LoRaWAN™ 1.0.3 Specification 
Copyright © 2018 LoRa Alliance, Inc.  All rights reserved. 
 
NOTICE OF USE AND DISCLOSURE 
Copyright © LoRa Alliance, Inc. (2017). All Rights Reserved.  
 
The information within this document is the property of the LoRa Alliance (“The Alliance”) and its use and disclosure are 
subject to LoRa Alliance Corporate Bylaws, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy and Membership Agreements. 
 
Elements of LoRa Alliance specifications may be subject to third party intellectual property rights, including without 
limitation, patent, copyright or trademark rights (such a third party may or may not be a member of LoRa Alliance). The 
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such third party intellectual property rights. 
 
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©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
 
Page 1 of 74 
The authors reserve the right to change 
specifications without notice. 
 
LoRaWAN 1.0.3 Specification 
 
 
 
LoRaWAN™ 1.0.3 Specification 
 
Authored by the LoRa Alliance Technical Committee  
 
Chairs: 
N.SORNIN (Semtech), A.YEGIN(Actility) 
Editor: 
N.SORNIN(Semtech) 
Contributors: 
A.BERTOLAUD (Gemalto), J.CATALANO (Kerlink), J.DELCLEF (ST Microelectronics), 
V.DELPORT (Microchip Technology), P.DUFFY (Cisco), F.DYDUCH (Bouygues Telecom), 
T.EIRICH (TrackNet), L.FERREIRA (Orange), S.GHAROUT(Orange), O.HERSENT 
(Actility), A.KASTTET (Homerider Systems), D.KJENDAL (Senet), V.KLEBAN (Everynet), 
J.KNAPP (TrackNet), T.KRAMP (TrackNet), M.KUYPER (TrackNet), P.KWOK (Objenious), 
M.LEGOURIEREC (Sagemcom), C.LEVASSEUR (Bouygues Telecom), M.LUIS (Semtech), 
M.PAULIAC (Gemalto), P.PIETRI (Orbiwise), D.SMITH (MultiTech), R.SOSS(Actility), 
T.TASHIRO (M2B Communications), P.THOMSEN (Orbiwise), A.YEGIN (Actility) 
 
Version: V1.0.3 
Date: March 20, 2018 
Status: Final release 
 
 
 
