Calculators » Wireless and Cellular » LoRaWAN Range Calculator: Estimate Distance and Link Budget

LoRaWAN Range Calculator: Estimate Distance and Link Budget

lorawan range calculation link budget lpwan rf wireless

This page describes the LoRaWAN Range Calculator which estimates LoRa range (i.e., distance) based on the Egli model. It calculates the Link Budget and LoRaWAN range between a gateway and a LoRa node.

Inputs

Outputs

LoRaWAN Range Calculator Example:

LoRaWAN range calculator and LoRaWAN link Budget calculation :

INPUTS:

  • Gateway antenna gain = 0 dBi
  • Node antenna gain = 0 dBi
  • Gateway height = 100 meters
  • Node height = 10 meters
  • Noise margin = 5 dB
  • Operating Frequency = 868 MHz
  • Gateway transmit power = 27 dBm
  • Node Receiver sensitivity = -137 dBm

OUTPUTS:

  • Link Budget = 159 dB
  • LoRaWAN range (i.e., distance) from gateway to Node = 64087 meters

LoRaWAN Range Formula (Egli Pathloss Model)

The following Egli pathloss model based LoRaWAN Range formula is used to calculate the distance coverage of a LoRa Gateway to cover multiple LoRa nodes.

Egli Path Loss Formula for LoRaWAN

The range or distance calculation for other LPWAN technologies such as NB-Fi, Sigfox and Ingenu RPMA can also be done in a similar way as mentioned in this LoRaWAN range calculator. Rural regions will generally have higher range than city areas.

Typical Parameters for Other LPWAN Technologies

Here are some typical parameters you might see for other LPWAN technologies:

NB-Fi

Typical parameters for NB-Fi range calculator for downlink (Gateway to node) are as follows.

  • Gateway power: 27 dBm
  • Gateway antenna gain: 0 dB
  • Node sensitivity: -147 dBm (Range: -124 dBm to -164 dBm)
  • Node Antenna gain: 0 dB
  • Node noise: 5 dB
  • Frequency: 500 MHz or 868/915 MHz

Sigfox

Typical parameters for Sigfox range calculator for downlink (Gateway to node) are as follows.

  • Gateway power: 27 dBm
  • Gateway antenna gain: 0 dB
  • Node sensitivity: -129 dBm (Range: -124 dBm to -164 dBm)
  • Node Antenna gain: 0 dB
  • Node noise: 5 dB
  • Frequency: 868/915 MHz

Ingenu RPMA

Typical parameters for Ingenu RPMA range calculator for downlink (Gateway to node) are as follows.

  • Gateway power: 27 dBm
  • Gateway antenna gain: 0 dB
  • Node sensitivity: -133 dBm (Range: -124 dBm to -164 dBm)
  • Node Antenna gain: 8 dB
  • Node noise: 5 dB
  • Frequency: 2.4 GHz

Refer to the RF Budget Calculator with images and equations mentioned below.

rf link budget

rf link budget equation