Title:

LoRa Mesh Network for IoT Applications

Modern farming depends on accurate, up-to-date information about the conditions of farmland, but current networking solutions are incapable of scaling across large areas without supporting infrastructure. We propose a mesh networking protocol capable of covering dozens of square kilometers with low-cost, off-the-shelf hardware. The current de-facto standard, LoRaWAN, forms a star-topology network in which each node must connect directly to an internet gateway. This may necessitate the deployment of several gateways, limiting potential expansion to areas with existing power and internet infrastructure. These internet gateways are significantly more expensive than individual nodes, so it is not economically viable to deploy them in areas where little network traffic is expected. Our solution, by contrast, requires a single gateway to service the entire network. In our network, each node connects to all other nodes within range, forming an interconnected and highly redundant "mesh" of links. Packets are relayed from node to node across the network until they reach their destination. In the event a node becomes non-functional, packets can be routed via a different path across the network. The protocol is designed to self-reconfigure, automatically discovering additional peers and finding the optimal path for packets to traverse the network. This results in high reliability, seamless recovery from fault conditions, and minimizes intervention required by the user. Built-in cryptography authenticates all nodes on the network and protects all data that crosses the network from being read or modified. Onboard GPS allows nodes to carefully coordinate communication periods and minimize wasted airtime, while a LoRa transceiver provides the physical medium over which packets are sent. A fundamental downside of a mesh network is higher power consumption and lower overall bandwidth since packets are relayed several times. Minimizing the impact of these inefficiencies was of critical importance throughout the design process. Our network addresses some of the fundamental limitations of existing solutions and provides a strong foundation for further development.

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