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©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
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The authors reserve the right to change 
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Contents 
1 
2 
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 7 
1.1  LoRaWAN Classes .................................................................................................. 7 
1.2  Conventions ............................................................................................................. 8 
Introduction on LoRaWAN options ............................................................................... 9 
2.1  LoRaWAN Classes .................................................................................................. 9 
2.2  Specification scope ................................................................................................ 10 
Class A – All end-devices ................................................................................................... 11 
Physical Message Formats ........................................................................................ 12 
3 
3.1  Uplink Messages .................................................................................................... 12 
3.2  Downlink Messages ............................................................................................... 12 
3.3  Receive Windows................................................................................................... 12 
3.3.1  First receive window channel, data rate, and start ............................................ 13 
3.3.2  Second receive window channel, data rate, and start ....................................... 13 
3.3.3  Receive window duration .................................................................................. 13 
3.3.4  Receiver activity during the receive windows .................................................... 13 
3.3.5  Network sending a message to an end-device ................................................. 13 
3.3.6 
Important notice on receive windows ................................................................ 14 
3.3.7  Receiving or transmitting other protocols .......................................................... 14 
MAC Message Formats ............................................................................................. 15 
4.1  MAC Layer (PHYPayload) ...................................................................................... 15 
4.2  MAC Header (MHDR field) ..................................................................................... 15 
4.2.1  Message type (MType bit field) ......................................................................... 16 
4.2.2  Major version of data message (Major bit field) ................................................ 16 
4.3  MAC Payload of Data Messages (MACPayload) .................................................... 17 
4.3.1  Frame header (FHDR) ...................................................................................... 17 
4.3.2  Port field (FPort) ............................................................................................... 20 
4.3.3  MAC Frame Payload Encryption (FRMPayload) ............................................... 21 
4.4  Message Integrity Code (MIC)................................................................................ 21 
MAC Commands........................................................................................................ 22 
5.1  Link Check commands (LinkCheckReq, LinkCheckAns) ........................................ 23 
5.2  Link ADR commands (LinkADRReq, LinkADRAns) ................................................ 24 
5.3  End-Device Transmit Duty Cycle (DutyCycleReq, DutyCycleAns) .......................... 26 
5.4  Receive Windows Parameters (RXParamSetupReq, RXParamSetupAns) ............ 26 
5.5  End-Device Status (DevStatusReq, DevStatusAns) ............................................... 27 
5.6  Creation / Modification of a Channel (NewChannelReq, NewChannelAns, 
6 
DlChannelReq, DlChannelAns) .............................................................................. 28 
5.7  Setting delay between TX and RX (RXTimingSetupReq, RXTimingSetupAns) ...... 30 
5.8  End-device transmission parameters (TxParamSetupReq, TxParamSetupAns) .... 30 
5.9  DeviceTime commands (DeviceTimeReq, DeviceTimeAns) ................................... 31 
End-Device Activation ................................................................................................ 33 
6.1  Data Stored in the End-device after Activation ....................................................... 33 
6.1.1  End-device address (DevAddr) ......................................................................... 33 
6.1.2  Application identifier (AppEUI) .......................................................................... 33 
6.1.3  Network session key (NwkSKey) ...................................................................... 33 
6.1.4  Application session key (AppSKey) .................................................................. 33 
6.2  Over-the-Air Activation ........................................................................................... 34 
6.2.1  End-device identifier (DevEUI) ......................................................................... 34 
6.2.2  Application key (AppKey) ................................................................................. 34 
6.2.3  Join procedure.................................................................................................. 34 
©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
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The authors reserve the right to change 
specifications without notice. 
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LoRaWAN 1.0.3 Specification 
6.2.4  Join-request message ...................................................................................... 34 
6.2.5  Join-accept message........................................................................................ 35 
6.3  Activation by Personalization ................................................................................. 37 
7 
Retransmissions back-off ........................................................................................... 38 
Class B – Beacon ............................................................................................................... 39 
8 
Introduction to Class B ............................................................................................... 40 
9 
Principle of synchronous network initiated downlink (Class-B option) ......................... 41 
10  Uplink frame in Class B mode .................................................................................... 44 
11  Downlink Ping frame format (Class B option) ............................................................. 45 
11.1  Physical frame format ............................................................................................ 45 
11.2  Unicast & Multicast MAC messages ....................................................................... 45 
11.2.1 Unicast MAC message format .......................................................................... 45 
11.2.2 Multicast MAC message format ........................................................................ 45 
12  Beacon acquisition and tracking ................................................................................. 46 
12.1  Minimal beacon-less operation time ....................................................................... 46 
12.2  Extension of beacon-less operation upon reception ............................................... 46 
12.3  Minimizing timing drift ............................................................................................. 46 
13  Class B Downlink slot timing ...................................................................................... 48 
13.1  Definitions .............................................................................................................. 48 
13.2  Slot randomization ................................................................................................. 49 
14  Class B MAC commands ........................................................................................... 50 
14.1  PingSlotInfoReq ..................................................................................................... 50 
14.2  BeaconFreqReq ..................................................................................................... 51 
14.3  PingSlotChannelReq .............................................................................................. 52 
14.4  BeaconTimingReq & BeaconTimingAns ................................................................. 53 
15  Beaconing (Class B option) ........................................................................................ 54 
15.1  Beacon physical layer ............................................................................................ 54 
15.2  Beacon frame content ............................................................................................ 54 
15.3  Beacon GwSpecific field format .............................................................................. 55 
15.3.1 Gateway GPS coordinate:InfoDesc = 0, 1 or 2 ................................................. 56 
15.3.2 NetID+GatewayID ............................................................................................ 56 
15.4  Beaconing precise timing ....................................................................................... 56 
15.5  Network downlink route update requirements ......................................................... 57 
16  Class B unicast & multicast downlink channel frequencies ......................................... 58 
16.1  Single channel beacon transmission ...................................................................... 58 
16.2  Frequency-hopping beacon transmission ............................................................... 58 
Class C – Continuously listening ......................................................................................... 59 
17  Class C: Continuously listening end-device................................................................ 60 
17.1  Second receive window duration for Class C ......................................................... 60 
17.2  Class C Multicast downlinks ................................................................................... 61 
Support information ............................................................................................................. 62 
18  Examples and Application Information ....................................................................... 63 
18.1  Uplink Timing Diagram for Confirmed Data Messages ........................................... 63 
18.2  Downlink Diagram for Confirmed Data Messages .................................................. 63 
18.3  Downlink Timing for Frame-Pending Messages ..................................................... 64 
18.4  Data-Rate Adaptation during Message Retransmissions........................................ 65 
19  Recommendation on contract to be provided to the network server by the end-
device provider at the time of provisioning .......................................................................... 67 
20  Recommendation on finding the locally used channels .............................................. 68 
21  Revisions ................................................................................................................... 69 
21.1  Revision 1.0 ........................................................................................................... 69 
21.2  Revision 1.0.1 ........................................................................................................ 69 
21.3  Revision 1.0.2 ........................................................................................................ 69 
©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
Page 4 of 74 
 
