Don't miss weak packets: boosting LoRa reception with antenna diversities

Ningning Hou, Xianjin Xia, Yuanqing Zheng

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceeding contributionpeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

LoRa technology promises to connect billions of battery-powered devices over a long range for years. However, recent studies and industrial deployment find that LoRa suffers severe signal attenuation because of signal blockage in smart cities and long communication ranges in smart agriculture applications. As a result, weak LoRa packets cannot be correctly demodulated or even be detected in practice. To address this problem, this paper presents the design and implementation of MALoRa: a new LoRa reception scheme which aims to improve LoRa reception performance with antenna diversities. At a high level, MALoRa improves signal strength by reliably detecting and coherently combining weak signals received by multiple antennas of a gateway. MALoRa addresses a series of practical challenges, including reliable packet detection, symbol edge extraction, and phase-aligned constructive combining of weak signals. Experiment results show that MALoRa can effectively expand communication range, increase battery life of LoRa devices, and improve packet detection and demodulation performance especially in ultra-low SNR scenarios.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIEEE INFOCOM 2022 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications
Place of PublicationPiscataway, NJ
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages530-539
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781665458221
ISBN (Print)9781665458238
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes
Event41st IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, INFOCOM 2022 - Virtual, London, United Kingdom
Duration: 2 May 20225 May 2022

Publication series

Name
ISSN (Print)0743-166X
ISSN (Electronic)2641-9874

Conference

Conference41st IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, INFOCOM 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityVirtual, London
Period2/05/225/05/22

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