LoRa

Long Range

A radio modulation technique with a clever way of encoding digital data into radio waves to send them over long distances using minimal power. Think of it as a specialized radio language optimized for distance rather than speed.

What makes LoRa unique is how it spreads information across different frequencies, using what’s called chirp spread spectrum technology. Imagine someone whistling a note that quickly slides from low to high frequency – that’s similar to how LoRa works. This chirping technique was inspired by radar systems developed in the 1940s.

The genius of LoRa is in its balance of trade-offs:

• It can transmit signals that can be received even when they’re weaker than background noise
• Signals can travel 10+ kilometers in rural areas or 2-3 kilometers in cities
• The downside is very slow data rates – think hundreds or thousands of bits per second, not the millions you get with WiFi.

It’s like choosing between a whisper and a shout. WiFi is like shouting—it sends lots of information quickly but doesn’t travel far. LoRa is like a whisper that somehow carries across a large distance—it does not have much information, but it gets there.

LoRa is just the underlying radio technology—it’s the foundation on which LoRaWAN (the networking protocol) is built. Think of LoRa as being like AM/FM radio waves, while LoRaWAN is more like radio stations’ rules for broadcasting on those waves.

• Abbreviation: LoRa