LoRaWAN

Executive summary

• LoRaWAN (Long-Range Wide-Area Network) is an open LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network) protocol, standardized by the LoRa Alliance and built on the LoRa physical layer (CSS modulation patented by Semtech).
• It lets you connect IoTITermIoT (Internet of Things)The IoT (Internet of Things) is the network of physical objects with sensors, software and connectivity that collect and exchange data and act autonomously.View profile devices over distances of 2-15 km in urban areas and 10-40 km in rural areas, with batteries that last 5-10 years.
• It operates in license-free frequency bands: 868 MHz in Europe, 915 MHz in the US, and 433 MHz / 470 MHz / 923 MHz in other regions.
• A 4-component architecture: end devices (sensors) → gateways → network server → application server.
• Three device classes: A (uplink-first, maximum power efficiency), B (scheduled receive slots), C (always listening).
• Don't use it when: you need high throughput (max ~50 kbps), latency under a second, or coverage deep inside very dense urban interiors (NB-IoTProtocolNB-IoT3GPP-standardized cellular LPWAN — carrier coverageView profile is better).

What LoRaWAN is and how it differs from LoRa

A common confusion: LoRa ≠ LoRaWAN. If you're new to the ecosystem, start by understanding what IoT is before diving into protocols. At Plataforma IoT we keep individual profiles of every protocol so the comparison stays precise — you can see the full index in IoT protocols.

• LoRa: a physical radio modulation technique (CSS, Chirp Spread Spectrum) patented by Semtech. It's "layer 1" — how the bits travel through the air.
• LoRaWAN: the MAC and network layer protocol that runs on top of LoRa. It defines how devices talk to gateways, how keys are managed, and how messages are routed. It's what the LoRa Alliance standardizes.

An analogy: LoRa is to physical Wi-Fi (the 2.4/5 GHz radio) what LoRaWAN is to the TCP/IP stack running on top of it.

LoRaWAN architecture

[Sensor] →(LoRa radio)→ [Gateway] →(IP)→ [Network Server] →(API)→ [Application Server]

1. End devices (nodes)

Sensors/actuators with a LoRa radio. Typical characteristics:

• Low-power microcontrollers (Nordic nRF52, STM32WLSTermSTM32WLThe STM32WL is an STMicroelectronics microcontroller with a sub-GHz LoRa radio integrated on the same chip, designed for LoRaWAN nodes.View profile, ESP32 + LoRa module)
• 10-50 mA draw in TX, μA in sleep
• An AA or CR2477 coin-cell battery lasts 5-10 years transmitting once an hour

Nodes connect to the network through LoRaWAN gateways (radio concentrators). To choose and deploy gateway hardware correctly, see the LoRaWAN gateways guide, where we compare the most common models on the market.

2. Gateways (concentrators)

Antennas that pick up signals from many sensors and forward them over IP (Ethernet, 4G, Wi-Fi) to the network server. They don't process data, they just forward it.

• Semtech SX1301/SX1302 concentrators pick up 8 channels in parallel.
• Cost: USD 100-500 for an indoor gateway, USD 500-2,000 for an outdoor IP67 unit.
• Coverage: 1-3 km in dense urban areas, 5-15 km in open urban areas, 10-40 km in rural areas with line of sight.

3. Network Server (LNS)

The network's "brain." It manages:

• Device authentication (Join via OTAA or ABP).
• Deduplication (the same message reaches several gateways).
• ADR (Adaptive Data Rate): tunes the data rate and TX power per device.
• Routing to the corresponding application server.

Implementations: ChirpStack (open source, dominant), The Things Network/Stack (free public community + commercial), Loriot, Helium Console, AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN.

4. Application Server

Where your business logic consumes the data. It receives payloads from the LNS over MQTTProtocolMQTTThe standard pub/sub protocol of IoTView profile, an HTTP webhook, or gRPC. Here you decode the binary payload and do whatever you need: dashboards, alerts, storage.

Device classes

Important: in Europe there's a maximum 1% duty cycle per band — a device can't transmit for more than 1% of the time. That typically limits each node to 1-10 messages per hour.

