A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF APRS AND LORAWAN FOR LOW-EARTH-ORBIT AND IOT TELEMETRY APPLICATIONS

This paper presents an analytical comparison between the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) and LoRaWAN protocols, focusing on their applicability in nanosatellite telemetry, emergency communication, and remote sensing networks. Based on a structured review of 14 verified scientific sources published between 2019 and 2024, the study evaluates both protocols across ten key technical parameters, including data rate, power efficiency, link budget, security, error resilience, and integration within satellite stacks. The analysis adopts a matrix-based comparative methodology, drawing on normalized and cross-referenced empirical data extracted from real-world deployments. APRS is identified as a resilient, infrastructure-independent protocol suitable for minimalist and disaster-prone missions, especially where decentralization and simplicity are required. In contrast, LoRaWAN demonstrates superior throughput, AES-128 encryption, and flexible scalability, making it a strong candidate for next-generation low-power satellite IoT architectures. The paper emphasizes the scarcity of side-by-side protocol evaluations in current literature and highlights the need for unified assessment criteria. It proposes hybrid mission models where LoRaWAN functions as the primary communication layer and APRS serves as a redundant backup channel. This work contributes a structured reference framework to support system designers, researchers, and mission planners in selecting or integrating these technologies for power-constrained telemetry applications in space and terrestrial domains.