LoRa Communications as an Enabler for Internet of Drones towards Large-Scale Livestock Monitoring in Rural Farms

.

(

c

)

 

Figure 8. 

A schematic of the utilized mutation operators, (

a

) swap, (

b

) reversion, and (

c

) insertion. 

 

Figure 9. 

Pseudocode of the utilized mutation operators (swap, reversion, and insertion).

 

4. Results and Discussions 

4.1. Coverage Analysis and Path Loss Limits of LoRaWAN

®

 Wireless IoT Communication 

The purpose of this section is to identify the capability of LoRaWAN

®

 technology to 

provide aerial wireless coverage, analyze the maximum achievable coverage when oper-

ating on-air via a drone, and identify the most suitable path loss (PL) model for the study 

area. Accordingly, a set of received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements were 

taken at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), Bangi campus. The measurement 

setup consists of two devices; one GW mounted on a tripod at 2 m above ground level 

(AGL), near the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FKAB), and an EN 

mounted on a drone. During the measurements, the drone took off vertically and main-

tained a height of 200 m AGL. The drone then moved horizontally through the measure-

ment path shown in Figure 10 and transmitted the data packets every 200 m. The average 

RSSI value for the received packets at each of the 56 points was then recorded at the GW 

side. The GW and EN operated at the 915 MHz band and used SF12 at 125 kHz BW with 

Figure 8.

A schematic of the utilized mutation operators, (