Real-world use cases

Frequencies and regulation

In Europe (ETSI EN 300 220) the regulation imposes:

• A duty cycle ≤1% in sub-bands G1, G2, G3
• A maximum power of 14 dBm (25 mW) in most sub-bands
• 16 dBm in a specific sub-band with a 10% duty cycle

Public operators in Spain

Pros and cons

Pros

• Long range without a license or mobile operator (vs NB-IoT/LTE-MLProtocolLTE-MCellular IoT with mobility and voiceView profile, which require a SIM and a telco contract).
• Ultra-low power: 5-10 years of battery life in Class A.
• Open standard: a public LoRa Alliance spec, with multiple compatible hardware vendors.
• Low cost: USD 3-8 for a radio module, IoT gateways from USD 100.
• End-to-end encryption: AES-128 NwkSKey + AppSKey.

Cons

• Very low throughput: 0.3-50 kbps, payloads of 11-242 bytes per message.
• High downlink latency (Class A): minutes to hours.
• Strict duty cycle in Europe: few messages per hour.
• Limited indoor coverage: concrete penetration is poorer than NB-IoT.
• Asymmetric traffic: very good uplink, downlink limited by the RX1/RX2 slots.
• Unlicensed-spectrum security: jamming/interference is legal in the ISM band — mitigable, but it exists.
• Key-management risk: if you lose the AppKey under OTAA, the device is locked out.

LoRaWAN vs NB-IoT vs Sigfox vs LTE-M

Technical verdict: LoRaWAN wins when you control the private network or use a LoRaWAN operator (Cellnex). NB-IoT wins for national asset trackingATermAsset trackingIoT asset tracking locates and monitors physical assets (vehicles, containers, equipment) using GPS, BLE, UWB or LoRaWAN.View profile without deploying your own infrastructure. For a side-by-side analysis of both technologies, see the LoRaWAN vs NB-IoT comparison.

Getting started: minimal setup with The Things Stack

1. Create a free account

The Things Network Console (accessed: 2026-05) — a free public Network Server.

2. Get an end device

Options to start with:

• Heltec ESP32 LoRa V3 (~EUR 25): ESP32HardwareESP32Dual-core WiFi + BT/BLE SoC at €-tier priceView profile + SX1262 radio
• LilyGO T-Beam (~EUR 30): ESP32 + GPS + LoRa
• The Things Indoor Gateway (~EUR 50) if you need your own gateway

3. Provision an OTAA device

You need three keys generated by TTNTTermThe Things Network (TTN)The Things Network is a community-driven, free LoRaWAN network with collaborative global coverage maintained by an open-source community.View profile for your device:

• DevEUI (global identifier)
• JoinEUI / AppEUI
• AppKey (128 bits)

4. Minimal firmware (Arduino)

#include <lmic.h>
#include <hal/hal.h>

// PROGMEM static const u1_t DEVEUI[8] = { 0x... };
// PROGMEM static const u1_t APPEUI[8] = { 0x... };
// PROGMEM static const u1_t APPKEY[16] = { 0x... };

void setup() {
  os_init();
  LMIC_reset();
  // join via OTAA
  do_send(&sendjob);
}

void do_send(osjob_t* j) {
  uint8_t payload[2] = { 0x12, 0x34 }; // 2 bytes of sensor data
  LMIC_setTxData2(1, payload, sizeof(payload), 0);
}

5. Decode the payload in the TTN Console

A JavaScript decoder in TTN:

function decodeUplink(input) {
  return {
    data: {
      temperature: input.bytes[0],
      humidity: input.bytes[1]
    }
  };
}

6. Webhook to the application server

TTN can push to MQTT, an HTTP webhook, or AWS IoT Core. Configure one and start receiving the data in your backend.

Primary sources

• LoRa Alliance specifications — the official LoRaWAN spec (accessed: 2026-05)
• The Things Network documentation (accessed: 2026-05)
• ChirpStack docs — open source network server
• Semtech LoRa — physical-layer vendor
• Wikipedia LoRaWAN (general reference)