Performance Evaluation of a Mesh-Topology Lora Network

Low-Power Wide Area Networks' (LPWANs) usage has increased significantly to support the ever-expanding requirements set by IoT applications. Specifically, the usage of Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) has increased, due to the LPWAN’s robust physical layer LoRa modulation scheme.In this work we propose a complementary network to LoRaWAN, to extend the coverage area of a network and reduce the power consumption needs of nodes located further away from the central gateway. The proposed LoRaMesh network is modeled and simulated in ns-3. The results highlighted a significant increase in the QoS in nodes located far from a centralised gateway in a dense network. The findings in this article validate the concept of a mesh-type LPWAN network based on the LoRa physical layer and highlight the potential for future optimisation.