LoRa by the LoRa Alliance is a low power wide area (LPWA) RF-based wireless transmission technology that leverages Semtech’s LoRa chips to transmit in the unlicensed sub-gigahertz spectrum (109MHz, 433MHz, 866MHz, 915MHz). Using the spread-spectrum strategy, LoRa is able to transmit at a variety of frequencies and data rates which allows it to accommodate different devices.

As an LPWA connection, the LoRa Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) is a natural fit for connectivity in machine-to-machine(M2M)/the Internet-of-Things for the following reasons – (1) most nodes require minimal bandwidth as they will be transmitting very little data; (2) most nodes, scattered in hard to reach areas will run on batteries and the transmission technology must therefore not be power intensive; and (3) the coverage area for an M2M/IoT service is typically very large and service providers will require a cost-efficient technology that transmits over a wider area to reduce the number of nodes deployed.