ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3098-9185

Year

2020

Season

Fall

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Computing, Engineering & Construction

Degree Name

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE)

Department

Engineering

NACO controlled Corporate Body

University of North Florida. School of Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Hemani Kaushal

Second Advisor

Dr. Zornitza Prodanoff

Third Advisor

Dr. Brain Kopp

Department Chair

Dr. Osama Jadaan

College Dean

Dr. William F. Klostermeyer

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is a developing concept that introduces the network of physical sensors that are interconnected to each other. Within this smart environment, smart objects use the interconnectivity to process, communicate, and exchange data among themselves without any human interaction. Some sensors are wirelessly connected among themselves and to the internet. Currently, IoT applications demand substantial requirements in terms of Radio Access Network (RAN) such as long-range outdoor coverage, environmental factors, obstructions, interference, power consumption, and many others. Also, the current wireless technologies are not able to satisfy all these requirements simultaneously. Therefore, there is no single wireless standard that would predominate the IoT. However, one relevant wireless radio solution to IoT is known as Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), which is one of the Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies [1]. LPWAN has appeared as a significant solution to offer advantages such as long-range coverage connectivity with low power consumption, an unlicensed spectrum, and affordability. Most likely LoRa with the inherent long-range coverage and low power consumption features will become the “go-to” technology for IoT applications [2]. LoRa is a novel solution that is attracting considerable attention for both academic and industrial purposes [3, 4]. For that reason, the proposed research entails the feasibility analysis and performance evaluation of LoRa communication focusing on the physical layer, which involves the radio configuration parameters such as Spreading Factor (SF), Signal Bandwidth (BW), Coding Rate (CR), and payload size. This experimental work includes connecting to different IoT servers in the cloud, such as “The Things Network” (TTN), “ThinkSpeak”, and integration with “Cayenne”. Therefore, 348 (120 first + 228-second test) different configurations are carried out among SF, BW, CR, and payload in order to measure the impact on Time-on-air (ToA). When a payload size of 25 bytes (2 sensors) was connected to the ThingSpeak server, only 57 out of 120 configurations met the FCC’s requirement on ToA (< 400 ms) [5]. It was observed that the number of configurations reduced further to 23 when the payload size was increased up to 118 bytes (10 sensors).

Download

Share

COinS