First Steps in the Development of a LoRaWAN Testbench

The development of Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) based on novel communication standards such as LoRaWAN has increased exponentially to provide network infrastructure to the large number of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that are currently being developed. However, the first difficulty that developers face in the implementation and deployment of a LoRa network is the appropriate selection not only of the hardware but also the network server software. Likewise, it is essential to have a testbench to evaluate and configure the network optimally before its actual deployment. This is due to the large number of parameters that must be configured for proper operation of the network, which are dependent on the application scenario. In this paper, we will introduce the main features of LoRaWAN wireless communication technology, a comparison of the main features of hardware and network server software currently available. Finally, we show the first implementation and results of a LoRaWAN testbench and the difficulties detected.