Interference Measurements in the European 868 MHz ISM Band with Focus on LoRa and SigFox

Abstract

In this measurement study the signal activity and power levels are measured in the European Industrial, Scientific, and Medical band 863-870 MHz in the city of Aalborg, Denmark. The target is to determine if there is any interference, which may impact deployment of Internet of Things devices. The focus is on the Low Power Wide Area technologies LoRa and SigFox. The measurements show that there is a 22-33 % probability of interfering signals above-105 dBm within the mandatory LoRa and SigFox 868.0-868.6 MHz band in a shopping area and a business park in downtown Aalborg, which thus limits the potential coverage and capacity of LoRa and SigFox. However, the probability of interference is less than 3 % in the three other measurement locations in Aalborg. Finally, a hospital and an industrial area are shown to experience high activity in the RFID subband 865-868 MHz, while the wireless audio band 863-865 MHz has less activity.

Coverage Comparison of GPRS, NB-IoT, LoRa, and SigFox in a 7800 km² Area

“…A short ISD may result in more interference, if the sector bearings and antenna tilts are not planned well. In addition, as listed in Table I, the LoRa and SigFox technologies rely on unlicensed frequency bands and therefore they may also be subject to interference from other devices such as remote car keys, baby alarms, smoke detectors, and various industrial applications [14].…”

Interference Impact on Coverage and Capacity for Low Power Wide Area IoT Networks

“…Each sample is referred to as an interference unit in the following. For further details on the measurement campaign refer to [8].…”

“…The analysis is based on the technologies' link budget, a new measurement-based interference model [8], the technologies' time on air, and a probabilistic modeling of the random access capacity and potential collisions.…”

“…To quantify the level of interference in the 868.0-868.6 MHz ISM band we carried out a measurement campaign in suburban, industrial, harbor, and downtown urban areas [8]. The measurements were made in Aalborg, Denmark at the loca- tions identified in Fig.…”

Interference Analysis and Experimental Results of Passive Uhf Rfid Systems in Sub-1 GHZ Wireless Communications Systems

“…In the case of adjacent frequency bands, an interference analysis of UHF RFID signals (865-867 in EU and 902-928 MHz in US) for GSM signals (824-849 MHz in US and 876-915 MHz in EU) was performed [20]. The EMI effects on NFC or LoRa systems by UHF RFID signals have been studied experimentally [21,22]. Previous studies that achieved EMI effects between UHF RFID technology and other wireless technologies were conducted in a restricted system deployment [23,24].…”