# LaRaWAN Metering Infrastructure Planning in Smart Cities
## 1 Introduction
Under these assumptions, terminal devices can be battery-powered or operate autonomously using photovoltaic cells. In some technologies and radio bands short-range communication is used [5], whereas in others, it can span from hundreds of meters to several kilometers, and the network can be designed in a star topology. As a result, routing issues in this network type are deemed insignificant and are not considered or addressed [6; 7]. There are several popular LPWAN solutions available in the market that cater to the diverse needs of IoT deployments. A prominent LPWAN technology is LoRaWAN (LoRa Wide Area Network), which offers long-range connectivity, low power consumption, and scalability for IoT applications [8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13]. The Semtech LoRa radio modules have important features for IoT applications, such as long range, low power consumption, and secure data transmission [14]. Another notable LPWAN solution is NB-IoT (NarrowBand IoT), which is a cellular-based LPWAN solution, supported by major telecom operators, offering deep penetration and wide coverage using existing infrastructure [15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20]. LTE-M (Long-Term Evolution for Machines) is another cellular LPWAN technology that provides higher bandwidth and lower latency, suitable for applications requiring real-time communication. LoRaWAN has become highly popular in Western European countries due to its license-free spectrum usage, scalability, flexibility, collaborative ecosystem, standardization efforts, interoperability, and cost-effectiveness. These factors have enabled the widespread adoption of LoRaWAN for IoT applications in urban areas, agriculture, asset tracking, and more, making it a preferred choice for businesses, organizations, and communities in the region. In Poland, for example, there are the first municipalities to put into practice solutions based on LoRaWAN technology. There is a well-founded belief that the wider use of sensors of this type is an opportunity for business, administration, and individual customers [22]. This technology is compatible with public, private, or hybrid networks, offering broader coverage compared to cellular networks. It seamlessly integrates with existing infrastructure and facilitates the deployment of cost-effective battery-powered IoT applications. Semtech's LoRa chips are integrated into a wide range of devices that are manufactured by many IoT solution providers. They connect to WANs and use WANs, and network services are supported by dedicated cloud solutions. Building and implementing a wireless network for the Internet of Things with any of the technologies presented is costly and time-consuming and must be preceded by a performance evaluation based on computer simulations. The most important objective of the solution presented in this paper is to determine the optimal number of gateways and to select the transmission parameters of the measurement nodes. The problem of gateway deployment is equally important from the point of view of providing services in a given geographical area at the expected quality level. It turns out that a small number of gateways is sufficient to provide communication within a small city. Simulation studies are therefore not limited to synthetic datasets but make use of open databases collecting data on the placement of urban infrastructure elements. In this view, similar studies have not been conducted. To the authors' best knowledge, such studies have not been undertaken to this date. This paper presents the use of machine-learning mechanisms and the application of a reliable radio loss model to determine the effective coverage of a network of measurement nodes operating in LoRaWAN technology. In Section 2, a literature review is presented. Section 3 shows how the LoRaWAN network infrastructure works and the computational techniques used. Section 4 discusses the desirability of the approach used, supported by the results of the research work in hypothetical scenarios and in the actual topography of the city.