sensors

Review
A Systematic Literature Review of LoRaWAN: Sensors
and Applications
Vicky Bonilla 1,2 , Brandon Campoverde 1,2 and Sang Guun Yoo 1,2, *

1 Departamento de Informática y Ciencias de la Computación, Escuela Politécnica Nacional,

Quito 170525, Ecuador
2 Smart Lab, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito 170525, Ecuador
* Correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract: LoRaWAN is a communication protocol designed especially for Internet of Things (IoT)
applications that offers benefits such as long-distance connection and low power consumption.
Due to the characteristics of LoRaWAN, this technology has gained great popularity in various IoT
applications, such as environmental monitoring, smart agriculture, and applications in the areas of
health and mobility, among others. Given this situation, the objective of this work is to provide an
in-depth overview of LoRaWAN technology in terms of its applications, as well as the devices that
have been used for the development of such applications. Additionally, this work reviews what other
areas of LoRaWAN have been covered in different scientific articles, i.e., performance improvement
and security. Among the main results of this study though analyzing previous works, we can say that
most of them have been developed in the area of environmental monitoring and have used low-cost
devices such as Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, and relatively low-cost commercial products such as those
of the Semtech and STMicroelectronics brands. The analysis of the present work shows objectively
and formally that LoRaWAN technology can be applied in various applications and that there are
many studies that try to optimize its performance and security. This paper seeks to identify and
describe the most relevant applications of LoRaWAN in different sectors, such as agriculture, health,
and environmental monitoring, among others, and the challenges and solutions found in each area.
This literature review will provide a valuable reference to understand the potential and opportunities
offered by LoRaWAN technology.
Citation: Bonilla, V.; Campoverde, B.;
Yoo, S.G. A Systematic Literature Keywords: LoRaWAN; sensors; applications; LoRaWan devices
Review of LoRaWAN: Sensors and
Applications. Sensors 2023, 23, 8440.
https://doi.org/10.3390/s23208440

Academic Editors: Carles Gomez, 1. Introduction

Charith Perera, Mahmoud Barhamgi Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the interconnection of electronic devices that have the
and Dulani Apeksha Meedeniya ability to collect and transmit data over the Internet. IoT allows the automation of processes
Received: 20 August 2023
and thus achieves greater efficiency when making decisions through the collection of data
Revised: 8 September 2023 in real time. Both IoT technology and its applications have grown tremendously in recent
Accepted: 17 September 2023 years and have been used in different fields, ranging from smart homes to smart city
Published: 13 October 2023 management and mass transportation [1].
Currently, there are a large number of technologies that provide communication to
IoT systems. The selection of one of these technologies depends on certain criteria such as
coverage area, data transmission rate, and power consumption. Among the communication
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
options for IoT systems, low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN) stand out, which are
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
characterized by their wide coverage, low energy consumption, and high scalability [2].
This article is an open access article
Among the different LPWAN technologies, the most popular are Sigfox, LoRaWAN, and
distributed under the terms and
NB-IoT.
conditions of the Creative Commons
Sigfox is a proprietary low-power-consumption communication technology that oper-
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
ates on frequencies of 868 MHz in Europe and 902 MHz in United States. This technology
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
uses a license-free frequency band to allow data transmission over long distances. Sigfox

Sensors 2023, 23, 8440. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23208440 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors

Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 2 of 20

focuses on energy efficiency and offers wide global coverage but with a slower data rate.
Sigfox’s network architecture allows messages from one end device to be received by
multiple base stations [3].
Narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT), also called LTE Cat NB1, is a 3GPP-standard-based narrow-
band radio technology that was published in 2016. It is a low-speed and low-power
network that offers higher security and data transmission speed in comparison with Sigfox.
However, NB-IoT requires existing cellular infrastructure and can be more expensive to
implement [4].
LoRaWAN, or long-range wide-area network, is an LPWAN network technology
that uses spread spectrum technology to enable data transmission over long distances.
LoRaWAN offers high energy efficiency and wide coverage, as well as the ability to send
data through obstacles such as buildings and walls. Furthermore, LoRaWAN is an open
network, which means that it is not controlled by a single provider and can be used by
multiple companies and organizations [5].
Among the aforementioned options, LoRaWAN is an attractive choice due to its
high energy efficiency, wide coverage, and ability to send data through obstacles. In
addition, since LoRaWAN is an open and flexible network, it can be used by companies
and organizations without any kind of restrictions, which makes it the most accessible
and affordable option for many applications. LoRaWAN is primarily designed for being
used with sensors, which are expected to exchange information with a server at a low
transmission rate and relatively long intervals of time where a transmission can take place
every hour or even days apart [6]. LoRaWAN is used globally, and its use is constantly
expanding, which makes it a very attractive solution for future IoT-based applications [6].
LoRaWAN operates with tree main components: end devices, gateways, and back-end
servers (a back-end server has a network server (NS), join server (JS), and application server
(AS)) [7].
LoRaWAN has three classes of end devices:
• Class A: Bidirectional devices with the highest latency among the three classes. These
devices are in sleep mode until they receive an uplink message which opens two
reception windows and enables a downlink [4].
• Class B: Like class A, these are bidirectional devices. These devices open additional
reception windows at scheduled times in addition to the two default windows [4].
• Class C: The reception windows of this class keep open continuously; due to this,
these devices consume the greatest amount of energy of the three classes [4].
LoRaWAN incorporates robust security mechanisms to protect data integrity and
confidentiality. For encryption purposes, LoRaWAN uses AES-128 in CTR mode, whereas
a message authentication code (MAC) is used for integrity [7].
This technology supports two activation methods: activation by personalization
(ABP) and over-the-air activation (OTAA). ABP is a straightforward method where device
parameters, such as DevEUI, AppEUI, and AppKey, are pre-configured in the end node,
AS, NS, and JS for joining and sending messages. This could be insecure since the session
keys are always the same. On the other hand, OTAA is a more robust and secure activation
method. The end devices in OTAA mode start a join procedure with DeviceEUI, Join EUI,
NwkKey, and AppKey. With these parameters, dynamic session keys are generated and
exchanged every session [7].
With this background, the present work seeks to provide a complete and updated
overview of the areas in which LoRaWAN long-range communication technology has
been used in the last 5 years. A formal literature study has been carried out through the
analysis of scientific articles indexed in international scientific databases such as IEEE
Xplore, Springer Link, SCOPUS, and ACM Digital Library. This paper seeks to identify and
describe the most relevant applications of LoRaWAN in different sectors, such as agriculture,
health, and environmental monitoring, among others. In addition, the challenges and
solutions found in each area by previous works will be analyzed, as well as their used
technologies. This literature review will provide a valuable reference to understand the
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 3 of 20

potential and opportunities offered by LoRaWAN technology, as well as to identify its

trends. Additionally, this work will help to identify the current limitations and how to
improve them in the future.
The following article aims to answer several questions which will help the reader
understand the state of the art of LoRaWAN, i.e., What are the primary applications within
the realm of LoRaWAN? Which brands of boards and modules are most employed? What
advances are currently underway in the field of LoRaWAN technology?

2. Materials and Methods

The development of the systematic review of the literature was carried out in the area
of LoRaWAN applications. For this, the methodology proposed by [8] was used. This
methodology is composed of several phases, i.e., planning, automatic review of results,
and manual review of results.

2.1. Planning
In the planning phase, the keywords and databases on which the search would be
carried out were defined. For the search, the following keywords were used: “LoRaWAN”,
“sensors”, and “applications”, since the intention of this work is to analyze the different
applications developed using LoRaWAN technology. Once the keywords were defined,
these terms were searched in the following scientific databases: IEEE Xplore, Springer Link,
SCOPUS, and ACM Digital Library. These databases were selected because they contain
scientific information focused on the area of computer science.

2.2. Automatic Review of Results

In this phase, the search strings defined in the planning phase were applied in the
established databases. The search results are shown in Table 1. The table contains the name
of the digital repository, the search string, and the number of articles found.

Table 1. Search strings used in the first query.

Database Search String Number of Articles

IEEE Xplore Lorawan AND Sensors AND Applications 324
Springer Link Lorawan AND Sensors AND Applications 1474
SCOPUS Lorawan AND Sensors AND Applications 445
ACM Lorawan AND Sensors AND Applications 345

As a result of the search, 2588 documents were found. To reduce the number of articles
to those of interest for the present study, a more specific search string was generated, which
is shown in Table 2. In this second search, the number of articles was limited to those
including the search keyworks in their abstract. Additionally, the year of publication of the
articles was limited to the last 5 years since it is the common period taken for technological
surveillance.
From the results obtained in the second search, it was decided to carry out a third
search so that the set of study works were more exact. For the third search, exact keywords
such as “Internet of Things” and “LoRaWAN” were also included. The search strings can
be seen in Table 3.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 4 of 20

Table 2. Search strings used in the second query.

