LoRa

LoRa, short for Long Range, is a wireless modulation technique derived from Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) technology. It encodes information on radio waves using chirp pulses. LoRa-modulated transmission is robust against disturbances and can be received across great distances since it demodulates messages below the noise threshold.

Spreading Factor

The Spreading Factor (SF) is a critical parameter in LoRa technology, closely linked to the mechanism that adapts the emission power and transmission speed to the network conditions around the device. SF plays a pivotal role in better radio resource management and optimization of energy consumption. The choice of spreading factor impacts both speed and radio performance. LoRa supports a range of spreading factors, varying from 7 to 12, denoted as SF7 to SF12.

The spreading factor determines the signal range and sensitivity of the technology. A higher spreading factor, such as SF12, provides the longest signal range and highest sensitivity, potentially offering superior performance but consuming more energy.

The impact of the spreading factor is significant on the electrical consumption of the device. As the spreading factor increases, the time taken to send a message of a given size also increases. For instance, with SF7, a message of 242 bytes is sent in 399 milliseconds, while with SF12, the same message size requires 2793 milliseconds.

Comparative Analysis

Several wireless solutions for asset monitoring exist in the market. See in the following sections how LoRa compares with other of the most popular technologies available.

LoRa vs WirelessHARTLoRa vs BLE