Combined Use of LoRaWAN Medium Access Control Protocols for IoT Applications

The low power wide area networks (LPWANs) based on the LoRaWAN standard are suitable for Internet of Things (IoT) applications that involve a large number of low-power devices distributed over large areas. The LoRaWAN standard imposes some limitations on end-device configuration, such as the medium access strategies to be adopted, which depend on the region in which the network operates. In particular, in Europe, according to the ETSI regulations, a LoRaWAN end-device can use either a pure ALOHA medium access control (MAC) protocol or a polite medium access technique based on Listen Before Talk (LBT) Adaptive Frequency Agility (AFA). The aim of this work is to investigate the combined use of the two MAC protocols in the same LoRaWAN network. In particular, the work presents a simulative assessment of a LoRaWAN network that combines the use of Pure ALOHA and LBT AFA in realistic scenarios, under different workloads, when they work in compliance with the ETSI regulations. The work provides quantitative information that can help the network designer choose which protocol is more suitable for achieving the desired performance.