Performance Evaluation of Empirical Path Loss Models for a Linear Wireless Sensor Network Deployment in Suburban and Rural Environments

This article presents a preliminary propagation study on the accuracy of empirical path loss models for efficient planning and deployment of a linear wireless sensor network (LWSN) based on long range (LoRa) enabled sensor nodes in suburban and rural environments. Real-world deployment of such network requires accurate path loss modelling to estimate the network coverage and performance. Although several models have been studied in the literature to predict the path loss for LoRa links, the assessment of empirical path loss models within the context of low-height peer to peer configured system has not been provided yet. Therefore, this study aims at providing a performance evaluation of well-known empirical path loss models including the Log-distance, Okumura, Hata, and COST-231 Hata model in a peer to peer configured system where the sensor nodes are deployed at the same low heights. To this end, firstly, measurement campaigns are carried out in suburban and rural environments by utilizing LoRa enabled sensor nodes operating at 868 MHz band. The measured received signal strength values are then compared with the predicted values to assess the prediction accuracy of the models. The results achieved from this study show that the Okumura model has higher accuracy.