Rules & Regulations of ISM Band in LoRa Communication Protocol

INTRO

• In this tutorial I will explain who sets the wireless Rules & Regulations of ISM Band used in LoRa Communication Protocol.

ISM BAND

LoRa operates in the unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) radio band that are available worldwide.

ISM BAND REGINON WISE

• In the United States, LoRaWAN operates in the 902-928 MHz frequency band.

• Devices such as microwave ovens, medical equipments or baby monitors all  uses the ISM band.

• ISM band advantages:

1)Anyone is allowed to use these frequencies

2)No license fee is required.

• ISM band disadvantages:

1)Low data rate.

2)Lots of interference because anyone can use these frequencies.

ETSI AND FCC

• All other countries are using the standard sets by either ETSI or FCC. Except Japan they have the Telecom Engineering Center (TELEC) and South Korea they have the Korea Communications Commission (KCC).

• For example in the Netherlands, its telecommunication regulatory authority is called the Telecom Agency (In Dutch: Agentschap Telecom) which is part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (In Dutch: Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat).

This regulatory authority has issued the conditions and requirements when using LoRa in the Netherlands and is based on the standards set by ETSI.

http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0036378/2016-12-28

ISM BAND AND DUTY CYCLE:

• For example in Europe when using the ISM band frequencies (863 MHz – 870 MHz) users must comply to the following rules:
• For uplink, the maximum transmission power is limited to 25mW (14 dBm).
For downlink (for 869.525MHz), the maximum transmission power is limited to
0.5W (27 dBm)
• There is an 0.1% and 1.0% duty cycle per day depending on the channel.
• Besides these ISM band rules, the network operator (for example The Things
Network) can also add additional restrictions.

THE THINGS NETWORK (TTN) FAIR USE
• If you use The Things Network (free public community LoRaWAN network), the following fair use policy applies:
• The uplink airtime is limited to 30 seconds per day (24 hours) per node.
• The downlink messages are limited to 10 messages per day (24 hours) per node.
• More information about the TTN fair use policy:
https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/lorawan/duty-cycle.html

TIME ON AIR
•When a signal is send from a sender it takes a certain amount of time before a
receiver receives this signal.
This time is called Time on Air (ToA).

DUTY CYCLE
• Duty cycle is the proportion of time during which a component, device, or system is operated. The duty cycle can be expressed as a ratio or as a percentage.

• As mentioned previously in Europe there is a 0.1% and 1.0% duty cycle per day
depending on the channel.