LoRaWAN Meets ML: A Survey on Enhancing Performance with Machine Learning.

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is an emerging wireless technology that is expected to be widely deployed and implemented in several applications, especially with the promising widespread use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its potential applications within the Fifth Generation (5G) communication technology. LoRaWAN consists of a number of nodes that monitors and senses the environment to collect specific data, and then sends the collected data to a remote monitoring device for further processing and decision-making. Energy consumption and security assurance are two vital factors needed to be optimized to ensure an efficient and reliable network operation and performance. To achieve that, each of LoRaWAN nodes can be configured by five transmission parameters, which are the spreading factor, carrier frequency, bandwidth, coding rate and transmission power. Choosing the best values of these parameters leads to enhancing the network deployment. In this paper, we shed the light to the security aspect in LoRaWAN network. Then, we introduced an algorithm that depends on the reinforcement learning approach to enable each node in the network to choose the best values of spreading factor and transmission power such that it leads to a lower energy consumption and higher packets’ delivery rate. The results of the simulation experiments of our proposed technique showed a valuable increase in the packet reception rate at the gateway and a significant decrease in the total consumed energy at the end nodes compared with the most related work in literature

- LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) is one of the most widely adopted Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies, enabling long-range, energy-efficient communication for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. A key mechanism in LoRaWAN is Adaptive Data Rate (ADR), which dynamically configures each end device’s Spreading Factor (SF) and transmission power (Tx Power) to balance energy consumption, coverage, and reliability. The efficient allocation of SFs is particularly critical, as it directly influences bandwidth utilization, throughput, latency, and packet collision rates. In this paper, we present a comparative study and implementation of three approaches for ADR-based bandwidth optimization schemes: Static ADR, Centralized ADR, and a proposed Decentralized ADR scheme. Python-based simulations are conducted under varying traffic conditions, incorporating realistic wireless channel models such as Free Space, Okumura-Hata, and Nakagami-m fading.Performance metrics including throughput, packet success rate, collision rate, and SF distribution are evaluated to provide a clear and comprehensive comparison of the different ADR approaches. The results demonstrate that the proposed Decentralized ADR significantly improves overall performance, achieving up to 18.6% higher throughput compared to the conventional Centralized ADR scheme. These findings highlight the importance of distributed decision-making in LoRaWAN and provide useful insights into scalable, adaptive, and efficient ADR designs for next-generation large-scale IoT deployments. Key Words: LoRaWAN, IoT, Adaptive Data Rate, Bandwidth Optimization, Decentralized Networks

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) provides a promising solution for long-range, low-power wireless communication in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. However, energy consumption remains a critical challenge that significantly impacts network lifetime and scalability. Traditional LoRaWAN implementations rely on automatic and continuous transmission parameter allocation schemes managed by centralized gateways, which fail to adapt to dynamic network conditions such as varying link quality, node mobility, and fluctuating energy levels, leading to excessive energy consumption and reduced network performance. In this work, we propose Adaptive Energy Efficient Routing Protocol (AEERP), a reinforcement learning-based framework that dynamically optimizes transmission parameters in LoRaWAN network. Our approach leverages Expected State-Action-Reward-State-Action (SARSA) to enable intelligent adaptation of spreading factor, transmission power, and gateway selection based on real-time conditions. Key innovations include: (1) a hybrid Q-value initialization strategy combining domain knowledge with exploration, (2) adaptive discount factor and learning rate mechanisms, and (3) joint optimization of transmission parameters based on residual energy, distance, and Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR). Extensive simulations demonstrate that AEERP significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods, achieving substantial energy conservation, superior PDR, enhanced signal-to-noise ratios, and reduced bit error rates. Results show that AEERP effectively balances energy efficiency, and communication reliability for sustainable LoRaWAN deployments.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed many industries, and LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network), built on LoRa (Long Range) technology, has become a crucial solution for enabling scalable, low-cost, and energy-efficient communication in wide-area networks. Simulation tools are essential for optimizing the transmission parameters and, therefore, the energy efficiency and performance of LoRaWAN networks, where energy efficiency is widely recognized as a primary performance objective in distributed and parallel systems. However, although existing simulation frameworks can accurately represent LoRaWAN behavior by modeling multiple protocol layers or by focusing on specific network aspects, they often suffer from high computational cost and limited flexibility when fast and systematic exploration of transmission parameter configurations is required. To address this issue, we introduce FAST-LoRa, a novel simulation framework designed to enable fast and efficient evaluation of LoRaWAN networks and selection of transmission parameters. FAST-LoRa streamlines computation by relying on analytical models without complex packet-level simulations and implementing gateway reception using efficient matrix operations. We evaluate FAST-LoRa by employing a well-established simulator using multiple network configurations with varying numbers of end devices and gateways. The results show that FAST-LoRa achieves similar accuracy in estimating key network metrics, even in complex scenarios with interference and multi-gateway reception, with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.940 ×10<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−2</sup> for the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) and 0.040 bits/mJ for Energy Efficiency (EE), while significantly reducing computational time by up to three orders of magnitude.