The authors reserve the right to change 
specifications without notice. 
 
 
LoRaWAN 1.0.3 Specification 
21.4  Revision 1.0.3 ........................................................................................................ 70 
22  Glossary .................................................................................................................... 71 
23  Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 72 
23.1  References............................................................................................................. 72 
24  NOTICE OF USE AND DISCLOSURE ....................................................................... 73 
 
Tables 
Table 1: PHY payload format .............................................................................................. 15 
Table 2: MAC message types ............................................................................................. 16 
Table 3: Major list ................................................................................................................ 16 
Table 4: FPort list ................................................................................................................ 21 
Table 5: MAC commands .................................................................................................... 23 
Table 6: Channel state table ............................................................................................... 24 
Table 7: LinkADRAns status bits signification ..................................................................... 26 
Table 8: RX2SetupAns status bits signification ................................................................... 27 
Table 9: Battery level decoding ........................................................................................... 27 
Table 10: NewChannelAns status bits signification ............................................................. 29 
Table 11: DlChannelAns status bits signification ................................................................. 30 
Table 12: Del mapping table ............................................................................................... 30 
Table 13: Beacon timing ..................................................................................................... 48 
Table 14 : Class B slot randomization algorithm parameters ............................................... 49 
Table 15 : Class B MAC command table ............................................................................. 50 
Table 16 : beacon infoDesc index mapping ......................................................................... 55 
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Figures 
Figure 1: LoRaWAN Classes ................................................................................................ 9 
Figure 2: Uplink PHY structure ............................................................................................ 12 
Figure 3: Downlink PHY structure ....................................................................................... 12 
Figure 4: End-device receive slot timing. ............................................................................. 13 
Figure 5: Radio PHY structure (CRC* is only available on uplink messages) ...................... 15 
Figure 6: PHY payload structure ......................................................................................... 15 
Figure 7: MAC payload structure ......................................................................................... 15 
Figure 8: Frame header structure ........................................................................................ 15 
Figure 9: LoRa message format elements ........................................................................... 15 
Figure 11 : DeviceTimeAns payload format ......................................................................... 32 
Figure 12: Beacon reception slot and ping slots .................................................................. 43 
Figure 13 : class B FCtrl fields ............................................................................................ 44 
Figure 14 : beacon-less temporary operation ...................................................................... 46 
Figure 15: Beacon timing .................................................................................................... 48 
Figure 16 : PingSlotInfoReq payload format ........................................................................ 50 
Figure 17 : BeaconFreqReq payload format ........................................................................ 51 
Figure 18 : BeaconFreqAns payload format ........................................................................ 51 
Figure 19 : PingSlotChannelReq payload format ................................................................. 52 
Figure 20 : PingSlotFreqAns payload format ....................................................................... 52 
Figure 21 : beacon physical format ..................................................................................... 54 
Figure 22 : beacon frame content........................................................................................ 54 
Figure 23 : example of beacon CRC calculation (1) ............................................................ 54 
©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
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The authors reserve the right to change 
specifications without notice. 
 
