LoRaWAN - Long Range Wide Area Network

What is LoRaWAN?

LoRaWAN stands for Long Range Wide Area Network. It is a low-power, long-range wireless communication protocol designed for IoT devices and applications that need to send small amounts of data over large distances using minimal power.

Why is LoRaWAN useful?

  • Enables long-range communication (up to 15+ km in rural areas).

  • Uses very low power, allowing battery-powered devices to run for years.

  • Supports massive IoT deployments with thousands of devices.

  • Works well in environments where cellular or Wi-Fi is not viable.

  • Operates in unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 868 MHz in EU, 915 MHz in US), reducing cost.

How it works?

  • End devices (sensors) send data using the LoRa modulation.

  • Data is received by LoRa gateways, which forward it to a network server via IP (usually over Ethernet, cellular, or Wi-Fi).

  • The network server authenticates and routes the data to an application server.

  • LoRaWAN uses a star-of-stars topology, with gateways acting as transparent bridges.

Where is LoRaWAN used?

  • Smart agriculture (soil sensors, livestock tracking).

  • Smart cities (streetlights, parking meters, waste bins).

  • Environmental monitoring (air quality, water levels).

  • Asset tracking (logistics, supply chain).

  • Industrial IoT (remote monitoring, predictive maintenance).

Which OSI layer does this protocol belong to?

  • LoRaWAN operates primarily at the Data Link Layer (Layer 2).

  • It defines the MAC layer protocol for communication over the physical LoRa layer (Layer 1).

  • The LoRa PHY layer is separate and handles modulation.

IS LoRaWAN Windows specific?

  • No, LoRaWAN is not Windows-specific.

  • It is implemented on embedded devices, microcontrollers, and gateways.

  • Servers and management tools may run on any OS, including Windows.

IS LoRaWAN Linux Specific?

  • No, LoRaWAN is not Linux-specific.

  • However, Linux is commonly used in LoRaWAN gateways, network servers, and application servers due to its flexibility and open-source tools.

Which Transport Protocol is used by LoRaWAN?

  • LoRaWAN itself does not use IP-based transport protocols like TCP or UDP.

  • The radio communication uses its own MAC and PHY layers.

  • Between gateways and servers, UDP (and sometimes MQTT) is used over IP networks.

Which Port is used by LoRaWAN?

  • On the radio side, LoRaWAN uses frequency channels (not TCP/UDP ports).

  • For gateway-to-network server communication, it typically uses: * UDP port 1700 (Semtech packet forwarder).

  • Application-level communication depends on the server architecture (can be MQTT, HTTP, etc.).

Is LoRaWAN using Client server model?

  • Yes, partially.

  • Devices transmit data (uplink) to a network server, which routes it to an application server – forming a client-server model.

  • The radio layer uses one-way or two-way communication with acknowledgment mechanisms, not a persistent client-server session.

Topics in this section,

  • In this section, you are going to learn

  • Terminology

  • Version Info

  • rfc details

  • setup

  • setup

  • packet details

  • usecases

  • features

  • Reference links