Scientists have developed a new hybrid technology that combines Wi-Fi and the LoRa long-range network protocol, introducing a new technology concept called WiLo. The main purpose of WiLo is to support Internet of Things (IoT) networks, such as sensor systems for agriculture or smart cities, where long-distance data transmission with minimal power consumption is required.
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Professor Demin Gao from the College of Information Technology and Science at Nanjing Forestry University in China explains that Wi-Fi today has limited range and requires a relatively large amount of power. At the same time, LoRa technology is characterized by low power consumption and the ability to transmit data over long distances, which makes it popular for IoT applications. “In WiLo, we combined these two protocols to take advantage of the benefits of each without the need to implement additional hardware to combine them,” Gao said.
The research team, which included representatives from universities in Hong Kong, China, South Korea, the US and the UK, as well as Intel employees from Germany, conducted their experiments using a standard LoRa SX1280 transmitter made by Semtech. Although the 2.4 GHz band is used by both Wi-Fi and a variety of other technologies, Wi-Fi and LoRa cannot communicate directly. To solve this problem, scientists have developed an algorithm that changes the Wi-Fi transmission frequency to match LoRa signals.
On the technical side, the team adapted the Wi-Fi data multiplexing (OFDM) standard to mimic the long-range signals used by LoRa (CSS). “This allows standard Wi-Fi devices to communicate over long distances using LoRa technology without additional hardware,” Gao explained. In tests conducted both indoors and outdoors, WiLo technology demonstrated 96% success in transmitting data over distances of up to 500 meters.
It is noted that one of the main advantages of WiLo is the ability to operate the technology on existing equipment, which reduces the cost of its implementation and simplifies scaling. However, there are also disadvantages. In particular, for simultaneous operation of Wi-Fi and emulation of LoRa signals, devices consume a lot of energy. Scientists plan to address this issue in the future by optimizing WiLo’s energy efficiency, data transfer rates, and interference resistance. “The next step towards commercialization will be to further optimize the system, as well as test WiLo in various IoT environments,” Gao said.