Analysis of 915 MHz LoRa Technology in Underwater Environments: Feasibility and Applications in Aquatic Monitoring

Electromagnetic underwater communications are strongly limited by water conductivity and depth, particularly at ISM frequencies above 900 MHz. Although LoRa technology has been widely adopted in low-power wireless sensor networks, experimental studies of LoRa-based underwater-to-overwater (UW2OW) links at 915 MHz in real freshwater environments remain scarce. This work presents an experimental evaluation of a 915 MHz LoRa UW2OW communication link conducted in three freshwater scenarios with different conductivity conditions: a controlled swimming pool and two natural lakes. The experimental campaign analyzes the influence of water depth and horizontal distance on key performance metrics, including received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), packet loss rate, and end-to-end latency. Measurements were carried out at depths between 0.25 m and 0.8 m. Multiple spreading factors were evaluated in the pool scenario, while SF12 was selected for the natural-lake experiments. The results demonstrate that short-range UW2OW communication is feasible, achieving effective distances of up to 13 m at shallow depths. However, increased depth and higher water conductivity lead to significant performance degradation, with packet loss rates exceeding 80% at longer distances. The obtained results provide empirical insights and practical design criteria for short-range freshwater underwater wireless sensor networks based on LoRa technology.