Home›LoRa PLC
LoRa PLC for long-range industrial IoT
Industrial PLCs based on Arduino, ESP32 and Raspberry Pi with LoRa and LoRaWAN, for sensors and sites far from any network.
- Long range, low power: kilometres of radio coverage on very little energy.
- LoRaWAN or point to point: a public network, your own gateway or two devices talking directly.
- Real industrial I/O: the same PLC reads the sensors and drives the outputs.
What is LoRaWAN and when to use it in industry
Small payloads, long distances and years on a battery.
When a LoRa PLC is the right choice
LoRa is a long-range, low-power radio. LoRaWAN is the network protocol on top of it, maintained by the LoRa Alliance.
Use it when sites have no power or network, devices are hard to reach, there are too many for a cellular plan each, or the data does not need an instant answer.
Avoid it for video, large files or fast control loops: each message carries only a few bytes.
LoRa PLC options: ESP32, Raspberry and Arduino
Choose the CPU by what the device must do; LoRa is added as a board or a version.
ESP32 PLC
ESP32 PLC with LoRa
Optional LoRa board (EU, US or Asia band) plus built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE.
Raspberry PLC
Raspberry PLC with LoRa
Optional LoRa board, with Linux to run the gateway, database or dashboard on the same device.
Arduino PLC
M-Duino LoRa family
Arduino PLC versions with LoRa, programmed with the Arduino IDE.
LoRa projects: remote monitoring and telemetry
Real examples with the problem, the solution and the PLC used.
Smart city
People counting in public spaces
Battery sensors that report over LoRa, with no cabling or network on site.
Water
Pump station with LoRaWAN telemetry
Pump alternation and failover on site, status sent over LoRaWAN.
Monitoring
More monitoring projects
Machine, energy and environmental monitoring with open source PLCs.
LoRa PLC: frequently asked questions
What range does a LoRa PLC reach?
Several kilometres: up to about 15 km in open areas and around 5 km in cities, depending on the antenna, terrain and buildings.
Do I need a LoRaWAN gateway?
For LoRaWAN, yes: your own gateway or a public network. For point-to-point LoRa, two devices can talk directly.
Which LoRa frequency bands are available?
EU (868 MHz), US (915 MHz) and Asia bands. You choose the band when you order the LoRa board.
Talk to an engineer
Tell us where the devices are, what they must measure and how often. An Industrial Shields engineer will answer with the right setup.