A LoRaWAN Architecture for Communications in Areas without Coverage: Design and Pilot Trials

This research was partially funded by the Andalusian Knowledge Agency (projects A-TIC-241-UGR18 and B-TIC-568-UGR20), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project PID2019-108713RB-C53), the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (project TSI-063000-2021-28) and the Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU Grant Number: 20/02621).This article proposes a system based on a long-distance communications system with low economic and energy costs that allows connectivity to be carried out independently from the existing cellular coverage in the area. In addition, it describes the design, development, implementation and analysis of an Internet of Things (IoT) architecture based on Long-RangeWide-Area Network (LoRaWAN). Moreover, the system has been deployed as a prototype, and the behavior and scope of the system have been analyzed in various real environments: urban, rural and natural. The results obtained from the analysis show that the system is suitable for working in areas without coverage such as mountains.Andalusian Knowledge Agency A-TIC-241-UGR18 B-TIC-568-UGR20Spanish Government PID2019-108713RB-C53Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation TSI-063000-2021-28Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU) 20/0262