Opportunities and Challenges of LoRa 2.4 GHz

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are increasingly used in our daily life. Among these technologies, LoRa is widely used for low power IoT data collection in wide areas. LoRa typically operates in sub-GHz bands which are region-specific, and thus has limited world-wide applications. The version of LoRa developed for the 2.4 GHz ISM band has spurred recent interest in the scientific community, as it enables the use of worldwide frequency channels. However, it requires the coexistence with numerous concurrent technologies within this 2.4 GHz band, and an evolution of the MAC and networking protocols for utilizing LoRaWAN connectivity. In this article, we make the first experimental comparison between LoRa sub-GHz and LoRa 2.4 GHz in both indoor and outdoor scenarios. We show that LoRa 2.4 GHz can have a communication range of more than 2 km outdoor, and it can achieve a packet delivery rate of at least 0.98 for a distance of up to 39 meters indoor with the presence of obstacles. We also make an extensive discussion on the researches challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully take advantage of this new technology.