LTM-LoRaWAN: A Multi-Hop Communication System for LoRaWAN

Abstract

Coverage limitation due to signal attenuation is one of the main challenges facing single-hop LoRaWAN when deployed in IoT applications that require low power consumption and operate over a wide area network. The challenge can be figured out using the dense deployment of typical LoRaWAN gateways to ensure devices can transfer their data to the network server successfully. However, this is considered a costly path because of the requirement of deploying a larger number of gateways. To cope with this, a multi-hop communication strategy can be utilized to extend the coverage of employed LoRaWAN networks, eliminating the need for dense gateway deployment. Thus, this paper proposes a Listen-To-Talk-based Multi-hop LoRaWAN LTM-LoRaWAN, a multi-hop relaying system for a wide area LoRaWAN network. It supports out-of-range devices to deliver their traffic to the gateway without using complex routing mechanisms or routing topology construction. Moreover, the proposed system is dynamic and does not require any special entities or assign specific tasks to specific devices. The paper provides a detailed description of the design and configuration of the proposed LTM-LoRaWAN. Using simulation, the feasibility of the proposed system was demonstrated. The evaluation result showed that the proposed system outperformed one-hop LoRaWAN and achieved better reliability in traffic delivery.