Researchers have developed a groundbreaking hybrid technology known as WiLo, which combines Wi-Fi and LoRa to create a long-distance wireless concept. This innovative approach maximizes the advantages of each protocol without the need for additional hardware, making IoT deployments more efficient and scalable. The team successfully tested WiLo indoors and outdoors, achieving a 96 percent success rate over distances up to 500 meters. While there are concerns about increased power consumption for Wi-Fi devices, the researchers are working to address this in future work. Moving forward, optimization of the system for energy efficiency, data rates, and interference robustness is necessary for commercialization.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/wi-fi-lora-hybrid