Design and hardware performance of a LoRa-based vehicle tracking system with local data storage infrastructure

This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a LoRa-based vehicle tracking system, emphasizing its hardware architecture and field performance. The system uses custom-built end nodes based on Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 (V3) boards (an ESP32-S3 microcontroller with an integrated Semtech SX1262 transceiver) and u-blox NEO-6 M GPS modules, which transmit position data to a centrally located LoRa receiver node. Unlike typical cloud-integrated LoRaWAN deployments, the network operates in a standalone point-to-point topology with an on-premise database server, eliminating any dependence on external network infrastructure. We detail the integration of the LoRa radio, GPS receiver and antennas, including a compact in-vehicle enclosure and an elevated receiver antenna. Three transmission schemes were implemented to coordinate multiple vehicles: fixed-interval broadcasting, randomized-interval transmission, and a beacon-synchronized TDMA protocol for collision avoidance. Field tests were conducted on a suburban coastal highway and in a dense urban downtown area. Measurements are reported as path loss versus transmitter-receiver separation and are analyzed separately for line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions. Log-distance models fitted to the field data, referenced to the measured path loss at 100 m so that the fitted exponents are independent of transmit power and antenna gain, give n = 4.63 for the open suburban coastal route and n = 3.43 for the obstructed urban routes. Consistent reception extended to approximately 3.2 km on the suburban route with intermittent reception to 4.5 km, and to 1.0–1.5 km on the urban routes. Packet delivery rate averaged 85–90% on the suburban route and 83.5 +/- 10.5% across six urban trials. A collision model calibrated against the five-node measurements extends the scalability assessment to 50 nodes, and shows that beacon-synchronized TDMA sustains full delivery for up to 97 nodes at a 10 s update interval on a single channel, whereas unsynchronized access falls below 60% delivery beyond 20 nodes. Because TDMA updates each vehicle only once per cycle, the multi-vehicle mode is characterized as near-real-time rather than real-time. Datasheet-derived energy consumption is 4.44 J per delivered message in the as-built configuration, roughly seventy times that of a duty-cycled low-power design, which qualifies the low-power claim for this class of tracker. The results demonstrate that a standalone LoRa platform with local data handling is a viable, low-cost alternative to cellular or LoRaWAN trackers for small fleets, while highlighting remaining limitations in urban RF performance, payload security, energy efficiency, sample size and radiated-power compliance.