# Long Range IoT Networks - Chapter 2 | Particle + LoRa Better together

**URL:** <https://community.particle.io/t/long-range-iot-networks-chapter-2-particle-lora-better-together/62991>\
**Category:** Brainstorming\
**Created:** [August 12, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/long-range-iot-networks-chapter-2-particle-lora-better-together/62991 "2022-08-12T04:58:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![chipmc](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/chipmc/32/15905_2.png) [@chipmc](https://community.particle.io/u/chipmc)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2022, 1:05pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/long-range-iot-networks-chapter-2-particle-lora-better-together/62991/4 "2022-08-12T13:05:41Z")

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@jgskarda ,

First, I want to say what a pleasure it has been working with you on this project. You have done an amazing job adding mesh capabilities to the Particle library (second your request for a “pull” on your branch) and doing the hard work to get practical real world experience. I have benefitted from all you have done and, I hope, so will the rest of the Particle community.

I want to explain why I think that Particle is a great platform for LoRA development. I believe this could be a big benefit to the platform - even as public LoRAWAN solutions are gaining tracking. By building a gateway based on a Boron with LoRA capabilities, you have some significant advantages over LoRAWAN solutions like Helium and The Things networks for these rural implementations. @jgskarda mentioned some above but I want to repeat them and add a couple to his list:

- The gateway can also be a sensor node - this saves money and helps build a “mesh” for more distant nodes.
- This solution is available where there is no public LoRAWAN service is available.
- Private LoRAWAN implementations require gateways are not optimized for the low power use case - they cannot be programmed to “sleep” and generally have power budgets that would make solar implementations larger / more expensive than what you have have with Particle. See link below for an inexpensive LoRAWAN outdoor gateway - they can be much more expensive than this:

> **[102991155 Seeed Technology Co., Ltd | Networking Solutions | DigiKey](https://www.digikey.com/short/3d582pcb)**
>
> Order today, ships today. 102991155 – 4G LoRa Gateway Ethernet, RJ-45 from Seeed Technology Co., Ltd. Pricing and Availability on millions of electronic components from Digi-Key Electronics.

- A Particle gateway can take advantage of the amazing Particle API and Libraries to support connectivity, scheduling and publish to queue to name just a few.
- This solution takes a standards-based approach to LoRA so there are many options for pre-made sensors and adding LoRA modules to existing Particle projects is straight forward.

I will share more of my experiences in the coming weeks and I hope others in the community will take advantage of the great work that @jgskarda has done here.

Chip

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