Wi-Lo: Emulating LoRa using COTS WiFi

Abstract

We present Wi-Lo, which allows to convert an ordinary 802.11 (WiFi) access point into an internet of things (IoT) gateway supporting the low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technology LoRa in the downlink. Our Wi-Lo system only requires a software update and no additional hardware. It uses signal emulation technique based on complementary code keying modulation from 802.11b in order to emulate a downlink LoRa (long range) transmission. The Wi-Lo gateway can be used by a normal WiFi-enabled smartphone to send packets to LoRa compliant IoT devices like smart sensors. We implemented a prototype using commodity WiFi hardware. Experimental results show that Wi-Lo enables a normal WiFi node to communication to LoRa devices even over long distances, which is comparable to the configurations using pure LoRa transmitter and receivers.