What is LoRa? Where LORA Technology Can be Used?

The full name of LoRa is "Long Range", which has reflected the characteristics of this wireless technology from its full name – "wide coverage" (link budget of 168dB). It is a wireless technology that offers long range, low power and secure data transmission for M2M and IoT applications. It is based on chirp spread spectrum modulation, which has low power characteristics like FSK modulation but can be used for long range communications.

LoRa technology is a spread spectrum wireless modulation patented technology (EP2763321 from 2013 and US7791415 from 2008) developed by a French company Cycleo (founded in 2009, an IP and design solution provider), it can be used to connect sensors, gateways, machines, devices, animals, people etc. wirelessly to the cloud.

LoRa was approved by Semtech in 2012. Acquired for $5 million. After the acquisition, Semtech carried out strong marketing of the technology, including the establishment of the LoRa alliance to promote this technology, this non-profit association consists of more than 500 member companies, committed to enabling large scale deployment of Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) IoT through the development and promotion of the LoRaWAN open standard.

LoRa Technologies operates in different frequency bands in different regions: In the United States it operates in the 915 MHz band, in Europe it operates in the 868 MHz band and in Asia it operates in the 865 to 867 MHz, 920 to 923 MHz band.

LoRa Technology Specifications

Governing Body	LoRa Alliance
Standard	801.15.4g
Frequency	ISM 868/915 MHz
Range	Up to 5 km (Urban) and 15 mm (Rural)
Datarate	27 kbps
Modulation	Chirp Spread-spectrum modulation type based on FM   Modulation Technology
Security	32-bit CRC

LoRa Applications:

LORA technology can be widely used in Access Control, Wireless AMR (automatic meter reading), IoT Sensors, Smoke Detectors, Gas Detection, Smart Agriculture, Smart City, Smart Grid, Smart Home, Traffic Tracking, Wearable and Health Equipment, and Industrial Fields (such as earthquake sensing, avalanche and flood, heating and alternating current, equipment status, forest fire, air pollution, worker health inspection, etc.)

In case there is any LoRa module needed, or IoT solution to customize, please feel free to let us know!