Simultaneous mobility of gateways and nodes in LoRaWAN: a key advancement for reliable soldier health monitoring

Introduction: Mobility significantly influences the evaluation of wireless communication systems, particularly in real-time soldier health monitoring across isolated and dynamic environments where reliable communication is vital. Methods: This study investigates the performance of Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) under varying mobility conditions, focusing on the simultaneous movement of soldier-mounted nodes and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)—mounted gateways. Using a simulation-based approach, four mobility models—Static, Random, Linear, and Gauss-Markov—are evaluated in terms of signal strength, energy consumption, and data rate. The study aims to identify optimal configurations for LoRaWAN communication in military settings by assessing the impact of mobility, transmission intervals, UAV altitude, and speed. Results: Results demonstrate that the Linear mobility model ensures superior connectivity and network stability for UAV-mounted gateways, achieving a Data Extraction Rate (DER) of up to 99% with consistently reliable signal quality. Additionally, a UAV altitude of 20 meters (m), speed of 25 meters per second (mps), and a transmission interval of 600 seconds (s) yield an effective balance between energy efficiency and communication accuracy. Discussion: This work highlights the importance of optimizing LoRaWAN performance under simultaneous node and gateway mobility, a factor often overlooked in prior studies. The findings contribute to the development of robust, mobility-aware communication strategies for real-time military health monitoring using Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices. Future work may explore more complex mobility scenarios, environmental influences, and adaptive transmission schemes to further enhance system responsiveness in emergency medical conditions.