Experimental Performance Comparison of Hierarchical Multi-Hub and Single-Hop Multi-Node LoRa Networks Using Sequential Polling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47709/brilliance.v6i4.9632Keywords:
hierarchical LoRa network, multi-hub communication, multi-node communication, sequential polling, report delivery ratio, round completion timeAbstract
LoRa networks commonly employ direct single-hop communication between end devices and a gateway; however, this architecture depends on reliable gateway connectivity for every node. A hierarchical multi-hub architecture provides an intermediate data collection layer but introduces additional communication transactions. This study experimentally compares hierarchical multi-hub and single-hop multi-node LoRa architectures using sequential polling under equivalent report-source counts. Four configurations were evaluated: A1 and A2 represented multi-hub communication with two and four report sources, respectively, while B1 and B2 represented equivalent single-hop multi-node configurations. Each configuration was tested for 30 rounds at distances of 10, 50, and 100 m using identical radio parameters. Performance was evaluated using report delivery ratio (PDR), gateway-facing received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round completion time, timeout events, and successful-round ratio. All configurations achieved a PDR of 100% at every distance. A1, B1, and B2 completed all rounds successfully, whereas A2 achieved a successful-round ratio of 96.67% because one timeout occurred at each distance. The mean round completion times were 4.211–4.228 s for A1, 9.208–9.253 s for A2, 1.970–1.974 s for B1, and 3.889–3.897 s for B2. Gateway-facing RSSI decreased with distance, but this reduction did not cause report loss within the tested range. These results demonstrate that single-hop multi-node communication provides faster data collection when direct links are reliable, whereas multi-hub communication provides a structured hierarchical collection path at the cost of higher round completion time.
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