A Survey on LoRa for IoT: Integrating Edge Computing

Abstract

Increased automation and intelligence in computer systems have revealed limitations of Cloud-based computing such as unpredicted latency in safety-critical and performance-sensitive applications. The amount of data generated from ubiquitous sensors has reached a degree where it becomes impractical to always store and process in the Cloud. Edge computing brings computation and storage to the Edge of the network near to where the data originates yielding reduced network load and better performance of services. In parallel, new wireless communication technologies have appeared to facilitate the expansion of Internet of Things (IoT). Instead of seeking higher data rates, low-power wide-area network aims at battery-powered sensor nodes and devices which require reliable communication for a prolonged period of time. Recently, Long Range (LoRa) has become a popular choice for IoT-based solutions. In this paper, we explore and analyze different application fields and related works which use LoRa and investigate potential improvement opportunities and considerations. Furthermore, we propose a generic architecture to integrate Edge computation capability in IoT-based applications for enhanced performance.