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Isn't LoRa proprietary? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 weeks ago by pastermil@sh.itjust.works to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz

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I'm really hoping that I'm getting the wrong information here.

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[–] henfredemars 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's definitely proprietary at the physical layer. You cannot make your own LoRa RF chips. It's patented, closed-source, and owned by Semtech. There is no public specification.

However, the higher layers above physical are open and the proprietary radio chips are well-supported and widely available to hobbyists. There's not much else in the low-power, low-cost, and no-license required to transmit niche, and it works really well at what it aims to do.