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Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center
9240 South Riverbend Avenue
Parlier, CA 93648
Phone: (559) 646-6500
FAX: (559) 646-6593

LoRa Projects

What is LoRa?

What is LoRa?  LoRa is a long range wireless protocol used for transmitting small amounts of data. Data can be transmitted up to 10km under ideal conditions. The basic components of LoRa transmission are:

  • Sensors - Sensors are deployed which collect data.  The data is broadcast periodically to a gateway. Sensors include temperature, humidity, soil moisture, etc.  The small bits of data are then broadcast on a low power radio frequency.  For a list of some of the sensors that are available you can click here
  • Gateways - Any gateway in range of the sensors will receive the broadcast data.  If the device is registered with the gateway then the data wil be processed otherwise it will be ignored. Examples of gateways are Dragino, Kerlink, and Amazon
  • LNS or LoRa Network Server - Once a gateway has received a data packet it needs to forward it to a LoRa Network Server (LNS).  A LNS is a centralized software package that the gateway sends the data to.  The LNS can then either store it or forward it to an application.  Examples of LNS are Helium, The Things Network, and Senet.  The LNS can also be built in to the gateway.
  • Applications - An application is the final destination for the data.  At this point the data is processed by the end user.  Applications can be web servers, AWS servers, or any other software application that can receive the data and process it.

For more information:

The Things Network -LoRa

Wikipedia - LoRa

Project #1

This initial project was just to test the capabilities of LoRa on our center.  The device consisted of:

  1. Heltec ESP32 LoRa board
  2. AM2302 Temperature/Humidity Sensor
  3. Capacitive Soil Sensor V1.0 (new version)
  4. 18650-35E Lithium battery - 3.7v, 3500mAh
  5. Gateway - Hosted by Senetco

The total cost for the device is aprroximately $40.  The device is located at the South East corner of our facility at ground level. The gateway is located near the center of the property.  The device is located approximately 4,000 ft (1.2km) from the gateway. The device reads the soil moisture, temperature, and humidity once per hour.  The data is forwarded to a website where it is displayed in a line graph.

 

Code Used in Project

  • Sensor.ino - Code for the Heltec ESP32 LoRa Board
  • Heltec.php - code for the php page to receive the data
  • Lora.html - web page to display the data

Project Location

For more information about this project contact:

Keith Byrum

kcbyrum@ucanr.edu

559-646-6560