WiFi and LoRa Energy Consumption Comparison in IoT ESP 32/ SX1278 Devices

Abstract

[EN] The use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has spread through many different fields. Transport, health, and energy management of farming are some of the areas where IoT systems are being utilized. The selection of the wireless communication technology for the IoT system is paramount for its optimal performance. However, factors such as desired coverage or energy consumption must be considered for this selection. In this paper, several tests to determine the battery life that can be obtained after performing WiFi and LoRa Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) transmissions with a low-cost IoT device has been performed. With a 5 second transmission interval and default settings, similar results were obtained for both WiFi and LoRa. Furthermore, WiFi outperformed LoRa with the default settings and a 30 second transmission interval. Lastly, LoRa did outperform WiFi when the settings where changed so as the transmission power of LoRa was that of 10 dBm.