LoRa Enabled IoT Node With Integrated PCB Antenna

This thesis describes the design, test, and validation of the PCB of a LoRa enabled IoT sensor node that interfaces with The Thing's Network to track meteorological conditions for agricultural applications. The sensor node is a portable weatherproof modular weather station that can be connected to up to six different weather sensors, acquire and process the sensor data, and transmit the results at 868 MHz using the LoRaWAN protocol. This PCB uses the Murata 1SJ LoRa module, exploiting its low power characteristics to be able to be battery powered and deployable anywhere. The proposed design is an evolution of a previous version, where the PCB was connected to an external antenna to transmit the data, which meant case design complications to accommodate the antenna while maintaining the system weatherproof, and increased costs due to the need of one antenna and one pigtail for each sensor node. For this reason, a planar inverted F antenna was integrated into the sensor node's PCB. The sensor node was then fabricated, assembled, tested, and validated to verify its functionality and capability to be deployed as a product.