LoRa long-range communication system, similar to WIFI but working over very long distances (up to 10km). Unlike regular wifi, LoRa is designed to send only very small amounts of data, and pretty slowly.

Hardware

The Arduino MKR WAN 1310 is a board that combines the functionality of the MKR Zero and LoRa / LoRaWAN^TM connectivity. There are also modules that allow LoRa communication for almost any device, and several other Arduino based devices with inbuilt LoRa functionality.

...

• Compatible Antena

• Jumper wires

• Breadboard

• A sensor

Getting started with the MKR WAN 1310

For this experiment, we need two LoRa devices. We also need to have a compatible antenna connected to both devices.

...

#include <SPI.h>
#include <LoRa.h>

String contents = "";

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while (!Serial); // wait until serial has started 
  Serial.println("LoRa Receiver");
  if (!LoRa.begin(868E6)) {
    Serial.println("Starting LoRa failed!");
    while (1);
  }
}

void loop() {
  // try to parse packet
  int packetSize = LoRa.parsePacket();
  if (packetSize) {
    // received a packet
    Serial.print("Received packet '");
    // read packet
    while (LoRa.available()) {  
      contents += (char)LoRa.read();
    }
    Serial.println(contents);
    // print RSSI of packet
    Serial.print("' with RSSI ");
    Serial.println(LoRa.packetRssi());
    contents = "";
  }
}

Advanced example MKR WAN 1310

In the previous example, you might have noticed a potential problem. The receiving device is getting LorRa LoRa messages from anyone sending data on that frequency. Furthermore, anyone can listen in to the data being sent. This could be resolved with some encryption, but that goes beyond the scope of this tutorialby encrypting the message.

We are going to solve the problem by simply sending an ID with our packet, then checking it at the receiving end and discarding any other messages.

We are using the Serial port extensively here to see the workings of our code, which is very slow for the arduinoArduino. It would be wise to remove most of this communication before using the an example in from the real world.

Sender Code with an Analog Sensor.

...