Many people can't tell the difference between LoRaWAN wireless module and LoRa gateway wireless transmission technology, and what are their applications in the field of Internet of Things.

LoRaWAN refers to the MAC layer networking protocol, while LoRa is a physical layer protocol. Although existing LoRaWAN networks basically use LoRa as the physical layer, the LoRaWAN protocol also lists that GFSK can also be used as the physical layer in certain frequency bands. From the perspective of network layering, LoRaWAN can use any physical layer protocol, and LoRa can also be used as the physical layer of other networking technologies.
★ Lora gateway wireless communication technology ★
lora gateway wireless transmission technology
LoRa is one of the LPWAN communication technologies. It is an ultra-long-distance wireless transmission solution based on spread spectrum technology adopted and promoted by the American Semtech Company. This solution changes the previous tradeoff between transmission distance and power consumption to provide users with a simple system that can achieve long distance, long battery life, and large capacity, thereby expanding the sensor network. Currently, LoRa mainly operates in free frequency bands around the world, including 433/868/915MHz, etc.

★ LoraWAN wireless communication module ★
lorawan wireless communication module
LoRaWAN wireless communication is an open standard that defines the communication protocol of LPWAN technology based on LoRa chips. LoRaWAN defines media access control (MAC) at the data link layer and is maintained by the LoRa Alliance. This distinction between LoRa and LoRaWAN is important because other companies like Link Labs use a proprietary MAC layer on top of the LoRa chip to create better hybrid designs, called Symphony Link in Link Labs' case.


LoRaWAN is a star or star-to-star topology that is generally considered better than mesh networks because of its advantages in preserving battery power and increasing communication range. Specifically, a star topology relays messages through gateways to a central server, with each end node transmitting data to multiple gateways. The gateway then forwards the data to the network server, where redundancy detection, security checks and message scheduling are performed.

Overall, LoRa only contains the link layer protocol and is very suitable for P2P communication between nodes; LoRaWAN also contains the network layer, so information can be sent to any base station connected to the cloud platform. LoRaWAN modules can operate at different frequencies simply by connecting the correct antenna to its socket.
The difference between LoRa and LoRaWAN gateway modules


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