Database Search String Number of Articles

(((“Document Title”: LoraWAN) AND (“Document Title”: sensors) AND
IEEE Xplore (“Document Title”: applications)) OR ((“Abstract”: LoraWAN) AND 101
(“Abstract”: sensors) AND (“Abstract”: applications)))
((All: loraWAN) AND (All: sensors) AND (All: applications)) OR ((Title:
Springer Link loraWAN) AND (Title: IoT) AND (Title: “Internet Of Things”)) AND 57
(Publication Date: 1 January 2020 TO 31 December 2023)
TITLE-ABS (lorawan AND sensors AND applications) AND (LIMIT-TO
(LANGUAGE, “English”)) AND (LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2023) OR LIMIT-TO
SCOPUS 239
(PUBYEAR, 2022) OR LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2021) OR LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR,
2020))
[All: lorawan] AND [All: sensors] AND [All: applications] AND [[Keywords:
ACM lorawan] OR [Keywords: iot] OR [Keywords: “internet of things”]] AND 109
[E-Publication Date: (1 January 2020 TO 31 December 2023)]

Table 3. Search strings used in the third query.

Database Search String Number of Articles

(((“Document Title”: LoraWAN) AND (“Document Title”: sensors) AND
(“Document Title”: applications)) OR ((“Abstract”: LoraWAN) AND
IEEE Xplore (“Abstract”: sensors) AND (“Abstract”: applications)) AND (“Author 30
Keywords”: LoraWAN) AND ((“Author Keywords”: IoT) OR (“Author
Keywords”: Internet of Things)))
((All: loraWAN) AND (All: sensors) AND (All: applications)) OR ((Title:
Springer Link loraWAN) AND (Title: IoT) AND (Title: “Internet Of Things”)) AND 19
(Publication Date: 1 January 2020 TO 31 December 2023)
TITLE-ABS (lorawan AND sensors AND applications) AND (LIMIT-TO
(LANGUAGE, “English”)) AND (LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2023) OR LIMIT-TO
SCOPUS (PUBYEAR, 2022) OR LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2021) OR LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 173
2020)) AND (LIMIT-TO (EXACTKEYWORD, “Internet Of Things”) OR
LIMIT-TO (EXACTKEYWORD, “LoRaWAN”))
[All: lorawan] AND [All: sensors] AND [All: applications] AND [Keywords:
ACM lorawan] AND [[Keywords: iot] OR [Keywords: “internet of things”]] AND 14
[E-Publication Date: (1 January 2020 TO 31 December 2023)]

As a last filter, to reduce the number of articles in the results of the SCOPUS database,
the word “monitoring” was included. In this way, the results of Table 4 were obtained.

Table 4. Search strings used in the fourth query.

Database Search String Number of Articles

TITLE-ABS (lorawan AND sensors AND applications AND
monitoring) AND (LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2023) OR
LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2022) OR LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2021)
OR LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2020)) AND (LIMIT-TO
SCOPUS 23
(LANGUAGE, “English”)) AND (LIMIT-TO
(EXACTKEYWORD, “LoRaWAN”)) AND (LIMIT-TO
(EXACTKEYWORD, “Internet Of Things”) OR LIMIT-TO
(EXACTKEYWORD, “IoT”))

2.3. Manual Review of Results

Finally, from the search results of the fourth search, we proceeded to read the abstracts
and manually choose the most relevant works for the research objectives. Likewise, Mende-
ley was manually searched for important related articles, from which 2 more articles were
obtained. From this process, the results of Table 5 were obtained.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 5 of 20

Table 5. Number of articles: partial review vs. complete review.

Database Search String Number of Articles

IEEE Xplore 30 23
Springer Link 19 17
SCOPUS 23 18
ACM 14 3
Mendeley 0 2

3. Results
Analyzing the applications of LoRaWAN and the devices used in those applications is
important for several reasons:
• Knowledge Acquisition: First of all, conducting a literature review allows new re-
searchers to gather the existing knowledge and insights about LoRaWAN applications.
It can help to understand the current state of research, identify trends, and gain a
comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.
• Identifying Gaps and Research Opportunities: A literature review enables the iden-
tification of gaps or areas that have not been extensively studied; by analyzing the
existing scientific papers, it is possible to identify unanswered research questions or
areas where further research is required.
• Validation and Evaluation: Scientific papers provide valuable insights and data on the
applications of LoRaWAN and the devices used. By reviewing and evaluating these
papers, you can assess the methodologies, experimental setups, and results presented.
This evaluation helps you validate the findings and conclusions, ensuring that your
work is based on solid scientific evidence and contributes to the overall reliability of
the field.
• Keeping Up with Emerging Trends: The field of LoRaWAN applications is contin-
uously evolving. By reviewing scientific papers, you can stay up to date with the
latest advancements, emerging trends, and innovative approaches. This knowledge
of current research allows you to incorporate the latest findings into your work and
ensures that you are aware of the state of the art in the field.
For the aforementioned reasons, the present work presents a literature review of the
scientific papers on the applications of LoRaWAN and the devices used for helping new
researchers acquiring knowledge in the area, identifying research gaps, validating findings,
and staying informed about emerging trends.

3.1. Applications of LoRaWAN

LoRaWAN finds applications in diverse fields such as smart cities, industrial monitor-
ing, agriculture, smart buildings, asset tracking, and environmental monitoring. In smart
cities, it enables the efficient management of resources like lighting, waste, parking, and
environmental conditions. In industrial settings, LoRaWAN enables remote monitoring
of equipment, predictive maintenance, and supply-chain optimization. In agriculture, it
facilitates soil and irrigation monitoring, crop management, and livestock tracking. In
smart buildings, LoRaWAN is utilized for energy management, security systems, and
occupancy sensing. Asset tracking across industries and environmental monitoring of air
and water quality are additional areas where LoRaWAN plays a crucial role. To be more
concrete, Table 6 classifies the different previous works analyzed in this review.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 6 of 20

Table 6. References organized by their application areas.

Area References
Agriculture [9–13]
Environmental Monitoring [2,4,10,14–26]
Mobility [27–31]
Health [6,17,32–34]
Other areas [1,8,35–65]

From Table 6, it can be seen that most of the previous works focus on the area of
environmental monitoring, followed by works referring to other areas such as performance
improvement in LoRaWAN technologies. Works about environmental monitoring applica-
tions are the most popular, perhaps due to the diversity of sensors on the market for the
measurement of different parameters such as UV radiation, temperature, humidity, and
CO2 , among others. The works belonging to “Other areas” are comparative studies of the
general applications and performance of LoRaWAN technology.
In the following subsections, we will describe the different works developed in the
different areas of application.

3.1.1. Agriculture
Agriculture is a sector of special importance due to the food demands of the growing
population. In this context, different works have been developed to monitor various aspects
that are required for agriculture, ranging from soil quality to crop monitoring. In [9], a
remote crop monitoring system was developed using cost-effective sensors that measure
parameters such as pH, temperature, and humidity; in this work, the gathered data are
sent to a The Things Network (TTN) server. In [10], a prototype based on LoRaWAN was
proposed that allows measuring the humidity, temperature, and electrical conductivity of
the soil.
On the other hand, in [13], the importance of security in the field of agriculture was
emphasized by implementing a hardware secure module (HSM). This module made it
possible to encrypt the secret keys and store the encrypted keys on a Raspberry Pi. The
decryption of these keys is only possible if there is access to the HSM.
In [11], the use of wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) was proposed,
which provide coverage of a 7 km radius with a depth of up to 50 cm. The results indicate
that WUSNs are not scalable if message-delivery-confirmation packets are required. When
the nodes were buried 50 cm, the coverage distance was up to 160 m. Additionally, in [12],
an air-quality monitoring system was implemented. In this work, nine gateways were
placed in six different locations; it was shown that a packet reception could be obtained
from 72.4% of the messages sent. The implementation of 100 air monitoring devices and
four additional gateways is proposed to test the scalability of this system.

