Today, with the rapid development of Internet of Things technology, technical terms such as NB-IoT, LoRa, and SigFox often enter our field of vision. For those who have just contacted the Internet of Things, they may be confused in front of a large number of nouns. In the face of confusing terms like LoRa and LoRaWAN, in fact, as long as the system sorts out, you can find the difference. Today we will take a look at the difference between LoRaWAN and LoRa:
In general, LoRa only includes link layer protocols and is very suitable for P2P communication between nodes; at the same time, LoRa modules are also cheaper than LoRaWAN;
LoRaWAN also includes a network layer so it can send information to any base station that is connected to the cloud platform. Simply connect the correct antenna to its socket and the LoRaWAN module can operate at different frequencies.
LoRaWAN and LoRa relationship
Also because the names are similar, many people confuse LoRaWAN with LoRa. In fact, LoRaWAN refers to the networking protocol of the MAC layer. LoRa is just a protocol for the physical layer. Although the existing LoRaWAN networking basically uses LoRa as the physical layer, the LoRaWAN protocol also lists GFSK as the physical layer in some frequency bands. From the perspective of network layering, LoRaWAN can use any physical layer protocol, and LoRa can also be used as the physical layer of other networking technologies. In fact, several technologies that compete with LoRaWAN also use LoRa at the physical layer.
LoRa is one of the LPWAN communication technologies. It is an ultra-long-range wireless transmission scheme based on spread spectrum technology adopted and promoted by Semtech Corporation of the United States. This solution changes the previous trade-offs between transmission distance and power consumption to provide users with a simple system that can realize long-distance, long battery life and large capacity, and thus expand the sensor network. Currently, LoRa operates primarily in free global bands, including 433/868/915MHz.
The LoRa network is mainly composed of a terminal (with built-in LoRa module), a gateway (or base station), a server, and a cloud. Application data can be transmitted in both directions. Parrot's ability to build a LoRa network, LoRa modules, gateways, and cloud platforms are mature.
What is LoRaWAN?
LoRaWAN is an open standard that defines the communication protocol for LPWAN technology based on LoRa chips. LoRaWAN defines Media Access Control (MAC) at the data link layer and is maintained by the LoRa Alliance. This distinction between LoRa and LoRaWAN is important because other companies such as Link Labs use a proprietary MAC layer on top of the LoRa chip to create a better hybrid design - called Symphony Link in the Link Labs case.
At the most basic level, wireless protocols like LoRaWAN are fairly simple. LoRaWAN is a star or star-to-satellite topology that is generally considered to be better than a mesh network because of its advantages in maintaining battery power and increasing communication range.
Specifically, the star topology relays messages to the central server through the gateway, and each end node transmits data to multiple gateways. The gateway then forwards the data to the network server, performing redundancy checks, security checks, and message scheduling on the network server.
Two distinct advantages of this design are:
1. Simpler tracking: Since the endpoint sends data to multiple gateways, no gateway-to-gateway communication is required. This simplifies the logic of the end node mobile tracking application.
2. Better public network: This mismatched relationship allows the central server to resolve collisions, so LoRaWAN may be better suited for deployment on public networks.