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) has been largely developed and applied for many Internet of Things (IoT) applications with wide coverage and low-power consumption. However, for environment with many obstacles and blind spots, the classical star network has limitation in area coverage. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the LoRaWAN extender using multiple relays in terms of coverage ability, performance, and power consumption. In this research, the design and implementation of a multiple relay system compatible with the LoRaWAN protocol is studied to extend the coverage of a classical LoRaWAN gateway. The relay can have multiple years of operation with a compact battery. These relays were deployed along a deep river will complex terrain that the gateway can not fully cover. The longest distance of each relay was recorded so that the packets sent by the previous relay were still received by the next relay, the packet loss ratio and latency were calculated to evaluate the performance, and power consumption was measured by using a power analyzer. The results show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed design for multiple relays to extend the LoRaWAN network.

Security and privacy are two main concerns in the critical applications in the Internet of Things environments. Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is a protocol, which effectively allows long-range communication for battery-constrained end devices in IoT environments, and it is accepted and used by individuals and industry. In order to facilitate the use of this technology and gain the trust of users, it is necessary to assure security and privacy for the information collected by end devices. The user authentication and key establishment protocols are very paramount in this regard. Although there are some authentication schemes in the literature, they could not be applied in the LoRaWAN networks. Thus, in this article, we introduce a new secure user authenticated key establishment scheme for LoRaWAN networks. The proposed scheme provides mutual authentication among participants, and it allows a user and an end device to establish a secure session key between themselves without trusting the network server unconditionally and completely. In order to prove that the proposed scheme is secure, we constructed formal proof employing the real-or-random model. Besides, we employed Proverif and automated validation of internet security protocols and applications tool to confirm that it satisfies authentication and security characteristics. Further, we show that our proposal is efficient with respect to computation, communication and storage costs in end devices. Eventually, we exhibit a practical demonstration of our proposal applying the NS2 simulator.

Continuous and reliable monitoring of soldiers’ health in remote and resource-constrained environments is essential for operational readiness and timely emergency interventions. Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) provides an energy-efficient, long-range communication solution for wearable Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices, but dynamic factors such as packet loss, latency, and bandwidth limitations can compromise real-time health inference. This paper presents HEAL, Health-Enhanced Adaptive LoRaWAN, an AI-enabled IoMT framework designed to predict soldiers’ health under dynamic physiological and communication conditions. “Adaptive” denotes AI-level robustness, where models sustain stable and accurate health predictions under varying communication constraints and transmission parameters. HEAL employs an end-to-end workflow in which a publicly available multivariate physiological time-series dataset is preprocessed, structured, and automatically labeled using transformer-based large language models. Multiple Deep Learning (DL) architectures are trained and compared to identify models suitable for real-time health status classification, with the best-performing model fine-tuned and deployed in a LoRaWAN simulation to evaluate AI inference under realistic communication constraints. Experimental results show that a BiLSTM model achieves up to 94% accuracy and 95% Macro F1-score on structured physiological data. Within the LoRaWAN simulation, the fine-tuned model maintains approximately 93% accuracy, while the network achieves a packet delivery ratio of up to 91% under favorable conditions (SF7–SF8, 200–400 m). HEAL provides a scalable and energy-efficient framework for systematically evaluating AI models alongside communication reliability metrics, demonstrating that accurate AI-driven health monitoring can be sustained despite dynamic LoRaWAN effects and bridging the gap between model development and realistic operational deployment.