3.1.2. Environmental Monitoring

Environmental monitoring is the most frequent application of LoRaWAN among the
previous works analyzed in this paper. Among these applications, it can be seen that the
measurement of ultraviolet (UV) rays, the monitoring of air quality, and the monitoring of
water stand out.
In [14], a monitoring system was created to assist in the prevention of diseases caused
by solar radiation through Twitter alerts using LoRaWAN technology and ThingSpeak
software. In [18], the UV-radiation measurement procedure was also performed using an
ESP32 controller. In [19], commercial sensors were used to implement the measurement of
ultraviolet radiation with an optimization of energy that allows them to work up to 14 days;
communication was also optimized for distances greater than 0.7 km. In [24], the design of
a device based on UV optical sensors that allows determining the existing radiation index
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 7 of 20

was presented; ultraviolet radiation index (UVI) levels were displayed through a graphical
user interface in real time, which also allowed generating a report in a .csv file. The study
was carried out in the central patio of two educational units.
In another work, the authors created an air-quality measurement system taking into
account parameters such as CO2 , No2 , PM (particle matter) levels, temperature, and
humidity [15]. This was achieved using sensors and a communications module. The
used sensors were inexpensive and required extensive calibration given the interactions of
temperature and humidity. In [20], low-cost air-quality sensors were used, such as those
for measuring the level of particles, SO2 , NO2 , CO, O3 , and CO2 ; in this system, the sensors
send the data directly to an application through the LoRaWAN network, and the collected
data are presented through an interface that allows to see the evolution of the measured
parameters through graphs with a granularity of day, week, or month. The results of
the work confirmed that LoRaWAN is appropriate for this type of monitoring solution.
On the other hand, in [22], an IoT system was proposed for monitoring environmental
parameters such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, noise, and air quality; the collected
data are sent to a cloud server that saves and displays the measurement data. On the
other hand, in [25], two stages of an air-quality monitoring system were established to
facilitate the environmental changes in the regional air condition and early warning system.
First, the air-quality sensors from Arduino and LoRa were integrated; the sensor nodes
were then deployed on a university campus. Another work is the one presented in [2];
in this work, the authors proposed a monitoring system for moisture in the wood of
buildings with cultural significance. The sensing solution was composed of a LoRaWAN
communication device and a cloud application that allows remote visualization and control
of the building’s nodes. The results showed that the proposed system can be applied inside
buildings, despite obstacles such as thick walls and complex architectural structures. In [23],
an environmental monitoring solution with parameters such as temperature, humidity,
barometric pressure, and ambient light was proposed. The nodes were attached to a vehicle
that shows the behavior in motion. The gateway was connected to the servers which deliver
the gathered data to the end users.
In [16], WaterGrid-Sense is used, which is an intelligent interface platform; this plat-
form has an integrated LoRa module that uses class A LoRaWAN protocol and has two
sensor slots: one for a pressure sensor and the other for a pulse sensor. This intelligent
platform was used for the management of a real-time intelligent water system, which was
implemented at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) campus. Another
work is [21], in which a device was created to help monitor water quality in real time and
identify abnormalities through a phone application. The device was created with the pur-
pose of helping fish farmers; the device has different water sensors such as pH, water level,
temperature, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, oxidation, and turbidity sensors. The
anomalies detected by the sensors activate different actuators such as the aerator, water
filter, peristaltic pump, water pump, fish feeder, and heater to solve the problem. On the
other hand, in [4], a comparison of LoRaWAN, Sig-Fox, and NB-IoT technologies is made;
for this, a smart water grid is simulated using the NS-3 simulator. In this work, several
problems in the water infrastructure were detected through the use of sensors; an example
of these problems was the pipe leaks. With the results of the simulation, the conclusion
was reached that NB-IoT has better scalability compared to the other two technologies.

3.1.3. Mobility
Mobility is another area that benefits from LoRaWAN technology. Applications range
from motion-sensor data communication to driving assistance using the movement detec-
tion of animals and people.
In [26], a project was developed in which it was planned to monitor garbage trucks in
real time. To monitor them, four devices were used: two commercial and two assembled ones.
In [27], a LoRaWAN-based tracking system was implemented for the vehicle fleet
of the municipality of Kozani, Greece. An experimental study was carried out with the
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 8 of 20

objective of comparing the LoRaWAN network developed using two GPS trackers: an
industrial solution and a customer solution. For this, a comparison is made between two
types of sensors, RAK7200 and TTGO-TBeam, in terms of the number of packets and signal
strength. The result shows the benefits of using external antennas; the most effective was
the RAK7200 sensor with a 3dBi external antenna.
In [28], a service based on the use of parking sensors buried in the asphalt is presented
to be able to detect if there is a vehicle at a certain distance above the sensor. The sensors
were placed in two different geographical areas. In the first zone, 45 sensors were placed at
a range of 250 and 385 m, while in the second, 24 sensors were placed at a distance between
25 and 60 m. The first scenario showed higher packet losses due to the distance from the
gateways and the different obstacles presented in the way.
In [29], a road-condition monitoring system was proposed. For this, mobile sensors
connected to a LoRaWAN network were used. The accelerometer and GPS of a smartphone
were also used to measure vibrations in order to know the road conditions. The results
allowed obtaining the classification of potholes, speed breaks, and damaged or patched
streets. In [30], a solution for detecting and recognizing animal or people movement on the
roadside to prevent accidents was proposed. This solution was focused on autonomous ve-
hicles. LoRaWAN mesh technology was used to provide the data transmission of the remote
networks and the main station, and the data were analyzed in a microcloud infrastructure.

3.1.4. Health
Health is another area in which LoRAWAN technology is frequently applied. In [31],
the use of LoRaWAN is proposed to monitor the health of workers and maintain efficiency
during their work activity, analyzing working environment factors such as temperature,
light, CO2 concentration, pressure, etc. On the other hand, in [6], a theoretical model is
proposed to create a wireless monitoring device, which sends electrocardiogram and other
data by applying machine-to-machine communication. Further, in [32], the creation of a
device that monitors physical activity in elderly people is proposed, integrating an IMU
(inertial measurement unit) to the sensors. Also, in [17], the implementation of an alert
system for mine workers is proposed, taking into account the data obtained from smoke
sensors and using respiratory and cardiac data. The study presented in [33] deals with
a solution based on IoT devices and the deployment of several LoRaWAN gateways to
geolocate vulnerable people, in which the location can be obtained at a range of 40 to 60 m.

3.2. Devices Used in LoRaWAN Applications

LoRaWAN applications use various hardware devices. Table 7 shows a summary of
these devices. The table is structured as follows: the first column indicates the reference of
the work; the second is the column of sensors, antennas, and gateways; and the third is the
column corresponding to the boards and modules used in solutions. The denomination
“N/A” (Not Available) refers to those works where the type of device related to the field is
not mentioned.
Additionally, some elements that were used in various papers like software, libraries,
and others can be seen in Table 8.
As can be seen in the table, the most used boards and modules are Arduino, followed
by Raspberry Pi and devices manufactured by Semtech and STM Microelectronics. In
general, the selection of these market-leading devices is due to their features of functionality,
affordability, and extensive support, making them attractive options for a variety of projects
and applications. Regarding the sensors, there is a great variety corresponding to the
objectives of different applications mentioned in Table 6.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 9 of 20

Table 7. Sensors, antennas, gateways, boards, and modules used in the analyzed solutions.

Ref Sensors, Antennas and Gateways Boards and Modules

Wide-angle camera, cell phone sensors, ultrasonic sensors, LIDAR,
[8] Arduino Uno
geomagnetic sensors, radar sensors, TSOP1738
[14] UVM-30A ESP32
[36] BMP180 ASR6501, LTC3588, RAK831
Sony-Semicon CXD5603GF, Ublox Max 7Q, Ublox Neo-6M, 6 dBi STM32L073, STM32L1 MCU, SX1276, SX1272, Arduino Uno,
[26]
omnidirectional antenna, RAK7200 Raspberry PI 2, TIGO-T-Bean, RAK5205 WisTrio
[39] iM880B N/A
[15] Alphasense CO-B4, GP2Y1010AU0F, NO2-B43F ESP8266, CMWX1ZZABZ-078
[43] DHT11 SX1278, Raspberry Pi3, ESP8266
[27] RAK7200, CXD5603HF TIGO T-Beam, LORIX One, STM32L073, SX1276
[16] Pressure sensor, pulse sensor, LoRa gateway N/A
[44] N/A LoRa Backscatter
Temperature sensor, humidity sensor, pressure sensor, brightness
[31] N/A
sensor, CO2 sensor, oxygen sensor, Cisco Wireless Gateway
RAK831, Core-L073RZ, STM32L073, RFM95, SARA UBee, Raspberry
[46] N/A
PI 3B
[6] Blood pressure sensor, glucometer, thermometer, ADAS1000-3 Arduino Mega, TI TMS320, SX1272
[32] LPS22HB, BNO080, SPU0414HR5H-SB, TSOP7000 SMT324F69, CORTEX-M4, LORIX One, SX1276TP4056
[17] MQ-8 gas sensor, horn, LED iode, heart rate sensor, breath sensor SIM900 GPRS, Arduino Uno
[18] GUVA-S12SD, analog sensor node ESP32
[48] N/A Raspberry Pi, iC880A, RAK31, CXL 900-6LW
[2] N/A WiMOD iM881-XL, STM32L081
[29] Accelerometer, GPS, gyroscope N/A
[19] ML8511, UVM30A, VEML6075 RFM95W, Arduino Mini Pro
Raspberry PiHA, Arduino Mega, Dragino LoRa Shield, LoRaWAN
[20] PMA115S0-XXX
HAT + antenna
[34] Wake-Up Receiver, Wake-Up Radios N/A
[9] DHT-22 Raspberry Pi 3, Lora Shield, RFM95W, NXP OM13069, Arduino Uno
pH sensor, oxidation-reduction-potential sensor, water temperature
[21] N/A
sensor, water level sensor, turbidity sensor
[10] N/A ESP32, PIC, Raspberry Pi, SX1301
Sodaq Mbili, Arduino ATmega 1284p, RN2483, LM386, Raspberry Pi
[22] BME280
3, RAK831
[23] 4 dBi antenna Pycom FiPy Development Module, RHF0M301, Raspberry Pi
Ultrasonic sensors, camera sensors, smoke-detection sensors,
[53] N/A
temperature and humidity sensors
[30] N/A Módulos LoRa MESH
[56] B57861 MiKroTik R11e-LRS, SX1301, Vega BS-1, STM32L151, SX1272
[57] GPS6MV2, DHT11, MPU6050, BPM180 N/A
SX1272, SX1276, SX1278, Adafruit RFM96W, SX 1301, SX 1308,
[58] N/A
Dragino LG01-P
[33] N/A Fipy con PySensor Shield, PyTrack, SiPy Modules
[59] Temperature sensor LoRa module E32 Ebyte, Arduino Nano V3
[13] N/A Raspberry pi
[60] DHT 22 RFM95W, Arduino Pro Mini Atmega328, RAK831
[62] TTN-GW-868 gateway RN2483, Arduino Mega
Arduino Uno R3, SX 1272, SX 1301, MTAC-LoRa, Libelium
[64] 4.5 dBi antenna, 6 dBi antenna
LoRaWAN 900
[24] Si1145 sensor Raspberry Pi
[25] Pms5003t sensor Raspberry Pi 3, LoRa Shield
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 10 of 20

