An optimization of multiple gateway location selection in long range wide area network networks

Abstract

The adoption of smart agricultural technology in rural areas is still limited in terms of network infrastructure supported. As a result, farmers continue to practice traditional farming that mainly focuses on human labor and requires experience in planning the production of agricultural products in unstable weather conditions, which makes the farmers highly risky. Currently, long range (LoRa) technology is a smart agriculture support tool that will enable the Internet of Things devices to a large number of end nodes distributed over a wide geographical area. They could access cloud computing from a long distance, kilometers, for processing via long range wide area network (LoRaWAN) communication protocol. When choosing a multiple gateway location for LoRaWAN networks, big networks must consider the spatial distribution of clients, radio signal propagation, and the cap on the number of devices served access. In this study, a mathematical model is developed to optimize coverage. The LINGO modeling program, an exact software method, was used to test the model. The findings indicated that the best six gateways at the optimal LoRaWAN gateway location. The gateways can provide signal coverage for all end nodes and can manage the capacity of the LoRaWAN gateway to support the proper number of end nodes.