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain has been the subject of interest for researchers. There is an increasing demand to localize these IoT devices using LoRaWAN due to the quickly growing number of IoT devices. LoRaWAN is well suited to support localization applications in IoTs due to its low power consumption and long range. Multiple approaches have been proposed to solve the localization problem using LoRaWAN. The Expected Signal Power (ESP) based trilateration algorithm has the significant potential for localization because ESP can identify the signal’s energy below the noise floor with no additional hardware requirements and ease of implementation. This research article offers the technical evaluation of the trilateration technique, its efficiency, and its limitations for the localization using LoRa ESP in a large outdoor populated campus environment. Additionally, experimental evaluations are conducted to determine the effects of frequency hopping, outlier removal, and increasing the number of gateways on localization accuracy. Results obtained from the experiment show the importance of calculating the path loss exponent for every frequency to circumvent the high localization error because of the frequency hopping, thus improving the localization performance without the need of using only a single frequency.

The advent of Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) has significantly enhanced Internet of Things (IoT) applications, particularly in Smart Cities, with its broad coverage and energy efficiency. However, in areas with blind spots and obstacles, the conventional star network has limitations in coverage. To overcome this, researchers conducted a study to explore the potential of LoRaWAN extenders with multiple relays, focusing on coverage, performance, and power consumption. The study involved designing and deploying a relay system aligned with protocol of LoRaWAN to extend the reach of a standard LoRaWAN gateway. Strategically placed relays addressed areas beyond the gateway's coverage. Performance was measured by the longest communication distance achieved by each relay, packet loss ratio, and latency. Power consumption was also monitored. The results demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed multiple relay design, expanding the capabilities of LoRaWAN network.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has expanded rapidly, allowing for a network of sensors and gadgets to collect and share information to make people's lives easier and more convenient. As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows, however, energy efficiency becomes a major issue, especially for portable and wireless gadgets. Low-power, long-range communication capabilities are needed, and Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) has emerged as a viable solution to meet this need. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the LoRaWAN-based, low-power Internet of Things. The suggested network architecture is optimized for low power consumption and high connectivity for numerous Internet of Things (IoT) use cases. This low-power Internet of Things network relies on LoRaWAN gateways, end devices, and a server to function. LoRaWAN is a technology that enables the low-power, long-range transmission of data packets. The results show that the optimized case and non-optimized case have a delivery ratio of 0.85 to 0.73 from node 100 to 500. LoRaWAN significantly reduces energy usage compared to conventional IoT connectivity alternatives, making it a fantastic option for battery-powered devices in far-flung or limited-resource locations. Finally, the adoption of LoRaWAN provides a viable solution to address the energy efficiency concerns in IoT networks, hence allowing for sustainable, long-lasting IoT installations and enabling a wide variety of new applications within the IoT ecosystem. Furthermore, addresses the potential applications of this technology in the future, including upgrades and integration with other technologies like edge computing and 5G networks.

The Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is one of the fastest growing Internet of Things (IoT) access protocols. It operates in the license free 868 MHz band and gives everyone the possibility to create their own small sensor networks. The drawback of this technology is often unscheduled or random channel access, which leads to message collisions and potential data loss. For that reason, recent literature studies alternative approaches for LoRaWAN channel access. In this work, state-of-the-art random channel access is compared with alternative approaches from the literature by means of collision probability. Furthermore, a time scheduled channel access methodology is presented to completely avoid collisions in LoRaWAN. For this approach, an exhaustive simulation study was conducted and the performance was evaluated with random access cross-traffic. In a general theoretical analysis the limits of the time scheduled approach are discussed to comply with duty cycle regulations in LoRaWAN.