Table 8. Software, libraries, and others used in the analyzed solutions.

Ref Software and Libraries Others

[14] MatLab ThingSpeak, Arduino IDE N/A
LoRaSIM, NS-3, FLoRa, CupCarbon,
[35] N/A
PhySimulator
[36] N/A 3.3 V 10 F supercapacitors, 10 V solar panel
[26] LMIC Library, Tiny GPS ++ N/A
[39] N/A Panasonic BP 376634C
[27] Server OS CentOS 8, InflixDB N/A
[45] LoRaSIM N/A
[46] Node-RED, Matlab, MySQL N/A
[47] FLoRa, OMNeT++ N/A
[32] Influx DB cell- LiPo, SPX3819, MCP4161
[18] N/A Powerbank
Logistic regression, ANN, SVM, convolutional
[29] N/A
neural network, support vector machine.
[20] N/A Plastic enclosure
[9] Ubidots Kalman filtering, decision trees
[10] N/A Powerbank
[22] N/A GL552B, solar panel
Friis model, Peplinski model, complex
[12] WUSN Simulator
refractive index model
[52] NS-3, OMNeT++, FLoRa N/A
[56] Matlab N/A
[59] Influx DB, Gafana, Node-Red N/A
[13] Arduino IDE, LoraMAC-in-C software libraries N/A
[61] Matlab N/A
[63] NS-3, LoRaPhy, LoRaGWPhy N/A
[24] Raspbian OS, Python N/A
[25] Kubernetes, Docker, MySQL N/A

3.3. Other Works Analyzing Different Aspects of LoRaWAN

This section explains the previous works where the different characteristics of Lo-
RaWAN technology are analyzed, performance studies of LoRaWAN are executed, and the
comparative studies where different LPWAN technologies are contrasted.
First, we discuss the previous works where different characteristics of LoRaWAN
technology are analyzed.
In [8], a review of the literature is carried out indicating various applications of Lo-
RaWAN technology, focused mainly on intelligent parking systems. The sensors in these
studies were divided into seven different types including camera, ultrasonic, cellular, in-
frared, radar, magnetometer, and others. Regarding the used wireless protocols, LoRa
represented 5% of the total solutions, while other protocols such as ZigBee and IEE 802.15.4
represented 60% and 25%, respectively. The authors also indicate that security implemen-
tations have not been taken into account, generating vulnerabilities at the time of data
collection.
In a similar way, in [38], the areas where LPWAN technologies can be applied are
discussed, such as smart cities, water monitoring, environmental monitoring, energy
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 11 of 20

monitoring, emergency services, logistics and automobiles, manufacturing, agriculture,

and health, among others. The study also talks about characteristics such as coverage (rural
vs. urban, outdoor vs. indoor), capacity (one-way, two-way, scalable), cost of the equipment,
cost of the network and its scalability, the use power (efficiency, battery lifetime, latency),
and features such as deployment scenarios or specific requirements. Additionally, the
authors analyze the different protocols used in the solutions and suggest some best-practice
considerations for future advantages, e.g., a reduction in complexity in terms of hardware.
Additionally, in [50], the authors perform an empirical study of different IoT applica-
tions, ranging from emerging applications such as smart cities, factory automation, and
Industry 4.0 to traditional applications such as agriculture, transportation, and smart homes.
LoRaWAN is mentioned as a long-range communication standard with a coverage of 5 km
in urban areas and up to 20 km in rural areas.
Moreover, in [51], the authors present different applications of wireless sensors such as
military, agriculture, soil monitoring, and water quality, among others. The authors propose
a hybrid architecture that would increase the reliability and precision of communications.
Additionally, the authors conclude that LoRaWAN is a promising technology for future IoT
applications.
In addition to this, in [58], an introduction to LoRa and LoRaWAN is presented
where the different technical aspects of those technologies are studied, such as modulation
and spread factor. The author also analyzes the different types of applications that use
LoRa and LoRaWAN technologies, such as environmental monitoring, livestock tracking,
fall detection, fire detection, home security, water monitoring, smart parking lots, smart
irrigation, etc.
Finally, in [60], projects with the potential to improve the quality of life of citizens by
implementing the concept of smart cities are analyzed. Some of these projects were related
to the remote monitoring of health, waste management, and public lighting using LEDs.
The authors also highlight that the frequencies used by LoRaWAN can be used almost
anywhere, and the experiments carried out showed that there could be a real coverage of
2.39 km in urban areas. Therefore, it is suggested to solve or mitigate local problems such
as smart parking, counting the number of vehicles, or public lighting.
Next, we discuss the performance studies of LoRaWAN.
In [37], the advantages, disadvantages, and risks of adopting IoT devices are analyzed
in two case studies. The case studies demonstrated that some of the organizational benefits
were a reduction in costs, improvement in the speed and efficiency of the services by
having information in real time, improvement in the organization’s reputation, and the
flexibility of the services. On the other hand, some of the found organizational risks were
conflicts with data privacy, difficulty of interoperability and integration, and data security
breaches. These risks and benefits are studied in relation to organizational conditions and
consequences.
In a similar way, in [62], the design of a LoRaWAN module together with a gateway is
proposed, to facilitate data transmissions in a smart-city scenario. The usage mechanism
consisted of four main steps. First, the RN2483 module was configured, and the commu-
nication messages were generated using Arduino Mega; second, the message from the
module was transmitted to the gateway; third, the transmission of the message from the
gateway to the server was executed; and fourth, the monitoring of the transmitted messages
and the quality of the signal was performed. The proposed technology enabled reliable
communications at a range of up to 6 km. The study was carried out using a 125 kHz
bandwidth and a spreading factor (SF) of 7. The received signal strength indicator (RSSI)
level ranged from 64 dBm to 111 dBm, while the theoretical value for SF7 was 123 dBm.
Moreover, in [64], the authors talk about an experiment performed on a campus
to measure connectivity and try to answer the question if LoRaWAN technology works
well in a real environment. This experiment measured the RSSI (received signal strength
indicator), SNR (signal-to-noise Ratio), and PDR (packet-delivery ratio) to assess the data
delivery performance of LoRaWAN technology. The results showed that the RSSI decreases
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 12 of 20

