LoRaWAN: Evaluation of Link- and System-Level Performance

The Internet of Things (IoT) addresses a huge set of possible application domains, requiring both short-and long-range communication technologies. When long distances are present, a number of proprietary and standard solutions for low power wide area networks are already available. Among them, LoRaWAN is a candidate technology supported by many network operators. This paper discusses the possible role of LoRaWAN for the IoT. First, the LoRaWAN technology is assessed experimentally through a set of laboratory and on-field tests, to characterize it from the link-level viewpoint; then, a system-level analysis is performed through simulation, to evaluate the capacity of an LoRaWAN gateway and a multigateway network to serve a large area. Finally, the results are discussed considering a broad set of use cases.