Benefits of using LoRa?

[chbla]

Hi there,

I noticed mysensors now also supports LoRa as the transport layer.
Can anyone outline what the benefits are in comparison to the existing ways?
I'm using RFM69s at the moment.

Thanks a lot
Christoph

[mfalkvidd]

@chbla for a home automation network, I don't think LoRa makes much sense.

• The long send times cause a big burden on the battery (compared to RFM69).
• The long send times cause devices to react slowly (1-3 seconds transmit time).
• The long send times and the duty cycle limitations (1% on most bands at 868MHz and 10% on 433MHz, at least in the EU) results in either not being to operate within legal limits or having to wait long (1+ minute at 1%) before sending next message. This also makes signing impractical.

LoRa does offer longer range and better handling of interference from other radio signals compared to RFM69, so if you have something that doesn't need quick response, doesn't need to send often, and you are OK with using more power, then setting up your own (MySensors-based) LoRa gateway might be a good solution.

If you want city-wide coverage, using LoRaWAN can make a lot of sense, but then you would not be using MySensors (at least not for the LoRa communication).

[chbla]

Thanks a lot for the clarification @mfalkvidd that helps!

[Terrence]

Also, the LoRa modules are expensive compared to 69s.