A Fair Channel Hopping Scheme for LoRa Networks with Multiple Single-Channel Gateways.

Area of Science:

• Wireless communication networks
• Internet of Things (IoT) technologies
• Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN)

Background:

• LoRa is a key LPWAN technology for IoT due to its long-range, low-power capabilities.
• LoRaWAN gateways support multi-channel reception but can be expensive.
• Existing LoRaWAN networks often use pure-ALOHA, a fragile channel access scheme.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a fair, control-based channel hopping medium access scheme for LoRa networks.
• To enhance network performance using multiple single-channel gateways.
• To improve upon the limitations of pure-ALOHA in LoRaWAN.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel channel hopping medium access control (MAC) protocol.
• Simulation of LoRa networks with varying densities and numbers of single-channel gateways.
• Comparison of the proposed scheme against the pure-ALOHA protocol.

Main Results:

• The proposed channel hopping scheme significantly increases goodput and fairness.
• Achieved packet delivery ratio (PDR) of approximately 18% with 2000 nodes and one gateway.
• Achieved PDR of nearly 50% with four gateways, compared to 2% and 6% for pure-ALOHA.

Conclusions:

• The developed channel hopping scheme offers a superior alternative to pure-ALOHA for LoRa networks.
• The protocol enables devices to select optimal channels, reducing energy consumption and improving transmission rates.
• This approach is effective for large-scale IoT deployments, especially with multiple single-channel gateways.