LoRa Network-Based System for Monitoring the Agricultural Sector in Andean Areas: Case Study Ecuador

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of a system based on the long-range network (LoRa), which is used for monitoring the agricultural sector and is implemented in areas of the Andean region of Ecuador. The LoRa network is applied for the analysis of climatic parameters by monitoring temperature, relative humidity, soil moisture and ultraviolet radiation. It consists of two transmitter nodes and one receiver node, a LoRa Gateway with two communication channels for data reception and one for data transmission, and an IoT server. In addition, a graphical user interface has been developed in Thinger.io to monitor the crops and remotely control the actuators. The research conducted contains useful information for the deployment of a LoRa network in agricultural crops located in mountainous areas above 2910 m.a.s.l., where there are terrains with irregular orography, reaching a coverage of 50 hectares and a range distance of 875 m to the farthest point in the community of Chirinche Bajo, Ecuador. An average RSSI of the radio link of −122 dBm was obtained in areas with a 15% slope and 130 m difference in height according to the Gateway, where the presence of vegetation, eucalyptus trees and no line-of-sight generated interference to the radio signal. The success rate of PDR packet delivery with an SF of nine, had a better performance, with values of no less than 76% and 92% in uplink and downlink respectively. Finally, the technological gap is reduced, since the network reaches places where traditional technologies do not exist, allowing farmers to make timely decisions in the production process in the face of adverse weather events.