Performance Analysis of LoRa Communication Under Building Obstruction Using LoRa ESP32-V3

LoRa communication under building obstruction suffers from signal attenuation due to Light of Sight (LoS) between the LoRa transmitter and receiver blocking which affects Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Signal-toNoise Ratio (SNR) values. Despite having a shorter range and longer Time on Air (ToA), the improved version of Long Range (LoRa) can function at low frequencies and increase the Spreading Factor (SF). This work uses Heltec ESP32 LoRa V3 module mainly to conduct a critical analysis of handling the communication between building obstructions, and outdoor environments, and integration of path-loss modeling. The work was evaluated with critical metrics, Packet Size for communication, ToA and Receiver Sensitivity for the distance covered, RSSI, and SNR to validate the path loss modeling. The experimental results demonstrate, that the higher the SF, the higher the communication range and signal robustness which results in large ToA and utilizes the energy efficiently. The path loss modeling has been evaluated under various SF conditions with <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$8,10,12$</tex> to validate the RSSI and SNR values. LoRa's ability to achieve data transmission up to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{4 5 0}$</tex> meters at different SF. At <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{SF}=8$</tex>, with less than 1 % across all distances, <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{SF}=10$</tex> a moderate deviation of approximately <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{1 0 - 1 5 \%}$</tex> at distances beyond <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\mathbf{2 0 0}$</tex> meters and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{SF}=12$</tex> a significant deviation of around <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$20-25 \%$</tex> at longer distances exceeding 300 meters respectively, ToA is also analyzed based on various SF with reference to distance and obstructions.