A 923 MHz Steerable Antenna for Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)

Abstract

This study aims to support the communication network in the LoRa technology application in supporting the application of the IoT system. In Indonesia, LoRa technology is included in the communication technology based on low power wide area network (LPWAN) non-cellular by utilizing the unlicensed ISM band of 915 MHz. Generally, LoRa technology is widely used in research and industry. This paper designs a smart beam steering antenna at a frequency of 923 MHz in accordance with Indonesian regulations that can guarantee data quality reception on the LoRa system. The computation results of this smart antenna design has confirmed that it allows to steer the antenna beam direction into 360° full azimuthal coverage. The main lobe is altered for every 60° step. In terms of performance parameters, this antenna design exhibits a pretty good performance with Return Loss value ≤-10 dB, VSWR value <; 1.92. The numerical gain value obtained is abruptly 8.52 dBi. This value is better than the gain used in conventional LoRa Gateway antennas, which is about 5 dBi.