Abstract

Smart Utility Networks (SUN) rely on the Wireless-SUN (Wi-SUN) specification for years. Recently practitioners and researchers have considered Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) like LoRa WAN for SUN applications. With distinct technologies deployed in the same area and sharing unlicensed bands, one can expect these networks to interfere with one another. This paper builds over a LoRa WAN model to optimize network parameters while accounting for inter-technology interference. Our analytic model accounts for the interference LoRa WAN receives from IEEE 802.15.4G networks, which forms the bottom layers of Wi-SUN systems. We derive closed-form equations for the expected reliability of LoRa WAN in such scenarios. We set the model parameters with data from real measurements of the interplay among the technologies. Finally, we propose two optimization algorithms to determine the best LoRaWAN configurations, given a targeted minimum reliability level. The algorithms maximize either communication range or the number of users given constraints on the minimum number of users, minimum communication range, and minimum reliability. We validate the models and algorithms through numerical analysis and simulations. The proposed methods are useful tools for planning interference-limited networks with requirements of minimum reliability.