Adaptation of Propagation Models to Improve the Coverage Range Prediction of LoRaWAN Technology at 915 MHz in an Urban Environment

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology has established new concepts for long-range wireless communication, being widely used in the implementation of IoT solutions. Therefore, it is crucial to validate the coverage of the signal and to know the distance at which a LoRAWAN communication system can be connected. This document investigates LoRaWAN technology for cases based on urban environments, so it can be used as a guide for those projects that require predicting the connection distance range of a LoRaWAN link. In addition, it serves as a tool for the reader when it comes to predicting the coverage of Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology. Measurements were made in a LoRaWAN network deployed in urban environments, where RSSI measurements were made in the city of Bogotá D.C., Colombia. Experimentally RSSI values were compared with four different propagation models at a frequency of 915 MHz in urban environments. The contribution of this work is an adjustment to widely used prediction models, according to the recommendation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ITU-R P.1546, which allows estimating coverage in scenarios with characteristics similar to Bogotá D.C. This allows to know with precision the coverage before implementing the LoRaWAN communications system at 915 MHz. The results of comparing field measurements with fitted propagation models show that the Okumura model is the best predictor of coverage with a minimum error rate.