Evaluating LoRaWAN-based IoT devices for the tactical military environment

Abstract

The ability to understand, predict, adapt, and exploit the vast array of inter-networked things that will be present in the future battlefield is critical for maintaining and increasing military competitive advantage. In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept architecture for Internet of Things (IoT) in military applications. The proposed architecture utilizes LoRaWAN (Long Range low power Wide Area Network) state-of-the-art commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. The proposed architecture consists of sensors, embedded micro-controllers equipped with LoRaWAN compatible radio, and a LoRaWAN gateway. The primary contributions of this paper are on evaluating the performance and suitability of LoRaWAN for the military environment as well as exploring the challenges of integrating LoRaWAN-based IoT devices into existing Command and Control (C2) systems within the military.