I'm currently working on a project involving the LoRa SX1276 chip, and I need some advice on selecting the most suitable antenna type. My goal is to maximize the communication range between nodes in a rice field for a soil moisture and NPK monitoring system.
I am considering two types of antennas: helical antenna and single wire (monopole) antenna.
Which antenna type (helical or single wire) is generally more suitable for maximizing range with the LoRa SX1276 chip?
Has anyone tested both types of antennas in a similar environment and can share insights on the performance differences?
Any recommendations or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
LoRa is just a different type of radio module, there are no different requirements for antennas for LoRa modules.
Helical antennas are normally worse, often a fair bit worse, than a simple 1\4 wave wire. Adding 1\4 wave radials to form a ground plane can improve antenna performance.
The real question is which type of antenna is adequate for you application, if the helical is good enough then it would make sense to use them as the antennas are then smaller and more compact.
Only you can say which type is good enough in your situation and a few practical tests is easy enough.
Also be aware that LoRa can be configured for relativly fast but shorter range communications or much slower (longer packet transmission times) but much longer distance communications.
is the application LoRaWAN or LoRa point-to-point?
how far apart are the transmitter and receiver?
how much data per transmission and how often?
what is the host microcontroller?