What are LoRa and LoRaWAN?

LoRaWAN is a low power wide area technology that fills the gap between long range cellular communication technologies (3G and 4G LTE) and short and very short distance wireless technologies (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and, in some cases, NFC). LoRaWan and the other LPWAN technologies (SigFox, NBIoT) were created to facilitate the development of networks in which nodes require "low mobility" and very limited data exchange, and are characterized by very low energy consumption. LoRaWAN is an LPWAN specification that allows battery-powered devices to connect to an IoT network over a long range, using reduced bandwidth, on a regional, national or global network. It is a low-cost open standard. It is a free network that does not require subscriptions for data consumption. Note that while the terms "LoRa" and "LoRaWAN" are often used as synonyms, the two refer to different things. LoRa is the physical layer or wireless modulation. LoRa is based on Chirp Spread Spectrum modulations. The Chirp spread spectrum has been used in military and space communication for decades due to the long communication distances that can be reached and the robustness to interference. LoRaWAN is a specific protocol built based on LoRa technology developed by the LoRa Alliance.