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^TMconnectivity. There are also modules that allow LoRa communication for almost any device, and several other Arduino based devices with inbuilt LoRa functionality.

For the experiments below we will also need:

Compatible Antena
Jumper wires
Breadboard
A sensor

Setting up the MKR WAN 1310

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

We will also need to install the Arduino Lora Library.

We also have to be aware of the radio frequency plan allowed in our region. It’s 868E6 for Europe, and you can find the full list of frequency bands are here.

Sender Code

The sender code sends a simple message w

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

int counter = 0;
String myData = "my name";

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

delay(1000);
}

void loop() {
  Serial.print("Sending packet: ");
  Serial.println(counter);
  // send packet
  LoRa.beginPacket();
  LoRa.print(myData);
  LoRa.print(" name");
  LoRa.endPacket();
  counter++;
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);   // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  delay(1000);                       // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);    // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  delay(4000);    
}

Receiver Code

#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 = "";
  }

LORA on the MKR WAN 1310

Hardware