Analysis of Spreading Factor Variations on LoRa in Rural Areas

Abstract

This study will analyze the use of spreading factor variations from Long Range (LoRa) as Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) in the rural area to support the Internet of Things (IoT) technology. IoT is a Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology that requires an internet connection to send data. Internet connections in each region (especially in rural areas) are certainly different, one of the problems is the coverage of the mobile network. Because coverage from the internet is limited, IoT must be supported by WSN networks to retrieve data from non-mobile and non-TCP networks. One of the most popular technologies in the WSN is LoRa, which is Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology. The advantage is that it has a wide coverage area, is cheap and has low power. So it is necessary to do a LoRa coverage test to find out how far it can reach especially in rural areas. In this paper, the testing of LoRa coverage in rural areas is tested and has hilly characteristics which have quite many obstacles so that it can be the worst possibility in LoRa coverage. This research uses the entire configuration in the Spreading Factor to determine the effect on distance. The test results show that LoRa can send data up to 980 meters in SF12 with a PDR of 12% and PER 100%.