CODEWITHSUNDEEP
lora
TheBestPlayer
TheBestPlayer

Reputation: 404

How to ensure my Lora receiver only receives my own messages and not someone else's?

I plan to use SX1276 LoRa modules to send/receive some information from the remote temperature sensors. Keep in mind that I only use LoRa and not LoRaWAN.

I have been studying LoRa for a while but this one thing is not fully clear to me.

What would be the best method to ensure that I do not receive someone else's messages if they are within range? I know that I can set the preamble but what if my neighbour has his own LoRa sensors with the same preamble and they are within range? How can I ensure I do not receive the messages that I do not want?

Is there any secure way to do this? Appreciate any help!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 781

Answers (1)

dda
dda

Reputation: 6213

There are a couple of ways to do this. But first, keep in mind that if your neighbor has the same settings, your LoRa devices will receive the messages. So when setting up your own network, you should first do a survey of the airwaves and look for a frequency and settings that are less crowded.

But, as you implied, there could always be the oddball on the same settings as you. This has 3 consequences regarding your network:

  • Not all messages may be for you.
  • Others may receive your messages.
  • Your messages may not go through at all because another device is already talking on this frequency.

So in order to mitigate these, you should make your messages gibberish to outsiders: use a proprietary format; encrypt the packets. This will solve the first two issues.

The third issue can only be solved by implementing CAD, Channel Activity Detection. Some LoRa libraries implement it, others don't. For sx1276, the arduino-LoRa library has a branch that enables this (but not the master branch).

Upvotes: 1

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