depending on the communication distance, while SNR remains stable with distance and
PDR fluctuates significantly.
Finally, we discuss the comparative studies where different LPWAN technologies are
contrasted.
In [35], a comparison of five technologies, i.e., NB-IoT, SigFox, Telensa, Ingenu, LoRa,
is made. By comparing these five technologies, it is concluded that LoRa and SigFox have
the longest device lifetime, best data adaptive rate, best network capacity, and lowest costs
compared to the other technologies. On the other hand, this work also concludes that
NB-IoT is the one with the best quality of service and the lowest latency time. On the
other hand, in [40], three classes of devices of LoRaWAN are described, i.e., A, B, and C;
subsequently, a study of the performance of class B devices is carried out compared to class
A devices. The authors conclude that the class B devices have a lower delay in downlink
traffic compared to class A devices, and class B devices have a lower packet loss rate of
downstream traffic.
Furthermore, in [41], a framework is used to compare the price of LPWAN deployment
in urban and rural areas; in this work, the main cost factors for the deployment of the
LPWAN network are identified, such as the cost of equipment, installation cost, spectrum
cost, and electric power cost. Additionally, with NS-3 simulations of LoRaWAN and SigFox
technologies, it was concluded that the impact of inter-technology interference on scalability
in the unlicensed band is negligible under low traffic conditions.
Further, in [42], simulations are carried out and the performance of LPWAN tech-
nologies is evaluated in terms of signal propagation, coverage, and energy conservation;
in LoRaWAN, if the sensitivity of the end nodes is increased by 10%, they can increase
coverage by 142% without repercussions on energy consumption. In addition, the use of
IoT devices in environments with a temperature of −20 ◦ C in LoRaWAN networks reduces
their life by 53%.
It is worth mentioning, in [46], a comparison between NB-IoT and LoRaWAN is made.
This article compares these technologies in terms of the quality of service, cost, and energy
consumption. In this work, the authors conclude that LoRaWAN is the one with the lowest
costs and energy consumption, while NB-IoT has a better quality of service. Subsequently,
experiments are made in different environments such as underground, underwater, and
through metal in order to know the percentage of loss of a transmitted signal. After the
experiments, it was concluded that NB-IoT has less signal loss in the different environments;
however, it is the most expensive and consumes a greater amount of power compared to
LoRaWAN.
In addition, in [1], a study is carried out in which LoRaWAN, SigFox, and NB-IoT
are compared in terms of quality of service, payload length, reach, latency, and power
consumption. This paper concludes that Sigfox and LoRaWAN provide advantages in
terms of battery life, scalability, payload length, and cost, while NB-IoT has better quality
of service, longer payload length, and lower latency.
Moreover, in [47], the authors carried out several simulations in OMNeT++, discover-
ing that intense LoRaWAN networks can operate with variable traffic and high speed but
will consume a large amount of energy and have a large number of collisions.

3.3.1. Geolocation
Geolocation is a very useful tool that has been used in recent years, from delivery
services to social networks. In this area, LoRaWAN devices have also been used to monitor
the health of a person in a given location, as well as for livestock tracking applications. For
example, ref. [43] describes the implementation of a livestock monitoring system using
GPS, temperature, and humidity sensors.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 13 of 20

3.3.2. Security
One of the crucial aspects within the LoRaWAN implementation is security. Faced
with this situation, many authors have carried out different studies on the security of
LoRaWAN.
Several of the articles theoretically carry out the analysis of vulnerabilities present
in LoRaWAN devices. In [53], the different risks that IoT devices have in different areas
such as smart cities, home automation, and agriculture, among others, are discussed. The
different threats that exist in the different layers are also analyzed, e.g., sensor layer and
network layer, among others. Four different technologies, i.e., blockchain, fog computing,
edge computing, and machine learning, are proposed to increase the level of security in
IoT devices. On the other hand, in [54], the vulnerabilities present in various network
technologies such as LoRaWAN, ASV, and ZigBee are analyzed. Most of the attacks
consisted of replay attacks, eavesdropping, and bit-flipping attacks.
Additionally, in [48], the privacy implications of a drop in signal strength when a
vehicle obstructs the sensor devices of a LoRaWAN-based smart parking lot are exploited.
In this work, it is indicated that through an offside-channel attack, the attacker can collect
data passively from great distances. Based on the use of supervised machine learning
techniques based on neural networks, the attacker can estimate parking occupancy with
an accuracy of up to 97%, while the random forest approach achieves an accuracy of more
than 98%.

3.3.3. Performance Improvement

Node lifetime extension is very important in LoRaWAN, and various methods can be
used to achieve this end. For example, one way to improve performance is by improving
supplies as well as using sleep mode to lower power consumption. In this area of study,
there are several works that have been executed.
In [36], the LTC3588 energy harvesting module was used together with a solar panel
and a supercapacitor to provide power to a microcontroller and a wireless sensor without
the need for them to be connected to a battery; with this, it was achieved that the devices
can have a sustainable operation. In [39], a class A end node was used to apply two
methods for extending its working life period: the first was energy harvesting (EH) using
a solar panel, and the second was the use of a deep sleep method. In [44], simulations of
networks with backscatter communication were carried out, which had Backcom devices;
these devices collected energy and transmitted data without the need for a battery, thus
prolonging their lifetime. However, these devices generated a high rate of collisions when
transmitting data. On the other hand, in [45], an algorithm called APRA was used, which
varies the transmission priorities and signal processing dynamically to maximize the quality
of service, avoid signal collisions, and improve the useful lifetime of the batteries. Also,
in [34], the Wake-Up Radios technique was used, so that with the help of an automaton, the
main node changes dynamically; it is important to indicate that the main node is chosen
depending on the frequency with which it sends or receives signals, causing the rest of the
nodes to enter a standby state, thus improving battery life.
In addition, there are works that with an improvement in the methods of sending
information seek to increase the data-collection ratio without increasing energy consump-
tion and thus improve the level of communication and scalability of LoRaWAN networks.
Among these works, we can mention the following.
In [49], the study of a LoRaWAN network with different sensors is carried out, which
generates asymmetric network traffic. In this work, it is demonstrated that the usage of
Slotted ALOHA in the MAC layer helps to improve network performance; the simulations
for this demonstration were carried out with asymmetric traffic of small, medium, and
large volume.
Additionally, in [56], a simulation is carried out to create a network of wireless sensors
that have a higher data collection rate than that established in the LoRaWAN standard and
at the same time have an efficient use of energy. To achieve this, in this paper, the authors
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 14 of 20

use a recursive linear prediction algorithm on the server side and a prediction error control
algorithm on the end-device side. On the other hand, in another work, a modification of
the LoRaWAN communication protocol is presented in which the payload data is encoded
in custom frames to improve data transmission speeds [57].
On the other hand, in [59], the combination of LoRaWAN, SigFox, and GSM in a
hybrid device is proposed; the information collected by the communication technologies is
sent to a cloud platform and synchronized by an open platform communications (OPC)
server to increase the reliability of the collected data.
In [63], the scalability and reliability of LoRaWAN in long-range communications are
evaluated through a simulation model carried out in an NS-3 network simulator, with
the result that multiple gateways considerably improve the reliability of the network.
In addition, in [52], the performance of different adaptive data rate (ADR) schemes is
evaluated. For this, in this work, several schemes are used in order to optimize the sending
of data, for example, the use of a machine learning model to predict the metric that is being
monitored.
In [55], an approach is proposed that allows modeling and calculating the behavior of
the LoRaWAN network taking into account the availability of independent radio frequency
channels. Because this scheme depends on the intensity of the channel traffic, this work
endeavored to find an optimal traffic distribution using dynamic programming. Another
interesting work is [61], where a large number of smart meters are used to manage an elec-
trical network in real time; device management in the LoRaWAN network was optimized
through the use of frequency and time multiplexing, thus allowing 98.45% of the packets
sent to be received.

4. Discussion
The previous works reviewed in this paper develop different applications of different
categories. In this aspect, the largest percentage of the articles carry out work on monitoring
the environment, for example, monitoring temperature, humidity, etc. The second largest
Sensors 2023, 23, x FOR PEER REVIEW 15 of 20
percentage of previous works are dedicated to developing or explaining solutions from the
agriculture, mobility, and health categories. What has been described above can be seen
illustratively in Figure 1.

Figure1.1.Categories
Figure Categoriesof
ofthe
thesolutions
solutionsof
ofthe
theanalyzed
analyzedprevious
previousworks.
works.

The “Other works” category was composed of papers from three subcategories. The
The “Other works” category was composed of papers from three subcategories. The
first subcategory refers to works of comparative studies; these works compare the different
first subcategory refers to works of comparative studies; these works compare the differ-
LPWAN technologies, as well as the different algorithms they use. Comparisons often
ent LPWAN technologies, as well as the different algorithms they use. Comparisons often
encompass features such as range, latency, deployment costs, and device lifetimes. The
encompass features such as range, latency, deployment costs, and device lifetimes. The
second subcategory of previous works dedicates their content in general applications; these
second subcategory of previous works dedicates their content in general applications;
works describe the different applications that can be used in different scenarios using
these works describe the different applications that can be used in different scenarios us-
ing LoRaWAN technology. Finally, the last subcategory is made up of works that are ded-
icated to carrying out studies to verify if some prototypes of LoRaWAN devices comply
with the performance of the market standards. The distribution of these subcategories can
be seen in Figure 2.
 Figure 1. Categories of the solutions of the analyzed previous works.

The “Other works” category was composed of papers from three subcategories. The
first subcategory refers to works of comparative studies; these works compare the differ-
ent LPWAN technologies, as well as the different algorithms they use. Comparisons often
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 encompass features such as range, latency, deployment costs, and device lifetimes. The 15 of 20

second subcategory of previous works dedicates their content in general applications;

these works describe the different applications that can be used in different scenarios us-
ingLoRaWAN
LoRaWANtechnology.
technology.Finally,
Finally, the
the last
last subcategory
subcategory is is made
made upupofof works
works that
that areare ded-
dedicated
icated to carrying
to carrying out studies
out studies to verify
to verify if someif some prototypes
prototypes of LoRaWAN
of LoRaWAN devices
devices comply comply
with the
with the performance
performance of the of the market
market standards.
standards. The distribution
The distribution of these
of these subcategories
subcategories can becan
seen
be seen in Figure
in Figure 2. 2.

