Slotted ALOHA Overlay on LoRaWAN: a Distributed Synchronization Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces a slotted-ALOHA overlay for LoRaWAN that uses a novel distributed synchronization service, significantly enhancing network performance without requiring firmware modifications.

Contribution

It proposes a new distributed synchronization approach enabling slotted-ALOHA in LoRaWAN, improving scalability and performance without altering existing hardware or software.

Findings

Reduced packet loss rate

Increased network throughput

Enhanced scalability of LoRaWAN networks

Abstract

LoRaWAN is one of the most promising standards for IoT applications. Nevertheless, the high density of end-devices expected for each gateway, the absence of an effective synchronization scheme between gateway and end-devices, challenge the scalability of these networks. In this article, we propose to regulate the communication of LoRaWAN networks using a Slotted-ALOHA (S-ALOHA) instead of the classic ALOHA approach used by LoRa. The implementation is an overlay on top of the standard LoRaWAN; thus no modification in pre-existing LoRaWAN firmware and libraries is necessary. Our method is based on a novel distributed synchronization service that is suitable for low-cost IoT end-nodes. S-ALOHA supported by our synchronization service significantly improves the performance of traditional LoRaWAN networks regarding packet loss rate and network throughput.