Hi All

Is there any recommendation for LORA modules for upcoming projects? We need a quick solution where we do not need to worry about RF circuits or any certification. The primary reason for using LORA is to have a long-lasting battery application.

 

There are plethora of already soldered odules for coins https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=lora+transmitter&_sacat=0 but the final choice must consider the comprise between distance priority (433 MHz) and speed priority (868 or 915 MHz).
By the way, as the sending of "telegrams" from deep empty batteries will be included (at least our`s works once the minute for three years!!) the battery paralleling SUPERCAP is mandatory. Some 20 Farads is OK for 3 Volts.

 

I have not used LORA before, so how do i receive the messages? Is it via some platform?

 

RE: DJ_AA
It is rather similar like Nordic NRF24L.
The tablet transmits the bait in parallel multi-channel broadband spectra and waits the say-back from receiver a)was it received b) what was S/N ratio c) what was parity check code
One bad answer and bait is repeated "louder" and slower. Still not successful? Power is made maximal and speed minimal and it is repeated at more channels until receiver saluted "I have heared it clearly, sir!"
Slightly there is the difference between Lora and Nordic, just Lora is significantly slower, significantly less battery consuming, and about 3x...6x more far-beating than NRF. But NRF is about 6...10x cheaper and have micro-sized patch antenna at 2.4 GHz, whilst the Lora exists 433, 868, 915 MHz versions with duck-neck antenna.
Both exist as the separate tablets, but You shall economy an ENORMOUS amount of time, job and experience if buy a ready soldered item on pcb.

This receiver-transmitter complex have to be attached to Arduino (Atmel 328) or similar ARM (even Raspberry) what will programmatically serve it and feed with data. It may not be exploited without ARM. Software libraries for serviceing it is just abundant at arduino.cc

 

LoRA can be peer-to-peer or via a mesh network of gateway—there are even LoRA satellites! By combining mesh networks and gateways, LoRA nodes can communicate via other networks, like the Internet. TNN (The Things Network) is a global infrastructure for this sort of connectivity. So, you have a choice.

Choosing how you will transport your data is a matter of looking at your requirements and designing a solution. You may even want to use a Pub/Sub (Publish/Subscribe) model, like the ubiquitous MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport). MQTT is an OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) standard so interoperability isn't a problem, and among other advantages it allows battery powered nodes to sleep and check for messages when they wake up saving a lot of power.

As @Janis59 says, LoRA is a very low power, very low data rate protocol with an enormous link budget. There are parameters that can be adjusted to trade off data rate for power usage, but the main application of LoRA is very low power consumption and very long range communications.

The faster you try to send data the more it will be affected by the noise and fading of a practical communications channel and the more bandwidth you will need. So, a reliable high speed channel needs a lot of resources in terms of power and bandwidth.

By using very low data rates, LoRA can use much less of both and still be reliable over very great distances compared to the power they use. This is perfect for sensor networks, among other things.

 

RE: DJ_AA
It is rather similar like Nordic NRF24L.
The tablet transmits the bait in parallel multi-channel broadband spectra and waits the say-back from receiver a)was it received b) what was S/N ratio c) what was parity check code
One bad answer and bait is repeated "louder" and slower. Still not successful? Power is made maximal and speed minimal and it is repeated at more channels until receiver saluted "I have heared it clearly, sir!"
Slightly there is the difference between Lora and Nordic, just Lora is significantly slower, significantly less battery consuming, and about 3x...6x more far-beating than NRF. But NRF is about 6...10x cheaper and have micro-sized patch antenna at 2.4 GHz, whilst the Lora exists 433, 868, 915 MHz versions with duck-neck antenna.
Both exist as the separate tablets, but You shall economy an ENORMOUS amount of time, job and experience if buy a ready soldered item on pcb.

This receiver-transmitter complex have to be attached to Arduino (Atmel 328) or similar ARM (even Raspberry) what will programmatically serve it and feed with data. It may not be exploited without ARM. Software libraries for serviceing it is just abundant at arduino.cc

 

Yes I need to low power and long range. Some device could be placed in remote locations e.g. African farm or wilderness. Our aim is to send updated sensor data once a minute.

So, in regards to LORA am I correct in understanding there would need to be some form of gatway or existing mesh network in proximity? Are all LORA gateways connected?

How close do you need to be to a gateway?
So would the data be sent to a specific server where we can read the data from?

 

One well tested solution is radio-relay link. Every 3 km one from other hang somewhere on the tree the Lora pcb with "Arduino-nano compatible" pcb and le it retranslate the "telegrams". Each Lora pad can as read as transmit the data telegrams. However, if the aim is hundreds km afar then shortwave range would be the more handy one because of capable to bend over the globe. Other Napoleonic idea is to use the flight baloon (H2 or He filled) what is kept on the place by fishing thread. On the ground is first data source, baloon is first retranslator, and because of it height it radiohorizon may be rather far. For example, 200 meter high wire gives 36 km and 500 m high baloon gives 57 km.

 

Yes I need to low power and long range. Some device could be placed in remote locations e.g. African farm or wilderness. Our aim is to send updated sensor data once a minute.

So, in regards to LORA am I correct in understanding there would need to be some form of gatway or existing mesh network in proximity? Are all LORA gateways connected?

How close do you need to be to a gateway?
So would the data be sent to a specific server where we can read the data from?

You can use direct transmission over tens of kilometers with LoRa, but the data rate will be correspondingly slow. Alternatively, you will eventually be able to use a LoRa satellite service like Lacuna’s offering in development.

If you haven’t already done so, you should check out The Things Network. It’s a great project, and their website, forums, and Slack server are a great resource focused on LoRA in general, and global LoRaWAN in particular.