Figure 2. Distribution
Figure of the
2. Distribution categories
of the of “Other
categories works”.
of “Other works”.

In addition, in Figure
In addition, 3, you
in Figure cancan
3, you seesee
thethe
different LoRaWAN
different LoRaWAN application
application categories
categories
Sensors 2023, 23, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 20
andand
their respective
their number
respective of previous
number works.
of previous Likewise,
works. Likewise,it isitobserved
is observedthatthat
notnot
all articles
all articles
belong to atosingle
belong category
a single butbut
category rather there
rather areare
there some
somethat belong
that belong to two categories.
to two categories.

Figure3.3.LoRaWAN
Figure LoRaWANapplication
applicationcategories
categoriesand
andtheir
theirrespective
respectivenumbers
numbersof
ofprevious
previousworks.
works.

ItItisisalso
alsoimportant
important to toindicate
indicate that
thatin
inthe
theprevious
previousworks,works,different
differenttypes
typesof ofdevices
devices
andtools
and toolsare areused,
used,which
which cancanbebe categorized
categorized intointo (a) software,
(a) software, (b) boards
(b) boards and modules,
and modules, and
and
(c) (c) sensors,
sensors, gateways,
gateways, and antennas.
and antennas. In 4,
In Figure Figure
it can4,beitseen
can that
be seen that the
the most usedmost used
software
issoftware
NS-3, which is NS-3, which
is used is used to
to perform perform simulations;
LoRaWAN LoRaWAN simulations; secondly,
secondly, Matlab Matlab
is used, whichis
isused,
also which
used toisperform
also used to perform LoRaWAN simulations and additionally for dataAfter
LoRaWAN simulations and additionally for data processing. pro-
cessing. After these
these two tools, two tools,
three software three
tools aresoftware
used most tools are used
frequently: (a)most frequently:
OMNeT++, which(a)is OM-
also
aNeT++,
simulator, which(b)isInfluxDB,
also a simulator,
which is(b) InfluxDB,and
a database, which (c) is a database,
Arduino IDE,and
which(c) Arduino IDE,
is a software
which
used toisprogram
a softwarethe used to program the boards.
boards.
 and tools are used, which can be categorized into (a) software, (b) boards and modules,
and (c) sensors, gateways, and antennas. In Figure 4, it can be seen that the most used
software is NS-3, which is used to perform LoRaWAN simulations; secondly, Matlab is
used, which is also used to perform LoRaWAN simulations and additionally for data pro-
cessing. After these two tools, three software tools are used most frequently: (a) OM-
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 NeT++, which is also a simulator, (b) InfluxDB, which is a database, and (c) Arduino16IDE,
of 20

which is a software used to program the boards.

Figure 4.
Figure Frequency of
4. Frequency of use
use of
of software
software tools.
tools.

Sensors 2023, 23, x FOR PEER REVIEW Additionally, in Figure 5, you can see the brands of boards and modules that are
17 ofused
20
Additionally, in Figure 5, you can see the brands of boards and modules that are used
mostly in different projects. On the horizontal axis, you can see the brand of the different
mostly in different projects. On the horizontal axis, you can see the brand of the different
devices, and on the vertical axis, the number of previous works that use these devices.
devices, and on the vertical axis, the number of previous works that use these devices.

Figure
Figure5.5.Most
Mostused
usedboard
boardand
andmodule
moduletypes
typesand
andbrands.
brands.

5. Conclusions
5. Conclusions
The number of articles that have been placed in the “Other works” category is equiv-
The
alent to number
52% of the of articles
analyzed thatpapers,
have been
which placed in thethat
indicates “Other works” category
LoRaWAN is equiv-
is a relatively new
alent to 52% of the analyzed papers, which indicates that LoRaWAN
technology for which many applications are still expected to be carried out in various is a relatively new
real
technology
environments.for which
In thismany
sense,applications
measuring the are performance
still expectedoftothis
be carried out in
technology various
and real
generating
environments.
proposals for In this sense, measuring
improvement is essentialthefor
performance of this
its widespread technology
adoption andapplications.
in real generating
proposals
Based on forthisimprovement
background, in is Figure
essential forcan
2, it itsbe
widespread
seen that 21%adoption
of the in real applications.
papers correspond to
Based on this background, in Figure 2, it can be seen that 21%
improvements in LoRaWAN technology in terms of energy consumption and data trans-of the papers correspond to
improvements in LoRaWAN technology in terms of energy consumption
mission, which indicates an interest of the scientific and technological community in the and data trans-
mission, which of
improvement indicates an interest of the scientific and technological community in the
this technology.
improvement of this technology.
The classification of the papers in the different practical applications presented in
The4classification
Figure indicates that of this
the technology
papers in the candifferent
be usedpractical
in moreapplications presentedthat
than one application in
Figure 4 indicates
includes areas such thatasthis technology
health, can be
agriculture, or used in more
security. than
In this one application
aspect, although the that in-of
use
cludes
LoRaWAN areastechnology
such as health,is stillagriculture, or security.
limited compared to otherIntraditional
this aspect, although
wireless the use of
communication
LoRaWAN technology is still limited compared to other traditional wireless
technologies, its use could be widely extended with the extension of the field of IoT and communica-
tion technologies,
smart cities. its use could be widely extended with the extension of the field of IoT
and smart cities.
In conclusion, it can be inferred that the research questions have been successfully
addressed, with the exception of the primary areas of study within the realm of Lo-
RaWAN. This exception arises due to the fact that only 48% of the papers analyzed corre-
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 17 of 20

In conclusion, it can be inferred that the research questions have been successfully
addressed, with the exception of the primary areas of study within the realm of LoRaWAN.
This exception arises due to the fact that only 48% of the papers analyzed correspond to
LoRaWAN applications.
Additionally, it can be concluded that the most used brand for boards and modules in
real applications is Semtech Corporation with 15 projects, closely followed by Arduino and
Raspberry Pi with 12 and 11 projects, respectively, positioning them as market leaders in
the LoRaWAN applications that were studied.
The improvements that have been implemented in LoRaWAN correspond to security,
energy performance, and packet delivery; additionally, there is a trend toward improve-
ments in energy performance.
In this literature review, it has been observed that LoRaWAN is a promising technology
that enables low-energy-cost communications. In addition, thanks to spread spectrum
modulation, there is wide coverage and greater signal penetration through buildings and
other obstacles. By working on unlicensed frequencies, the cost of contracting is avoided,
making it an interesting option for many applications. For all this, LoRaWAN is a low-cost,
long-range, and low-economic- and energy-cost technology, ideal for applications that
require low data rates, such as environmental sensors, smart meters, asset tracking, and
remote monitoring.

Funding: The publication of this research article was funded by Escuela Politécnica Nacional.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References
1. Mekki, K.; Bajic, E.; Chaxel, F.; Meyer, F. A comparative study of LPWAN technologies for large-scale IoT deployment. ICT
Express 2019, 5, 1–7. [CrossRef]
2. Saban, M.; Casans-Berga, S.; Garcia-Gil, R.; Navarro-Anton, E.; Aghzout, O.; Rosado-Munoz, A. Sensing Wood Moisture in
Heritage and Wooden Buildings: A New Sensing Unit with an Integrated LoRa-Based Monitoring System. IEEE Internet Things J.
2022, 9, 25409–25423. [CrossRef]
3. Aernouts, M.; Berkvens, R.; Van Vlaenderen, K.; Weyn, M. Sigfox and LoRaWAN Datasets for Fingerprint Localization in Large
Urban and Rural Areas. Data 2018, 3, 13. [CrossRef]
4. Lalle, Y.; Fourati, L.C.; Fourati, M.; Barraca, J.P. A Comparative Study of LoRaWAN, SigFox, and NB-IoT for Smart Water Grid. In
Proceedings of the 2019 Global Information Infrastructure and Networking Symposium (GIIS), Paris, France, 18–20 December
2019; pp. 1–6.
5. Haxhibeqiri, J.; De Poorter, E.; Moerman, I.; Hoebeke, J. A Survey of LoRaWAN for IoT: From Technology to Application. Sensors
2018, 18, 3995. [CrossRef]
6. Panagi, G.; Katzis, K. Towards 3-Lead Electrocardiogram Monitoring over LoRa: A Conceptual Design. In Proceedings of the
2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), Dublin, Ireland, 7–11 June 2020; pp. 1–5.
7. Barriga, J.; Yoo, S.G. Securing End-Node to Gateway Communication in LoRaWAN with a Lightweight Security Protocol. IEEE
Access 2022, 10, 96672–96694. [CrossRef]
8. Barriga, J.J.; Sulca, J.; León, J.L.; Ulloa, A.; Portero, D.; Andrade, R.; Yoo, S.G. Smart Parking: A Literature Review from the
Technological Perspective. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 4569. [CrossRef]
9. Suwaid, M.M.; Habaebi, M.H.; Khan, S. Embedded LoRaWAN for Agricultural Sensing Applications. In Proceedings of the 2019
IEEE 6th International Conference on Engineering Technologies and Applied Sciences (ICETAS), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 20–21
December 2019; pp. 1–5.
10. Torre-Neto, A.; Rodrigues Cotrim, J.; Henrique Kleinschmidt, J.; Kamienski, C.; Cezar Visoli, M. Enhancing Soil Measurements
with a Multi-Depth Sensor for IoT-based Smart Irrigation. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology
for Agriculture and Forestry (MetroAgriFor), Trento, Italy, 4–6 November 2020; pp. 78–82.
11. Wu, S.; Austin, A.; Ivoghlian, A.; Bisht, A.; Wang, K. Long range wide area network for agricultural wireless underground sensor
networks. J. Ambient. Intell. Humaniz. Comput. 2020, 14, 4903–4919. [CrossRef]
12. Wu, S.; Wang, K.; Ivoghlian, A.; Salcic, Z.; Austin, A.; Zhou, X. LWS: A LoRaWAN wireless underground sensor network
simulator for agriculture applications. In Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE SmartWorld, Ubiquitous Intelligence & Computing,
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 18 of 20

