Effect of Doppler Shift on the Performance of LoRa Chirp Spread Spectrum Communication over Various Fading Channels

LoRa modulation is a scheme which utilizes Chirp spread spectrum (CSS) signals to modulate data and has been developed specifically for the Internet of Things (IoT). LoRa technology is designed to be robust against fading and interference, making it ideal for long-range, low-power communication in IoT applications. This paper investigates the impact of the Doppler effect on the symbol error rate (SER) in LoRa communication under Rayleigh and Rician fading channels. Through simulations, we analyse for a mobile IoT device, the SER versus signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for varying Doppler shifts and spreading factors (SFs). A comparative analysis of different SFs reveals that for higher SF values, the signal is more vulnerable to the Doppler Effect, making the scheme less suitable for reliable communication in mobile environments. The findings highlight the importance of considering the Doppler Effect while designing robust LoRa systems subject to fading channels.