What is LoRa and how does it impact your life?
Low-power, long-distance wireless data transmission technology ideal for IoT solutions.
The technology has been updating itself in a unique way. With so much novelty, it is possible that some term goes unnoticed. But don't worry, Lieno explains everything to you. Today we bring the definition of LoRa. Do you know what this is?
LoRa comes from the English expression “Long Range“which means long range, in Portuguese. That's because this type of technology works wirelessly, through radio frequency. Basically it is a spread spectrum modulation technique. This occurs when a radio wave is manipulated to encode information using a chirped CSS (Chirp Spread Spectrum) format.
The LoRa network allows communication over long distances, as the name suggests, but with minimal energy consumption. The range is 3 to 4 km in urban areas, but this depends on installation conditions such as blockage by buildings or terrain topology. In rural areas, this same range reaches 12 km or more.
In Brazil, the regulation of National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) limited the power used by this technological innovation. According to the agency's determination, LoRa's range should be 1 to 2 km.
What is the role of LoRa?
LoRa technology is a solution that serves for data transmission, especially in hard-to-reach places. For this operation, an example of application would be in the connectivity system of things, such as sensors.
We can also mention remote monitors, such as pressure, light, on-off, temperature or those operated by battery and short messages.
The main advantages of deploying a LoRa system are:
- Low implementation and operation cost: reduces infrastructure investment, battery replacement expenses and, ultimately, operating expenses.
- Low power consumption: needs little energy. Thus, the battery life is extended up to 10 years, which reduces your purchase cost.
- Long range: connect devices over long distances in rural areas and infiltrate dense indoor or urban environments.
- Mobility: maintains communication with moving devices without straining power consumption.
- Standardized: the emitted signals are robust, do not propagate noise and do not suffer interference in its frequency range. So deploying IoT applications is fast anywhere.
LoRa Applications
As you may have noticed, the LoRa network serves well both in populated locations and in rural areas without much cellular range. It is an extremely useful technology for agriculture, hospitals, smart cities and, above all, in logistics – after all, the information that must be transmitted is of low complexity and requires great reach.
Examples of this functionality are sensors and actuators for building automation. The sensors are easy to install, as they do not require the use of wires for communication, and are long-range, avoiding the need to have multiple routers covering the data. Another advantage is the use of batteries in the sensors, avoiding the installation of power points.
In hospital environments, this technology facilitates the transmission of patient data, building maintenance, systems for monitoring vaccines, tracking supplies and medicines, multi-parameter patient monitoring (heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, temperature, etc.) in real time, face-to-face or remote, among other applications.
A Spleen has expertise and full domain in the implementation of LoRa for the most varied systems. We do everything from designing your product to preparing it for industrialization. Are you looking to modernize or create new electronics and hardware accessories that add value to your products? Come with us!
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