Advanced & Trusted Computing, Scalable Computing & Communications, Cloud & Big Data Computing, Internet of Peo-
ple and Smart City Innovation (SmartWorld/SCALCOM/UIC/ATC/CBDCom/IOP/SCI), Leicester, UK, 19–23 August 2019;
pp. 475–482.
13. Kloibhofer, R.; Kristen, E.; Davoli, L. LoRaWAN with HSM as a Security Improvement for Agriculture Applications. In Computer
Safety, Reliability, and Security. SAFECOMP 2020 Workshops; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; pp. 176–188.
14. Barreto, R.; Souto, E.; Leite, J.C. IoT System for Ultraviolet Ray Index Monitoring. Int. J. Innov. Educ. Res. 2019, 7, 409–420.
15. Glass, T.; Ali, S.; Parr, B.; Potgieter, J.; Alam, F. IoT Enabled Low Cost Air Quality Sensor. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Sensors
Applications Symposium (SAS), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 9–11 March 2020; pp. 1–6.
16. Khutsoane, O.; Isong, B.; Gasela, N.; Abu-Mahfouz, A. WaterGrid-Sense: A LoRa-Based Sensor Node for Industrial IoT
Applications. IEEE Sens. J. 2020, 20, 2722–2729. [CrossRef]
17. Porselvi, T.; Sai Ganesh, C.; Janaki, B.; Priyadarshini, K.; Shajitha Begam, S. IoT Based Coal Mine Safety and Health Monitoring
System using LoRaWAN. In Proceedings of the 2021 3rd International Conference on Signal Processing and Communication
(ICPSC), Coimbatore, India, 13–14 May 2021; pp. 49–53.
18. Pramono, N.A.; Sofyan, F.I.; Purwandani, B.A.; Ghaisyani, O. Application of ESP32 as a Media for Learning Ozone Damage in the
Form of IoT-Based Ultraviolet Index Readers. J. Disruptive Learn. Innov. (JODLI) 2020, 4, 22–29. [CrossRef]
19. Serrano, A.; Abril-Gago, J.; García-Orellana, C. Development of a Low-Cost Device for Measuring Ultraviolet Solar Radiation.
Front. Environ. Sci. 2022, 9, 737875. [CrossRef]
20. Simo, A.; Dzitac, S.; Dzitac, I.; Frigura-Iliasa, M.; Frigura-Iliasa, F.M. Air quality assessment system based on self-driven drone
and LoRaWAN network. Comput. Commun. 2021, 175, 13–24. [CrossRef]
21. Tolentino, L.K.; Chua, E.J.; Añover, J.R.; Cabrera, C.; Hizon, C.A.; Mallari, J.G.; Mamenta, J.; Quijano, J.F.; Virrey, G.; Madrigal,
G.A.; et al. IoT-Based Automated Water Monitoring and Correcting Modular Device via LoRaWAN for Aquaculture. Int. J.
Comput. Digit. Syst. 2021, 10, 533–544. [CrossRef]
22. Wang, Y.; Huang, Y.; Song, C. A New Smart Sensing System Using LoRaWAN for Environmental Monitoring. In Proceedings of
the 2019 Computing, Communications and IoT Applications (ComComAp), Shenzhen, China, 26–28 October 2019; pp. 347–351.
23. Barillaro, S.; Anand, D.; Gopstein, A.; Barillaro, J. A Demonstration of Low Power Wide Area Networking for City-Scale
Monitoring Applications. In Ad-Hoc, Mobile, and Wireless Networks. ADHOC-NOW 2019; Palattella, M., Scanzio, S., Coleri Ergen,
S., Eds.; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2019; pp. 608–618.
24. Buele, J.; Chango, F.; Chango, M.D.L.Á.; Santamaría, M.; Varela-Aldás, J. System for Monitoring and Warning of the Ultraviolet
Radiation Index: A Study Case in Ecuador Elementary Schools. In Computational Science and Its Applications—ICCSA 2020;
Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; Volume 12254, pp. 846–861.
25. Kristiani, E.; Yang, C.-T.; Huang, C.-Y.; Ko, P.-C. The Implementation of an Edge Computing Architecture with LoRaWAN for Air
Quality Monitoring Applications. In Wireless Internet. WiCON 2019; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; Volume 317, pp. 210–219.
26. Tavares de Camargo, E.; Spanhol, F.A.; Castro e Souza, Á.R. Deployment of a LoRaWAN network and evaluation of tracking
devices in the context of smart cities. J. Internet Serv. Appl. 2021, 12, 8. [CrossRef]
27. Karantoumanis, E.; Krallis, X.; Ploskas, N. An experimental evaluation of sensors on a LoRaWAN-based GPS tracking system. In
Proceedings of the 25th Pan-Hellenic Conference on Informatics (PCI 2021), Volos, Greece, 26–28 November 2021; pp. 224–228.
28. Santana, J.R.; Sotres, P.; Pérez, J.; Sánchez, L.; Lanza, J.; Muñoz, L. LoRaWAN-based Smart Parking Service: Deployment and
Performance Evaluation. In Proceedings of the 19th ACM International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Wireless Ad
Hoc, Sensor, & Ubiquitous Networks (PE-WASUN‘22), Montreal, QC, Canada, 24–28 October 2022; pp. 107–114.
29. Seid, S.; Zennaro, M.; Libse, M.; Pietrosemoli, E. Mobile Crowdsensing Based Road Surface Monitoring Using Smartphone
Vibration Sensor and Lorawan. In Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Experiences with the Design and Implementation of
Frugal Smart Objects (FRUGALTHINGS’20), London, UK, 21 September 2020; pp. 36–41.
30. Artem, V.; Al-Sveiti, M.; Elgendy, I.; Kovtunenko, A.; Muthanna, A. Detection and Recognition of Moving Biological Objects
for Autonomous Vehicles Using Intelligent Edge Computing/LoRaWAN Mesh System. In Proceedings of the 20th International
Conference on Next Generation Teletraffic and Wired/Wireless Advanced Networks and Systems, NEW2AN 2020 and 13th Conference on the
Internet of Things and Smart Spaces, ruSMART 2020, Petersburg, Russia, 26–28 August 2020; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020;
pp. 3–15.
31. Kopaniev, M.; Rybak, O.; Zhivkov, A. Sensors Wireless Communication for Working Conditions Monitoring Based on LoRaWAN
Protocol. In Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on Information and Telecommunication Technologies and Radio
Electronics (UkrMiCo), Odessa, Ukraine, 9–13 September 2019; pp. 1–4.
32. Plaza, S.L.; Villadangos Carrizo, J.; Garcia Dominguez, J.J.; Jimenez Martin, A.; Gomez, D.G. FrailWear: A Wearable IoT Device for
Daily Activity Monitoring of Elderly Patients. In Proceedings of the 2020 XXXV Conference on Design of Circuits and Integrated
Systems (DCIS), Segovia, Spain, 18–20 November 2020; pp. 1–6.
33. Bouras, C.; Gkamas, A.; Kokkinos, V.; Papachristos, N. IoT Geolocation Performance Using LoRaWAN. In Advanced Information
Networking and Applications; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; Volume 1151, pp. 229–239.
34. Spathi, K.; Valkanis, A.; Beletsioti, G.; Kantelis, K.; Nicopolitidis, P.; Papadimitriou, G. Learning-Automata-Based Energy Efficient
Model for Device Lifetime Enhancement in LoRaWAN Networks. In Proceedings of the 2022 International Conference on
Computer, Information and Telecommunication Systems (CITS), Piraeus, Greece, 13–15 July 2022; pp. 1–6.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 19 of 20

