Evaluation of Communication Delays in LoRaWAN Networks for Indoor Emergency Scenarios

During emergency situations, a quick response time and low latency in the network can facilitate public safety. In this manuscript, the performance of LoRa technology in terms of Time on Air (ToA) is investigated by varying the set of radio parameters such as spreading factor (SF), signal bandwidth (BW), coding rate (CR) and payload size. The experimental results are also compared with the theoretical expectations for the use of LoRa technology. Our experimental results present system parameters that could be used under emergency evacuation or paramedic services scenarios while meeting the FCC’s requirement for ToA of 400 ms or less.