article · Engineering Technology & Applied Science Research
Low-Power Wide-Area Networks support Internet of Things applications requiring long-range communication and low energy use. System performance depends heavily on selecting the correct physical layer configurations under changing traffic and channel conditions. A dynamic selection framework integrates Long Range (LoRa) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technologies. The framework derives closed-form formulas for packet airtime, energy consumption per bit, end-to-end latency, and throughput, combining them into a normalised multi-objective cost function. A feasibility filter removes settings that fail minimum Signal-to-Noise Ratio requirements. Implemented as a hardware-accelerated decision engine on a Xilinx Zynq-7000 FPGA, the module requires 1,105 Look-Up Tables and 1,227 flip-flops. Under favourable channel conditions, switching to OFDM reduces latency by up to 67 times and energy consumption by 66 times compared to LoRa.
Connected devices in Internet of Things networks must balance battery life with communication speed. By dynamically switching between long-range LoRa and higher-speed OFDM, network equipment can maintain reliable connections in poor signal conditions whilst drastically cutting delays and conserving battery power when signals are clear.
This framework could enable hybrid network devices and gateways for Internet of Things hardware developers and network operators. At this stage, the technology is applied and tested as an FPGA-based hardware prototype across varied signal and payload conditions, though the abstract notes it has not yet undergone radio-frequency level validation.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) are a key technology for Internet of Things (IoT) applications due to their energy efficiency and long-range capability. However, system performance strongly depends on selecting appropriate physical layer (PHY) configurations under varying channel and traffic conditions. This paper proposes an analytical framework for dynamic PHY selection in hybrid LPWAN systems integrating Long Range (LoRa) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technologies. The framework derives closed-form expressions for packet airtime, energy consumption per bit, end-to-end latency, and effective throughput for both PHY technologies and combines them into a normalized multi-objective cost function. A feasibility filtering step ensures that only PHY configurations satisfying minimum Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) requirements are considered, preventing incorrect selections under marginal channel conditions. The framework is implemented as a hardware-accelerated decision engine on a Xilinx Zynq-7000 Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), requiring 1,105 Look-Up Tables (LUTs) and 1,227 flip-flops, demonstrating computational feasibility without requiring RF-level validation. Evaluation across seven SNR levels (−5 to 12 dB) and three payload sizes (45 to 500 bytes) shows that LoRa SF7 is selected at low SNR, achieving 92.42 ms latency and 6.45 µJ/bit energy at 45 bytes, whereas OFDM 16-QAM 1/2 is selected at high SNR, achieving 1.38 ms latency and 0.097 µJ/bit energy consumption. The proposed framework achieves up to 67 times lower latency and 66 times lower energy consumption compared to LoRa under favorable channel conditions.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.48084/etasr.18926
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
