Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation

Earlier studies and field tests have extensively investigated Long Range (LoRa) direct-to-satellite (DtS) communications, confirming the feasibility of integration with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These works identify the Doppler effect as one of the primary challenges. Therefore, there is a n...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Muhammad Asad Ullah, Richard Demo Souza, Gianni Pasolini, Jean Michel de Souza Sant'Ana, Marko Hoyhtya, Konstantin Mikhaylov, Hirley Alves, Enrico Paolini, Akram Al-Hourani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10937974/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849700527676325888
author Muhammad Asad Ullah
Richard Demo Souza
Gianni Pasolini
Jean Michel de Souza Sant'Ana
Marko Hoyhtya
Konstantin Mikhaylov
Hirley Alves
Enrico Paolini
Akram Al-Hourani
author_facet Muhammad Asad Ullah
Richard Demo Souza
Gianni Pasolini
Jean Michel de Souza Sant'Ana
Marko Hoyhtya
Konstantin Mikhaylov
Hirley Alves
Enrico Paolini
Akram Al-Hourani
author_sort Muhammad Asad Ullah
collection DOAJ
description Earlier studies and field tests have extensively investigated Long Range (LoRa) direct-to-satellite (DtS) communications, confirming the feasibility of integration with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These works identify the Doppler effect as one of the primary challenges. Therefore, there is a need for a robust solution to mitigate the impact of this phenomenon in order to improve the performance of LoRa DtS communications in a LEO scenario. This paper addresses this shortcoming by developing a solution to pre-compensate the Doppler shift. Specifically, we propose a method that allows end devices to estimate and pre-compensate the Doppler shift before initiating an uplink transmission. This framework, which requires satellites to broadcast Doppler Beacons, ensures compatibility with existing LoRaWAN end devices without requiring any hardware modifications. We leverage data from real-world LoRa satellites’ empirical telemetry to validate our proposed method. We analytically study packet losses due to Doppler shift across different carrier frequencies, specifically 401.5 MHz, 868 MHz, and 2 GHz. Our analysis also considers different satellite orbital heights, specifically 200 km and 518 km, as well as channel bandwidths of 31.25 kHz, 62.5 kHz, and 125 kHz. Our results demonstrate that the proposed solution effectively pre-compensates for the Doppler shift and mitigates the packet losses, extending the passing satellites’ effective visibility window duration. We examine the maximum Doppler shift in the communication channel and the calculate required Doppler Beacon bandwidth for different orbital altitudes, minimum elevation angles, and carrier frequencies. This study also investigates how the proposed framework affects the battery lifetime of the end device, showing a marginal decrease of 2.5% compared to traditional LoRaWAN operation.
format Article
id doaj-art-8ad63d8aaffe4fe7b4d78f6bc662bb60
institution DOAJ
issn 2644-125X
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher IEEE
record_format Article
series IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
spelling doaj-art-8ad63d8aaffe4fe7b4d78f6bc662bb602025-08-20T03:18:14ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society2644-125X2025-01-0162256227310.1109/OJCOMS.2025.355407710937974Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-CompensationMuhammad Asad Ullah0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3594-8910Richard Demo Souza1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7389-6245Gianni Pasolini2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2508-6790Jean Michel de Souza Sant'Ana3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6996-5431Marko Hoyhtya4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9088-1566Konstantin Mikhaylov5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5518-6629Hirley Alves6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8689-5313Enrico Paolini7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0781-531XAkram Al-Hourani8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0652-8626VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, FinlandElectrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, BrazilDepartment of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering, CNIT/WiLab, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyCentre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandMilitary Technology Department, Finnish National Defence University, Helsinki, FinlandCentre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandCentre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandDepartment of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering, CNIT/WiLab, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaEarlier studies and field tests have extensively investigated Long Range (LoRa) direct-to-satellite (DtS) communications, confirming the feasibility of integration with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These works identify the Doppler effect as one of the primary challenges. Therefore, there is a need for a robust solution to mitigate the impact of this phenomenon in order to improve the performance of LoRa DtS communications in a LEO scenario. This paper addresses this shortcoming by developing a solution to pre-compensate the Doppler shift. Specifically, we propose a method that allows end devices to estimate and pre-compensate the Doppler shift before initiating an uplink transmission. This framework, which requires satellites to broadcast Doppler Beacons, ensures compatibility with existing LoRaWAN end devices without requiring any hardware modifications. We leverage data from real-world LoRa satellites’ empirical telemetry to validate our proposed method. We analytically study packet losses due to Doppler shift across different carrier frequencies, specifically 401.5 MHz, 868 MHz, and 2 GHz. Our analysis also considers different satellite orbital heights, specifically 200 km and 518 km, as well as channel bandwidths of 31.25 kHz, 62.5 kHz, and 125 kHz. Our results demonstrate that the proposed solution effectively pre-compensates for the Doppler shift and mitigates the packet losses, extending the passing satellites’ effective visibility window duration. We examine the maximum Doppler shift in the communication channel and the calculate required Doppler Beacon bandwidth for different orbital altitudes, minimum elevation angles, and carrier frequencies. This study also investigates how the proposed framework affects the battery lifetime of the end device, showing a marginal decrease of 2.5% compared to traditional LoRaWAN operation.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10937974/Direct-to-satelliteDoppler estimationdoppler compensationLEOLoRaWAN
spellingShingle Muhammad Asad Ullah
Richard Demo Souza
Gianni Pasolini
Jean Michel de Souza Sant'Ana
Marko Hoyhtya
Konstantin Mikhaylov
Hirley Alves
Enrico Paolini
Akram Al-Hourani
Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation
IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
Direct-to-satellite
Doppler estimation
doppler compensation
LEO
LoRaWAN
title Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation
title_full Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation
title_fullStr Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation
title_full_unstemmed Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation
title_short Extending the LoRa Direct-to-Satellite Limits: Doppler Shift Pre-Compensation
title_sort extending the lora direct to satellite limits doppler shift pre compensation
topic Direct-to-satellite
Doppler estimation
doppler compensation
LEO
LoRaWAN
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10937974/
work_keys_str_mv AT muhammadasadullah extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT richarddemosouza extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT giannipasolini extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT jeanmicheldesouzasantana extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT markohoyhtya extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT konstantinmikhaylov extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT hirleyalves extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT enricopaolini extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation
AT akramalhourani extendingtheloradirecttosatellitelimitsdopplershiftprecompensation