Sensor->Gateway Range only 200+ yards

I have an Azure microgateway and a Wireless Temp/Humid sensor (PR49-24A). These were advertised to have a 2 mile communication range (line of site). I just completed my first field test and with the gateway mounted 20ft in the air and moving the sensor away in direct line of site of the gateway, the RSSI signal drops dramatically starting at 150 yards. At 200yards it is only 34 and no data points get through at 275 yards when the RSSI drop below 25. Do I have a defective radio or am I missing something in how this technology is supposed to work? I would understand some thing short of 2mi but not under 1/4 mile!

Hi Clay,
what is the antenna position of the sensor and the gateway ?

The radio specs can be found here

By default the radio power is set to 250mW but i will check that as well. just to make sure its to highest level.
i haven’t done any range test in a while. the last range test i did was in farm which has few rolling hills and some trees.
the range i got was was around 890meter.

i will try to run one more test.

also if antenna is near a wall or in a closed space it will impact the range.

Test Details:
The Gateway is placed inside the a second story window facing north.
I placed the sensor in my back pocket and walked north along my street stopping at each house to record the distance and time. I lost signal at the house indicated on this map.

The goal is to deploy an array of sensors in a well house shown here to monitor a flow meter, holding tank, motor voltage etc.

Where can I get the “high-gain” antenna to extend the range of my sensors? I don’t see them on the NCD.IO site.

Hi Clay,
We are running some tests with different antenna. we should have initial test results in either end of the day or tomorrow. once we have that we will be bale to recommend higher gain antenna.

Thanks

I just repeated my experiment with the window open. While the signal strength still dropped to 20-30, I was able to receive the data packets. A pane of glass made the difference. I will look to extend my test to find my outer boundary. Question: how weatherproof is the gateway? Can i safely mount it to the outside of building?

the azure gateway is not water proof. we can build a ip65 version of it. you can also put it inside a slightly bigger water proof enclosure.

An ip65 version would be interesting. First I have to determine if the range is sufficient. If not I may have to wait for the Cellular Gateway so I can decouple from wifi and put the gateway in the field. Any clues on timeline / cost on the Cell Gateway?

we do have a lte gateway as well

That is a lot more capability than I need. I saw the article about Cell Gateways. Is the Edge computer the realization of that or is there still a “Gateway” coming soon as well? Cellular Gateways are On the Way - news.ncd.io

I think this is the case for the Gateway… could we not just seal the power / antenna openings? WC-31F Outdoor Polycarbonate Box with Clear Cover | NEMA 4X

Open Air Test:
Gateway is sitting on front porch approx 6ft above street level facing North-East
I walked on the street toward the well house we are trying to monitor all the way to the far corner of the road. Pause, and return on the same route.
Labels are the street addresses on the southern side of the road.

Result:
With the exception of one data message, I lose all connectivity at around 650ft from the gateway.

This range is only 6% the advertised range of 2miles. Even with a few trees and structures, I would hope to get at least 20%. Either there is something wrong with my devices or the range is wildly overstated!

Clay,
we just got back from a range test.
in our test case we had a clear line of sight ( almost clear)

  1. sensor was mounted somewhere around 12-13 feet above ground
  2. antenna was pointing the sky
  3. the receiver was in a truck ( height around 7-8 feet). all windows open and antenna was near the open windows
  4. The sensor was mounted right under a cell tower and there was one more tower near by.
  5. there is NO known RF interference in the area.
  6. There were no objects around the transmitter.
    Test one – Distance between sensor/transmitter and receiver is 0.9 mile. signal strength 100%.
    Test two – Distance between sensor/transmitter and receiver is 2 mile. signal strength 38-40%.
    Test three – Distance between sensor/transmitter and receiver is 3 mile. signal strength 22-24%.

All tests were doing using standard antenna.
in all our test setup we were able to see the sensor all the time ( clear line of sight) .
in your testing i will change two things

  1. mount gateway away from a wall and on some height. so that you can avoid all small trees and plants
  2. i see there is a house in between the sensor and gateway. this wont help. its understandable that house cant be moved out of the way. so need to find a the location where we can get a clear line of sight as much as possible.
  3. Yagi antenna will be the ideal option if signal is still not making. this dipole antenna is transmitting data in all direction . Yagi will point to one direction.
    Thanks