The LoRa Downlink Analysis view provides a diagnostic breakdown of downlink communication in your LoRaWAN network. Use it to evaluate gateway transmission power distribution, antenna usage balance, frequency band utilization, payload sizes, and the classification of downlink message types. This dashboard helps you verify that gateways transmit efficiently and that downlink capacity is not bottlenecked.

Widgets#

How to use this view#

1. Open LoRa Downlink Analysis from the sidebar under Investigation Views.
2. Set the time window to the period you want to investigate.
3. Use the traffic source filter to focus on internal device responses or external traffic as needed.
4. Check Tx Power Distribution to verify that gateways transmit at appropriate power levels. Excessively high power may indicate that devices are far from gateways; uniformly low power suggests a well-covered area.
5. Review Antenna Usage Distribution to detect imbalances. If one antenna handles a disproportionate share of downlinks, you may need to review antenna configuration or gateway placement.
6. Inspect Band Usage to ensure downlink traffic distributes evenly across available bands and that no single band is congested.
7. Examine Downlink Payload Size for unexpected patterns. Large payloads increase airtime and may contribute to duty cycle pressure.
8. Use Downlink Classification to understand the ratio of join accepts to data downlinks and whether confirmed downlinks dominate the traffic mix.

Understanding the data#

Tx Power Distribution#

Gateway transmission power directly affects downlink reliability and duty cycle consumption. A healthy distribution shows most downlinks at moderate power levels. If a significant portion of downlinks requires maximum Tx power, the corresponding devices may be at the edge of coverage.

Antenna Usage Distribution#

In multi-antenna gateway setups, downlink traffic should balance across antennas unless the deployment intentionally directs certain traffic to specific antennas. Uneven distribution may indicate a misconfigured antenna or a physical obstruction affecting one antenna’s effective range.

Band Usage#

Downlink band usage should spread across available frequency channels. Concentration on a single band can lead to congestion and increased collision risk, especially in dense deployments.

Downlink Payload Size#

Payload size affects airtime and, consequently, duty cycle utilization. A spike in large downlink payloads may indicate firmware updates in progress, bulk configuration changes, or application-level issues generating oversized responses.

Downlink Classification#

This chart breaks downlinks into join accepts, confirmed downlinks, and unconfirmed downlinks. A high ratio of join accepts relative to data downlinks may indicate network instability causing frequent device rejoins. A high proportion of confirmed downlinks increases airtime usage because each requires a device acknowledgment.

Related pages#

• Investigation Views — overview of all investigation dashboards and global filters
• LoRa Uplink Analysis — uplink signal and traffic charts
• LoRa Infrastructure Stress — infrastructure load and risk indicators
• Geo-Positioned Analysis — map-based spatial diagnostics