LoRaWAN-Enabled AI-Based Smart Surveillance System for Critical Infrastructure Protection
Keywords:
Critical infrastructure, Edge AI, Event-driven monitoring, IoT sensors, LoRaWAN, Low-power communication, Smart surveillanceAbstract
This article presents a LoRaWAN-enabled AI-based smart surveillance system designed to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure in remote and resource-constrained environments. Conventional surveillance systems often rely on continuous video streaming, which leads to high bandwidth consumption, large storage requirements, significant power usage, and dependence on reliable communication networks. These limitations make them unsuitable for geographically dispersed sites such as power substations, industrial plants, transportation facilities, and border areas. To address these challenges, the proposed system adopts an event-driven architecture that combines low-power IoT sensor nodes, LoRaWAN communication, edge artificial intelligence, and cloud-based monitoring. The sensor nodes continuously monitor environmental and security-related parameters such as motion, vibration, smoke, gas leakage, temperature, and unauthorized entry. When an abnormal event is detected, the information is transmitted through the LoRaWAN gateway to the edge AI controller, which classifies the event and activates the surveillance camera only when necessary. The captured video is then processed using AI models for object detection and threat verification, and alerts are sent to authorize personnel in real-time. This approach minimizes unnecessary video recording, reduces communication overhead, lowers storage and energy requirements, and improves response time. The proposed framework offers a scalable, cost-effective, and energy-efficient solution for intelligent surveillance in critical infrastructure protection.
References
F. Adelantado, X. Vilajosana, P. Tuset-Peiro, B. Martinez, J. Melia-Segui and T. Watteyne, “Understanding the limits of LoRaWAN,” in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 55, no. 9, pp. 34–40, Sept. 2017.
R. K. Mullick and R. K. Mandal, “Application of improved YOLO-LSTM with combined MQTT-LoRaWAN for AI surveillance in tea plantations to prevent elephant intrusion,” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, vol. 16, no. 12, 2025.
A. Safi et al., “A fault tolerant surveillance system for fire detection and prevention using LoRaWAN in smart buildings,” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 21, Nov. 2022.
F. F. Z. Cai, C. Q. Jiang, R. C. C. Cheung and A. H. F. Lam, “An AIoT LoRaWAN control system with compression and image recovery algorithm (CIRA) for extreme weather,” in IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 11, no. 20, pp. 32701–32713, Oct. 2024.
R. Arabelli, N. Yarlagadda, S. K. Anumula, K. S. Sidhu, D. Garg and M. K. Chakravarthi, “IoT-enabled smart sensor networks for autonomous surveillance systems,” 2025 International Conference on Smart & Sustainable Technology (INCSST), Chikodi, India, 2025, pp. 1–6.
M. Mejia-Herrera, J. Botero-Valencia, J. Ortega, and R. Hernández-García, “Development of a solar-powered edge processing perimeter alert system with AI and LoRa/LoRaWAN integration for drone detection and enhanced security,” Drones, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2025.
R. V. Jagtap and K. G., “Adaptive edge AI for proactive urban infrastructure health monitoring,” International Journal of Advanced Research in Science, Communication and Technology, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 268–281, Oct. 2025.
L. Ciardelli, L. Bixio, M. Ottonello, M. Cesena, and C. S. Regazzoni, “Multi-sensor cognitive-based approach to critical infrastructure protection,” WIT Transactions on the Built Environment, vol. 108, pp. 71–81, 2009.
I. H. Sarker, “AI for critical infrastructure protection and resilience,” in AI-Driven Cybersecurity and Threat Intelligence: Cyber Automation, Intelligent Decision-Making and Explainability, Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2024, pp. 153–172.
G. L. Moepi, T. E. Mathonsi, D. du Plessis, T. Muchenje, and T. M. Tshilongamulenzhe, “Smart surveillance systems: Trends, challenges and future directions,” The Indonesian Journal of Computer Science, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr. 2025.
H. S. S, A. K and D. D, “AI integrated on sewage water level detection and alert system with surveillance integration,” 2026 4th International Conference on Inventive Computing and Informatics (ICICI), Bangalore, India, 2026.
M. Matar, M. Shihab, K. Matar, and A. Alzughul, “Distributed sensor architecture leveraging telecommunication infrastructure for smart environment intelligence,” European Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology, vol. 13, no. 52, pp. 155–184, 2025.
U. Raza, P. Kulkarni, and M. Sooriyabandara, “Low power wide area networks: An overview,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 855–873, 2017.
J. Haxhibeqiri, E. De Poorter, I. Moerman, and J. Hoebeke, “A survey of LoRaWAN for IoT: From technology to application,” Sensors, vol. 18, no. 11, 2018.