Obstacles, Speed and Spreading Factor: Insights in LoRa Mobile Performance

Long Range (LoRa) technology allows long-distance communications with small energy consumption, making it a possible candidate for the Internet of Things (IoT) in different applications. However, a combination of factors such as mobility and Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) conditions can affect communication systems. This paper presents a performance evaluation of LoRa in mobile conditions with different Line-of-Sight (LOS) scenarios. Tests included three main factors: speed, spreading factor (SF) and type of LOS conditions to determine which one of them has a more significant impact on packet loss for LoRa. Furthermore, experiments used one mobile node moving at 20 and 40 km/h with two different SF values, going through well-defined LOS and NLOS areas. The test area was selected to reduce the effects of some other factors such as different distances. Results show that the packet loss rate is not statistically different for the two speed values in specific scenarios, showing the usefulness of LoRa in low-speed applications. Results also show the robustness of SF10 in mobility applications.