Enabling an inter-operator roaming capability in LoRaWAN networks

LoRaWAN is a promising enabling technology for connected things. Nowadays, it is largely used in many application areas thanks to its relevant features such as long-range, low-cost, and low power consumption. However, as with all wireless technologies, mobility remains a major concern bringing end-devices out of their home operator coverage. In this paper, we investigate the inter-operator roaming capability in mobile scenarios. We proposed a novel LoRaWAN roaming scheme to enable inter-operator roaming based on DNS resolution and end-device context migration between networks. Moreover, we extended the LoRaWAN architecture while maintaining the integrity of the existing mechanisms and with a minimum prior configuration requirements. In order to validate our solution, we designed and implemented a test-bed platform integrating our extensions to Chirpstack. An extensive experimental study under various traffic loads demonstrates that the context migration delay perfectly fits the Class A LoRaWAN requirements. We also designed and implemented a LoRaWAN roaming emulator which states on the effectiveness of our roaming solution in terms of response time required for DNS resolution and end-device context migration, as well as CPU and memory utilization.