A Position- and Energy-Aware Routing Strategy for Subterranean LoRa Mesh Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Udugampola, Nalith, Ai, Xiaoyu, Li, Binghao, Gong, Henry, Seneviratne, Aruna
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Udugampola, Nalith
Ai, Xiaoyu
Li, Binghao
Gong, Henry
Seneviratne, Aruna
author_facet Udugampola, Nalith
Ai, Xiaoyu
Li, Binghao
Gong, Henry
Seneviratne, Aruna
contents Although LoRa is predominantly employed with the single-hop LoRaWAN protocol, recent advancements have extended its application to multi-hop mesh topologies. Designing efficient routing for LoRa mesh networks remains challenging due to LoRa's low data rate and ALOHA-based MAC. Prior work often adapts conventional protocols for low-traffic, aboveground networks with strict duty cycle constraints or uses flooding-based methods in subterranean environments. However, these approaches inefficiently utilize the limited available network bandwidth in these low-data-rate networks due to excessive control overhead, acknowledgments, and redundant retransmissions. In this paper, we introduce a novel position- and energy-aware routing strategy tailored for subterranean LoRa mesh networks aimed at enhancing maximum throughput and power efficiency while also maintaining high packet delivery ratios. Our mechanism begins with a lightweight position learning phase, during which LoRa repeaters ascertain their relative positions and gather routing information. Afterwards, the network becomes fully operational with adaptive routing, leveraging standby LoRa repeaters for recovery from packet collisions and losses, and energy-aware route switching to balance battery depletion across repeaters. The simulation results on a representative subterranean network demonstrate a 185% increase in maximum throughput and a 75% reduction in energy consumption compared to a previously optimized flooding-based approach for high traffic.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_03714
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Position- and Energy-Aware Routing Strategy for Subterranean LoRa Mesh Networks
Udugampola, Nalith
Ai, Xiaoyu
Li, Binghao
Gong, Henry
Seneviratne, Aruna
Networking and Internet Architecture
Although LoRa is predominantly employed with the single-hop LoRaWAN protocol, recent advancements have extended its application to multi-hop mesh topologies. Designing efficient routing for LoRa mesh networks remains challenging due to LoRa's low data rate and ALOHA-based MAC. Prior work often adapts conventional protocols for low-traffic, aboveground networks with strict duty cycle constraints or uses flooding-based methods in subterranean environments. However, these approaches inefficiently utilize the limited available network bandwidth in these low-data-rate networks due to excessive control overhead, acknowledgments, and redundant retransmissions. In this paper, we introduce a novel position- and energy-aware routing strategy tailored for subterranean LoRa mesh networks aimed at enhancing maximum throughput and power efficiency while also maintaining high packet delivery ratios. Our mechanism begins with a lightweight position learning phase, during which LoRa repeaters ascertain their relative positions and gather routing information. Afterwards, the network becomes fully operational with adaptive routing, leveraging standby LoRa repeaters for recovery from packet collisions and losses, and energy-aware route switching to balance battery depletion across repeaters. The simulation results on a representative subterranean network demonstrate a 185% increase in maximum throughput and a 75% reduction in energy consumption compared to a previously optimized flooding-based approach for high traffic.
title A Position- and Energy-Aware Routing Strategy for Subterranean LoRa Mesh Networks
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.03714