Low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN) are gaining a lot of interest to support Internet of things (IoT) applications. LPWAN can provide massive connectivity and services for thousands of nodes with low power consumption, which is crucial for battery-based IoT devices. Different technologies have been proposed for (LPWAN), however, long range wide-area network (LoRaWAN) is one of the most promising and widely used types that provide large-scale deployment, high energy efficiency, and low-cost. Resources allocation in LoRaWAN has vital role to enhance the system performance. In this work, we propose a resource allocation technique that aims to minimize the total system transmit power. The proposed technique exploits the Hungarian matching algorithm to assign both the LoRaWAN spreading factors (SFs) and the sub-carriers (SCs) for different end nodes. The results show that the performance of the proposed Hungarian-based resources allocation algorithm reduces the power consumption compared with other conventional algorithms. Additionally, it provides a better energy efficiency.

Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), as Low Power Wide Area Network that connects battery-powered devices, has gained much attention lately. The LoRaWAN technology uses ALOHA as the medium access control where the End Devices (EDs) transmit data randomly and re-transmit up to eight times if collisions occur, which is not feasible in large networks. Several techniques, including synchronization and scheduling schemes, to address the challenge have been reported. However, the existing synchronization and scheduling algorithms transmit synchronization messages randomly using one super frame with fixed time slots that accommodate devices using different Spreading Factors (SFs). This phenomenon can result in collisions, idle slots, and inefficient energy use, hence limiting the LoRaWAN network scalability. To alleviate the aforementioned problems, this work proposes a dynamic Multi-Frame Multi-Spreading Factor (MFMSF) scheduling algorithm with slotted synchronization approach. In the proposed algorithm, the time slots are assigned dynamically to EDs on first to synchronize first to be assigned basis. It was revealed that the proposed dynamic MFMSF TDMA algorithm is more energy-efficient than the existing algorithm in a denser network with devices arranged in a circular disk with different radii. The packet delivery rate for the dynamic MFMSF TDMA is about 99% signifying reduced collisions during data transmission. This implies that the use of the proposed dynamic MFMSF scheduling algorithm in LoRaWAN allows large number of EDs to communicate with reduced collisions and enhanced energy efficiency of the battery-powered devices.

Adaptive data rate control in low power wide area networks for long range IoT services

HighlightsWhat are the main findings?Ensuring energy efficiency through the use of the P&O MPPT algorithmThe integration of a PV-battery hybrid system for a smart street lighting systemThe use of internet-free LoRaWAN communication for a remote monitoring and control systemWhat is the implication of the main finding?The primary objective of this study is to present a design for a street lighting system based on LEDs, which is hybrid-powered by solar energy and batteries, thereby making it independent of the grid.It focuses on reducing energy consumption during times of low demand, managing energy according to the potential of energy sources, and enhancing system reliability by enabling monitoring and control of the entire system through the LoRaWAN communication method.The growing demand for electricity and the urgent need to reduce environmental impact have made sustainable energy utilization a global priority. Street lighting, as a significant consumer of urban electricity, requires innovative solutions to enhance efficiency and reliability. This study presents an off-grid smart street lighting system that combines solar photovoltaic generation with battery storage and Internet of Things (IoT)-based control to ensure continuous and efficient operation. The system integrates Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) communication technology for remote monitoring and control without internet connectivity and employs the Perturb and Observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm to maximize energy extraction from solar sources. Data transmission from the LoRaWAN gateway to the cloud is facilitated through the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol, enabling real-time access and management via a graphical user interface. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system achieves a maximum MPPT efficiency of 97.96%, supports reliable communication over distances of up to 10 km, and successfully operates four LED streetlights, each spaced 400 m apart, across an open area of approximately 1.2 km—delivering a practical, energy-efficient, and internet-independent solution for smart urban infrastructure.