Planning LoRaWAN Coverage: How Many Gateways Does a Site Need?

The number of gateways a site needs is set in the field: a short radio survey, the building materials between sensors and gateways, the mounting height, and the redundancy the project requires. Manufacturers publish range figures measured in open terrain, and concrete, steel, tanks and below-grade rooms shorten that range considerably, so each site is sized on its own conditions.

Step 1: List where the sensors go

Mark every sensor location on a floor plan or site map, and note which ones sit in basements, mechanical rooms, wet wells, freezers or metal cabinets. These are the locations that decide the gateway count.

Step 2: Place the first gateway high and central

Height is the strongest lever on coverage. On a campus or in a city, an outdoor gateway such as the Kerlink Wirnet iStation on a rooftop or tower covers the most ground. Inside a building, an indoor gateway such as the Kerlink iFemtoCell placed near the center of the floor plan does the same job at a fraction of the cost.

Step 3: Survey before ordering in volume

Install one gateway and walk the site with a test sensor or a field tester, recording signal strength (RSSI) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at each planned sensor location. Locations with weak readings show where the next gateway is needed.

Step 4: Plan for redundancy

A LoRaWAN sensor is heard by every gateway in range, so designing for two gateways per critical sensor costs little and keeps alarms flowing when one gateway loses power or backhaul. For leak detection, lift stations and safety applications, this is a sound design rule.

Step 5: Add gateways for dense or hard locations

Each below-grade level, each separate building and each enclosed plant area usually gets its own indoor gateway. At a single-unit price of $120 and $100 at 96 units for the iFemtoCell, adding a gateway is often cheaper than fighting a weak link.

Step 6: Order the network as one bill of materials

Once the survey sets the count, order gateways, antennas, surge protection and sensors together so the volume tier applies across the order. Many Amazeus listings share one volume program, so different products in that program count together toward the tier.

For a site with 100 outdoor gateways, the 96-unit iStation price of $465.50 saves $19,950 against the single-unit price. Send the site list and quantities to customerservice@amazeus.net for a quote.