I am a new user here, and i am new on LoRaWAN. So please bear me as i dont have that much knowledge about LoRaWAN. I am actually interested in using LoRaWAN in localization in indoors and outdoors. I know that LoRaWAN does not work very well in Indoors. Therefore i am thinking to integrate WiFi or BLE and GPS for indoor and outdoor localization respectively on the LoRaWAN end node. So that the communication is done through LoRa modulation to the LoRaWAN gateway and then to The Things Network. So i have a question that can i integrate Wifi, GPS and LoRa on the end node. For the better understanding i am attaching a block diagram. Sorry I tried to upload but i am unable to upload as i get an error that i am a new user and i cant upload a document.
LoRaWAN does not put any restriction on the end node (apart from the need of a LoRa radio) so I do not see why you think this would be an issue.
By the way, if you are interested in WiFi/GPS for localisation purpose, the latest LoRa chip from Semtech, LR1110, was made exactly for this kind of application.
Thank you for your response. I tried to search the LoRa chip you mentioned. But i could not find some of the information like the accuracy of this chip indoors. How much (in meters) accurate this device is? If you know about it then please help me on that. Please find the attachment as well. It is a block diagram that tells what i wish to do.Document 9.pdf (89.7 KB)
Whilst that LR1110 might bring together some of the electronics needed for attempting localistation indoors and out such as reading Wifi signals and GPSs it does seem to offer anything unique or game changing.
The datasheet was only released a few days ago, so it might be a while before real data on performance\accuracy is available. You would presume that if the device has revolutionised indoor positioning, then there would heve been some indication of how good it is. Accurate outdoor ‘localisation’ has been avaialble for many years via low cost GPSs.
On an almost daily basis in another forum, questions are asked about how to do indoor positioning, down to metres. Its often assumed that its easy to do, just measure signal strengths from Bluetooth, WiFi or whatever. In truth the signal strengths vary so much in buildings, and inclination\position of the receiver, that you might be able to localise to a room or you might not. And GPSs cannont be expected to work reliably indoors, and even if they do they can be out by 30m or more.
If there was a cunning wizard way of doing indoor positiong, on the cheap, then it ought to be easy to find and buy, but its not.
There is one system that is known to work relativly well, its called Pozyx ;
ESP32 based boards are already used for LoRaWAN nodes, some boards even have the LoRa device built in. An ESP32 has built in Wifi and Bluetooth support.
I think the main differentiator is the integration factor: LoRa + Wifi localisation + GPS in a single chip allows smaller form factor and cheaper solution.
There is no information about precision yet, but it likely won’t beat the best dedicated chips. But it might not be far either and since it relies on cloud solution for estimation, might actually be lower power.