Experimental Implementation of Communication Network for Interoperable Building Microgrids Using LoRa Technology

To address the issues of utility grid outages and uncertain renewable energy, recent developments suggest integrating multiple community microgrids using advanced communication and networking technology, which are termed Interoperable Building Microgrids (IBMs). This integration enables more effective communication between suppliers and consumers, making these systems more adaptable and efficient. To establish the required communication in IBMs, various conventional technologies namely Wi-Fi, Zigbee, WiMax, and Cellular are available. However, these technologies cannot support long-range along with low power consumption. Alternatively, a Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) is an advanced network designed for low-power devices over long distances for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. There are numerous LPWAN technologies available including Sigfox, LoRa (Long Range), NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT), LTE-M (Long-Term Evolution for Machines), and Weightless. Among these, the LoRa has the advantages such as working in scientific, industrial, and medical band (open band), long-range communication, low power consumption, standalone network building capacity, and can support a large number of devices simultaneously. So, its applicability for IBMs has to be thoroughly investigated. With this motivation, this paper presents an experimental implementation of a LoRa-based communication network. A case study is also presented to illustrate the proposed architecture, which was conducted in a real environment on a university campus. This allows to determine the suitability of LoRa communication technology for different smart grid wide area applications. The measured results illustrate that the proposed network can be successfully implemented for urban energy communities.