 
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Figure 24 : example of beacon CRC calculation (2) ............................................................ 55 
Figure 25 : beacon GwSpecific field format ......................................................................... 55 
Figure 26 : beacon Info field format , infoDesc = 0,1,2 ........................................................ 56 
Figure 27 : beacon Info field format, infoDesc=3 ................................................................. 56 
Figure 28: Class C end-device reception slot timing. ........................................................... 61 
Figure 29: Uplink timing diagram for confirmed data messages .......................................... 63 
Figure 30: Downlink timing diagram for confirmed data messages ...................................... 64 
Figure 31: Downlink timing diagram for frame-pending messages, example 1 .................... 64 
Figure 32: Downlink timing diagram for frame-pending messages, example 2 .................... 65 
Figure 33: Downlink timing diagram for frame-pending messages, example 3 .................... 65 
 
©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
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1 
Introduction 
LoRaWAN 1.0.3 Specification 
This  document  describes  the  LoRaWAN™  network  protocol  which  is  optimized  for  battery-
powered end-devices that may be either mobile or mounted at a fixed location.  
LoRaWAN  networks  typically  are  laid  out  in  a  star-of-stars  topology  in  which  gateways1 
relay  messages  between  end-devices2  and  a  central  network  server  at  the  backend.  
Gateways  are  connected  to  the  network  server  via  standard  IP  connections  while  end-
devices  use  single-hop  LoRa™  or  FSK  communication  to  one  or  many  gateways.3    All 
communication  is  generally  bi-directional,  although  uplink  communication  from  an  end-
device to the network server is expected to be the predominant traffic. 
Communication  between  end-devices  and  gateways  is  spread  out  on  different  frequency 
channels  and  data  rates.  The  selection  of  the  data  rate  is  a  trade-off  between 
communication  range  and  message  duration,  communications  with  different  data  rates  do 
not interfere with each other.  LoRa data rates range from 0.3 kbps to 50 kbps.  To maximize 
both  battery  life  of  the  end-devices  and  overall  network  capacity,  the  LoRa  network 
infrastructure  can  manage the  data rate  and  RF  output for  each  end-device  individually  by 
means of an adaptive data rate (ADR) scheme. 
End-devices  may  transmit  on  any  channel  available  at  any  time,  using  any  available  data 
rate, as long as the following rules are respected: 
  The  end-device  changes  channel 
for  every 
transmission.  The  resulting  frequency  diversity  makes  the  system  more  robust  to 
interferences. 
in  a  pseudo-random 
fashion 
  The  end-device  respects  the  maximum  transmit  duty  cycle  relative  to  the  sub-band 
used and local regulations. 
  The  end-device  respects  the  maximum  transmit  duration  (or  dwell  time)  relative  to 
the sub-band used and local regulations. 
Note:  Maximum  transmit  duty-cycle  and  dwell  time  per  sub-band  are 
region  specific  and  are  defined  in  the  LoRaWAN  ¨regional  phyLayer 
definition document 
1.1  LoRaWAN Classes 
All  LoRaWAN  devices  implement  at  least  the  Class  A  functionality  as  described  in  this 
document.  In  addition  they  MAY  implement  options  named  Class  B,  Class  C  as  also 
described  in  this  document  or  others  to  be  defined.  In  all  cases,  they  must  remain 
compatible with Class A. 
                                                
1 Gateways are also known as concentrators or base stations. 
2 End-devices are also known as motes. 
3 Support for intermediate elements – repeaters – is not described in the document, however payload 
restrictions for encapsulation overhead are included in this specification. A repeater is defined as 
using LoRaWAN as its backhaul mechanism. 
©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
Page 7 of 74 
 
The authors reserve the right to change 
specifications without notice. 
 
 
LoRaWAN 1.0.3 Specification 
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1.2  Conventions 
MAC  commands  are  written  LinkCheckReq,  bits  and  bit  fields  are  written  FRMPayload, 
constants are written RECEIVE_DELAY1, variables are written N. 
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In this document, 
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  The octet order for all multi-octet fields is little endian and 
  EUI are 8 bytes multi-octet fields and are transmitted as little endian. 
  By default, RFU bits are set to zero  
©2018 LoRa™ Alliance 
Page 8 of 74 
 
The authors reserve the right to change 
specifications without notice.