35. Almuhaya, M.; Jabbar, W.; Sulaiman, N.; Abdulmalek, S. A Survey on LoRaWAN Technology: Recent Trends, Opportunities,
Simulation Tools and Future Directions. Electronics 2022, 11, 164. [CrossRef]
36. Asenov, S.; Tokmakov, D. Battery Free Wireless LoRaWAN End Sensor Node for IoT Applications. In Proceedings of the 28th
National Conference with International Participation (TELECOM), Sofia, Bulgaria, 29–30 October 2020; pp. 121–124.
37. Brous, P.; Janssen, M.; Herder, P. The dual effects of the Internet of Things (IoT): A systematic review of the benefits and risks of
IoT adoption by organizations. Int. J. Inf. Manag. 2020, 51, 101952. [CrossRef]
38. Chaudhari, B.S.; Zennaro, M.; Borkar, S. LPWAN Technologies: Emerging Application Characteristics, Requirements, and Design
Considerations. Future Internet 2020, 12, 46. [CrossRef]
39. Dinh, N.; Tveito, O.; Oystein, O. Performance Evaluation for Energy Harvesting (EH)-based Sensor Nodes Under LoRaWAN
Connectivity. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Communications and Electronics (ICCE), Phu
Quoc Island, Vietnam, 13–15 January 2021; pp. 64–69.
40. Elbsir, H.E.; Kassab, M.; Bhiri, S.; Bedoui, M.H. Evaluation of LoRaWAN Class B efficiency for downlink traffic. In Proceedings
of the 2020 16th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob),
Thessaloniki, Greece, 12–14 October 2020; pp. 105–110.
41. Hossain, M.I.; Markendahl, J. Comparison of LPWAN Technologies: Cost Structure and Scalability. Wirel. Pers Commun 2021, 121,
887–903. [CrossRef]
42. Ikpehai, A.; Adebisi, B.; Rabie, K.; Anoh, K.; Ande, R.; Hammoudeh, M.; Gacanin, H.; Mbanaso, U. Low-Power Wide Area
Network Technologies for Internet-of-Things: A Comparative Review. IEEE Internet Things J. 2019, 6, 2225–2240. [CrossRef]
43. Joshitha, C.; Kanakaraja, P.; Bhavani, M.D.; Raman, Y.N.; Sravani, T. LoRaWAN based Cattle Monitoring Smart System. In
Proceedings of the 2021 7th International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES), Chennai, India, 11–13 February 2021;
pp. 548–552.
44. Kim, D.-Y.; Lee, S.; Kim, S. LoRa Backscatter Network Efficient Data Transmission Using RF Source Range Control. Comput. Mater.
Contin. 2023, 74, 4015–4025. [CrossRef]
45. Lima, E.; Moraes, J.; Oliveira, H.; Cerqueira, E.; Zeadally, S.; Rosário, D. Adaptive priority-aware LoRaWAN resource allocation
for Internet of Things applications. Ad Hoc Netw. 2021, 122, 102598. [CrossRef]
46. Lombardo, A.; Parrino, S.; Peruzzi, G.; Pozzebon, A. LoRaWAN Versus NB-IoT: Transmission Performance Analysis within
Critical Environments. IEEE Internet Things J. 2022, 9, 1068–1081. [CrossRef]
47. Al Mojamed, M. On the Use of LoRaWAN for Mobile Internet of Things: The Impact of Mobility. Appl. Syst. Innov. 2021, 5, 5.
[CrossRef]
48. Dujić Rodić, L.; Perković, T.; Škiljo, M.; Šolić, P. Privacy leakage of LoRaWAN smart parking occupancy sensors. Future Gener.
Comput. Syst. 2023, 138, 142–159. [CrossRef]
49. Spathi, K.; Valkanis, A.; BeletsIoTi, G.; Papadimitriou, G.; Nicopolitidis, P. Performance Evaluation of Slotted ALOHA based
IoT Networks under Asymmetric Traffic. In Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Communications, Computing,
Cybersecurity, and Informatics (CCCI), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, 3–5 November 2020; pp. 1–5.
50. Swamy, N.; Kota, S.R. An empirical study on system level aspects of Internet of Things (IoT). IEEE Access 2020, 8, 188082–188134.
[CrossRef]
51. Subashini, S.; Venkateswari, R.; Mathiyalagan, P. A Study on LoRaWAN for Wireless Sensor Networks. In Computing, Communica-
tion and Signal Processing; Springer: Singapore, 2019; Volume 810, pp. 245–252.
52. Kufakunesu, R.; Hancke, G.; Abu-Mahfouz, A. A survey on adaptive data rate optimization in lorawan: Recent solutions and
major challenges. Sensors 2020, 20, 5044. [CrossRef]
53. Hassija, V.; Chamola, V.; Saxena, V.; Jain, D.; Goyal, P.; Sikdar, B. A Survey on IoT Security: Application Areas, Security Threats,
and Solution Architectures. IEEE Access 2019, 7, 82721–82743. [CrossRef]
54. Rajput, A.; Brahimi, T.; Sarirete, A. Automatic Speaker Verification, ZigBee and LoRaWAN: Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities
in Smart Cities. In Research and Innovation Forum, RII Forum 2019; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2019; pp. 277–285.
55. Muthanna, M.S.A.; Wang, P.; Wei, M.; Al-mughalles, W.; Rafiq, A. Dynamic Programming Method for Traffic Distribution in
LoRaWAN Network. In International Conference on Next Generation Teletraffic and Wired/Wireless Advanced Networks and Systems,
NEW2AN 2020 and 13th Conference on the Internet of Things and Smart Spaces, ruSMART 2020; Petersburg, Russia, 26–28 August 2020;
Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; pp. 317–325.
56. Rassadin, Y.; Dushin, S. Efficient Wireless Data Collection System Based on LoRaWAN Technology and Distributed Compu-
tation Approach. In 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computer and Communication Networks: Control, Computation,
Communications, DCCN 2020, Moscow, Russia, 14–18 September 2020; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; pp. 510–520.
57. Yáñez-Casas, G.A.; Medina, I.; Hernández-Gómez, J.J.; Orozco-del-Castillo, M.G.; Couder-Castañeda, C.; de-la-Rosa-Rabago, R.
High Data Rate Efficiency Improvement via Variable Length Coding for LoRaWAN. In 9th International Congress on Telematics and
Computing, WITCOM 2020, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2–6 November 2020; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; pp. 97–115.
58. Seneviratne, P. Introduction to LoRa and LoRaWAN. In Beginning LoRa Radio Networks with Arduino; Apress: Berkeley, CA, USA,
2019; pp. 1–22.
59. Židek, K.; Pitel’, J.; Lazorík, P. IoT System with Switchable GSM, LoRaWAN, and Sigfox Communication Technology for Reliable
Data Collection to Open-Source or Industrial Cloud Platforms. In New Approaches in Management of Smart Manufacturing Systems;
Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2020; pp. 311–333.
Sensors 2023, 23, 8440 20 of 20

60. Manchini de Souza, F.V.; Rabello, R.D.S. LoRaWan: Low Cost Solution for Smart Cities. In Smart and Digital Cities; Springer:
Cham, Switzerland, 2020.
61. Jebroni, Z.; Chadli, H.; Salmi, K.; Saber, M.; Tidhaf, B. Modeling and Simulation of LoRaWAN for Smart Metering Network. Adv.
Smart Technol. Appl. Case Stud. 2020, 684, 687–695.
62. Poluektov, D.; Polovov, M.; Kharin, P.; Stusek, M.; Zeman, K.; Masek, P.; Gudkova, I.; Hosek, J.; Samouylov, K. On the Performance
of LoRaWAN in Smart City: End-Device Design and Communication Coverage. In Distributed Computer and Communication
Networks. DCCN 2019; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2019; pp. 15–29.
63. Ahmad, A.I.; Ray, B.; Chowdhury, M. Performance Evaluation of LoRaWAN for Mission-Critical IoT Networks. In Future Network
Systems and Security. FNSS 2019; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2019; Volume 1113, pp. 37–51.
64. Kim, D.H.; Jo, J.-S.; Lee, E.-K. Performance Evaluation of LoRaWAN on Campus Environment. In Proceedings of the Sixth
International Conference on Green and Human Information Technology, ICGHIT 2018, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 31 January–2
February 2018; Springer: Singapore, 2019; Volume 502, pp. 25–30.
65. Castro, E.; Yoo, S.G. A Smart Waste Management System Based on LoRaWAN. Commun. Comput. Inf. Sci. 2021, 1396, 228–240.

Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual
author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to
people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.