Robust downlink mechanism for industrial internet of things using lorawan networks

Abstract

The adoption of LoRaWAN as a technology for wireless deployments in many applications, such as smart cities or industry 4.0, still presents challenges such as energy consumption, robustness, or reduced throughput in harsh, noisy scenarios. Class B is a MAC mode that allows better performance in downlink traffic but has difficulties regarding scalability and its response to channel interference. This article introduces, via simulation software, the possibility of testing deployments, adding interference sources that model industrial scenarios, and proposes an adaptive data rate (ADR) mechanism to enhance the operation for downlink and class B devices, called DROB (downlink rate optimization for class B) to study the impact of these conditions in a network with detailed event characterization.