRa Alliance, a non-profit technology alliance. It is designed to allow low-powered devices to communicate with Internet-connected applications over long range wireless connections.
LoRaWAN Network Architecture
LoRaWAN has a star or star-to-star topology structure, in which nodes can only send data to the gateway, and nodes cannot communicate with each other. The same goes for gateways, which cannot communicate with each other.
Multiple node modules communicate with a single gateway through send-receive. The gateway has eight independent channels, each corresponding to a specific frequency and can receive all spreading factors (SF). The transmission interval is randomly selected and each packet is sent through a randomly selected channel, significantly reducing the possibility of data collision. Different SFs will not interfere with each other, allowing for the implementation of Automatic Data Rate (ADR) technology.
Star-to-star topology structure
LoRa is a physical layer transmission technology (PHY) that allows devices to exchange information. LoRaWAN is a medium access control layer (MAC) protocol but primarily used as a network layer protocol intended for device-to-infrastructure communication, and it manages communication between LoRaWAN gateways and endpoint devices. It adds networking, routing, uplink and downlink scheduling to optimize battery usage, and most importantly, improves security. Overall, LoRaWAN is a technology that uses LoRa modules to set parameters or transmit signals according to certain rules.
The difference between LoRa and LoRaWAN
LoRa is a low-power, long-range communication technology that uses a unique frequency-hopping spread spectrum modulation to balance low power consumption and long-range communication. LoRaWAN is a communication protocol based on LoRa technology that provides end-to-end encryption, authentication, and management, making it easier and more secure for devices to communicate with each other in large-scale networks. LoRa and LoRaWAN can be used in wide-ranging applications, including: Internet of Things, Logistics and Supply Chain Management,Smart Agriculture, City safety and Intelligent Transportation Systems.