Why does Silvanet use LoRa?

In the heart of the world’s forests, where cellular signals vanish and infrastructure fades, Silvanet stays connected.

The secret? LoRa: the long-range, low-power wireless technology purpose-built for remote, low-bandwidth communication. But what exactly is LoRa?

LoRa, short for Long Range, is a radio modulation technique that allows small amounts of data to travel over long distances using minimal power. It’s ideal for applications like Silvanet, where energy efficiency, range, and scalability matter more than high data throughput. Unlike traditional networks, LoRa excels in transmitting small sensor messages, such as environmental readings or fire alerts, over many kilometers, even in dense forests or hilly terrain.

At Dryad, we chose LoRa as the backbone of our mesh network because it allows our sensors to stay active and communicative for years without batteries, powered only by solar energy and backed by supercapacitors. Our gateways gather data from the mesh and forward it to the cloud, ensuring low latency and robust connectivity.

But LoRa doesn’t work alone.

While Silvanet Sensors and Mesh Gateways use LoRa to communicate with each other, our Border Gateways connect to the internet via cellular networks or, in some cases, Ethernet. This hybrid approach allows Silvanet to bridge the deep forest to the digital world, even when off-grid.

In short, LoRa keeps our devices connected in the wild, and cellular ensures that critical alerts reach you, wherever you are. This layered communication architecture is what enables Silvanet to detect wildfires early, reliably, and sustainably, even in the most remote regions on Earth.