Indoor Coverage
There are a great many factors that are involved when looking at the coverage of LoRaWAN signals inside a building, the coverage can be achieved in two different ways, either by installing the gateways outside the building, or by installing dedicated gateways inside the building. Some of the significant points of each option are highlighted below:
Gateways Outside the Building
- Is the nearest gateway located
outside of the building? If so, it is important to take the following into
consideration:
- Typically, signals are considerably attenuated when traveling through concrete, brick, and wood. This is exacerbated if there are multiple layers of brick or cladding, especially if they have a metalized internal surface.
- Glass, on the other hand, does not cause significant attenuation, unless it has a transparent, heat-reflective coating.
- If the devices are to be placed outside the building, particularly near the windows, it should be possible to rely on gateways outside the building.
Gateways Inside the Building
If there are no gateways nearby, or the building is a concrete-and-steel structure, consider adding gateways inside the building. Again, placement is an important factor. If you are deploying gateways in a building with multiple floors, you may not need a gateway on each floor, unless the floors are concrete and have raised floors or false ceilings that are used for cabling, heating, and climate control. Also, if the internal walls are not brick or concrete, it should be possible to cover most of the building’s interior with a single gateway on the same floor as the end devices.
If a gateway is needed inside, however, several low-cost gateways are available that do not need to be fully waterproofed since they will not be exposed to the elements.