diff --git a/zk/LoRa_radio.md b/zk/LoRa_radio.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fae752 --- /dev/null +++ b/zk/LoRa_radio.md @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@ +--- +tags: + - radio + - LoRa +--- + +# LoRa radio + +LoRa (which stands for "long range") is a proprietary method of radio +communication. + +It operates within the unlicenced ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) +bands. In Europe, the center frequency within the ISM for LoRa is 868MHz. + +It uses a specialised and characteristic technique to avoid interference in +communication: **chirp-spread-spectrum modulation**. With this technique, radios +"chirp", meaning they sweep over a range of frequencies over time. This is +similar to a voice getting higher in pitch. + +This technique gives LoRa several beneficial properties. + +We know that in general, radio signals get weaker with distance. The weaker they +become, the more susceptable they are to background noise. When a signal falls +below the noise floor it is lost. + +Noise is noise, because it is random, without uniformity. A chirping signal +however, has a clear pattern - it rises through both the frequency and time +domain (it traverses different frequencies over a duration of time). This rising +pattern can be explicitly filtered for which makes it detectable even amidst +noise. This means even though a signal may be weak and far away, it can still be +detected because of it's sweeping pattern, thus making LoRa long range. + +Moreover, a higher spreading rate results in a longer range of transmission and +reception. + +Thus the key properties of LoRa are: + +- The signal is long range, travelling from 2-15km in urban areas and up to 50Km + in rural areas + +- Receivers can pick up very weak signals + +- There is good resistance to noise interference since the receiver is trained + to look for a pattern amidst the noise. Also, if there is interference at one + frequency this is discounted once the data moves to the next frequency in the + sweep. + +There are some trade-offs though. + +- A higher spreading rate results in a longer range but slower data transfer + since each bit takes longer to transmit because it is spread accross more + chirps. + +- A lower spreading rate results in faster data transfer (increased bandwidth) + but reduced range