Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 12-12-2020

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) has rapidly expanded into consumer and industrial applications driving the need for secure and energy efficient communications suitable for battery powered devices. Common IoT protocols developed for these applications include SigFox, Narrow-Band IoT, and Long Range (LoRa). LoRa is an energy efficient long-range communication method enabled by advanced modulation schemes. This research enables new capabilities in LoRa ad-hoc networks allowing for innovative IoT sensors that were previously infeasible due to energy constraints. This is achieved by investigating adaptive data rate (ADR) techniques, enabling reliable and secure remote firmware updates, improving LoRa authentication, and implementing a secure mesh network topology suitable for mobile, energy-constrained devices. These concepts are developed, analyzed, and then applied to an advanced cattle monitoring sensor that tracks the health and location of free-range cattle.

Keywords

LoRa, LoRaWAN, mesh networking, firmware updates

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Computer Engineering

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Jim Plusquellic

Second Committee Member

Eirini-Eleni Tsiropoulou

Third Committee Member

Wenjie Chen

Fourth Committee Member

Calvin Chan

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