Power Distribution Monitoring Using LoRa: Coverage Analysis in Suburban Areas.

LoRa is an increasingly hot technology for LPWAN scenarios. In this paper, a low-cost, real-time monitoring system for power distribution grids based on LoRa and 3G/4G networks, is presented. Analysis of early experimental results of LoRa network coverage in suburban areas shows how communication range is affected by different parameters: LoS, vegetation, buildings and communication mode. Besides, the use of simulation tools to estimate LoRa coverage is evaluated.