LoRaWAN Scheduling: From Concept to Implementation

While the Internet of Things continues to grow, LoRaWAN standard is generating special interest due its open-source nature, ultralow-power consumption and long-range connectivity. Recent works have explored challenges implementing LoRaWAN, with scalability being considered one major bottlenecks imposed by Aloha-based medium access control (MAC) layer. Despite much on-going research on scheduling aimed at alleviating this concern, experimental approaches are rarely found in literature. In work, we describe steps taken technical issues overcome move from a low-overhead synchronization concept real-world implementation top Class A. Accordingly, an end-to-end architecture was designed deployed STM32L0 MCUs, which communicate central entity responsible for providing metrics allocating transmission slots demand. The clock drift devices measured temperature-controlled chamber, served as basis define slot lengths network. As result, operational system implemented evaluated different setup scenarios, 10-ms accuracy achieved. Our results show significant improvements packet delivery ratios respect setups, especially under high network loads (up 29% SF12), thereby demonstrating feasibility presented approach.