LoRa gateway

Next step: IoT gateway and IoT clouds #

LoRa devices send data to a LoRa IoT gateway. It is beyond the scope of this online tutorial to describe all the steps to build a low-cost LoRa IoT gateway but you can find all the necessary information from the following links.

Here is the tutorial video from our YouTube channel for the gateway part.

We assume that a gateway is available for the training or you built such gateway. Note that with the simple PCB (WAZIHat for instance) to host the LoRa radio module for the gateway, it is very easy to build the gateway with a regular RaspberryPI and the SD card image provided on our web page describing how to build a low-cost LoRa gateways.

With the WAZIHat

gw-1

With the RFM95 breakout freely available from our github: https://github.com/CongducPham/LowCostLoRaGw#pcbs

gw-2

If you have the default configuration for both the device and gateway (i.e. SF12BW125 datarate and CH_10_868=865.2MHz) then both components can communicate: the gateway is receiving data sent by the demo device, for instance \!TC/20.50.

Demonstrating raw LoRa reception on the IoT gateway #

Here is an example of a raw reception. You may have slightly different output depending on the configuration of the IoT gateway.

pi@raspberrypi:~/lora_gateway $ sudo ./lora_gateway 
<<< using wiringPi >>>
^$**********Power ON
^$Frequency 865200000
^$LoRa addr 1
^$Use PA_BOOST amplifier line
^$Set LoRa txpower dBm to 14
^$Preamble Length: 8
^$Sync word: 0x12
^$SX1276,865199936hz,SF12,BW125000,CR4:5,LDRO_On,SyncWord_0x12,IQNormal,Preamble_8
^$SX1276,SLEEP,Version_12,PacketMode_LoRa,Explicit,CRC_On,AGCauto_On,LNAgain_1,LNAboostHF_On,LNAboostLF_On
^$SX127X configured as LR-BS. Waiting RF input for transparent RF-serial bridge
^$Will safely reset radio module every 100 packet received
^$Low-level gateway has downlink support
2021-12-21T08:18:53.027311
^$Low-level gw status ON
--- rxlora[1]. dst=1 type=0x10 src=9 seq=0 len=10 SNR=4 RSSIpkt=-77 BW=125 CR=4/5 SF=12
^p1,16,9,0,10,4,-77
^r125,5,12,865200
^2021-12-21T08:19:32.459992*2921192800
??\!TC/20.50

Configuring the gateway for IoT cloud #

If you are working in groups where a gateway has been installed, do not perform these steps unless instructed by the instructor

Connect your gateway to a DHCP network to have Internet connectivity.

Your gateway also acts as a WiFi access point. Search for WAZIUP_PI_GW_XXXXXXXXXX WiFi.

Connect to this WiFi, password is loragateway.

Use a web browser (you can use a smartphone or tablet for instance) and open http://192.168.200.1/admin.

Login: admin and Password: loragateway.

Go to the Cloud menu

The ThingSpeak cloud #

Go to the Cloud menu and select the ThingSpeak tab to enable upload to the ThingSpeak cloud. You will need to enter your API write key. Here it is SGSH52UGPVAUYG3S to use our LoRa test channel ( https://thingspeak.com/channels/66794).

Last step is to reboot the gateway for changes to take effects. Wait about 1 minute, then power your LoRa demo end-device. With the provided configuration, the gateway will upload the demo device’s temperature to our LoRa test channel on the ThingSpeak cloud.

When looking at the low-level gateway log (Gateway confifuration/Get post-processing.log file) you should be able to see an output similar to:

2021-12-21T08:18:55.378145> <<< using wiringPi >>>
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378261> **********Power ON
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378375> LoRa CR4/5
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378487> LoRa SF 12
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378598> LoRa BW 125000
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378713> Frequency 865200000
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378821> LoRa addr 1
2021-12-21T08:18:55.378975> Use PA_BOOST amplifier line
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379083> Set LoRa txpower dBm to 14
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379186> Preamble Length: 8
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379289> Sync word: 0x12
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379392> SX1276,865199936hz,SF12,BW125000,CR4:5,LDRO_On,SyncWord_0x12,IQNormal,Preamble_8
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379496> SX1276,SLEEP,Version_12,PacketMode_LoRa,Explicit,CRC_On,AGCauto_On,LNAgain_1,LNAboostHF_On,LNAboostLF_On
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379600> SX127X configured as LR-BS. Waiting RF input for transparent RF-serial bridge
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379703> Will safely reset radio module every 100 packet received
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379808> Low-level gateway has downlink support
2021-12-21T08:18:55.379911> But downlink is disabled
2021-12-21T08:18:55.380012> 2021-12-21T08:18:53.027311
2021-12-21T08:18:55.380112> Low-level gw status ON
2021-12-21T08:19:32.460110> --- rxlora[1]. dst=1 type=0x10 src=9 seq=7 len=10 SNR=6 RSSIpkt=-72 BW=125 CR=4/5 SF=12
2021-12-21T08:19:32.460337> 2021-12-21T08:19:32.459992
2021-12-21T08:19:32.460469> rcv ctrl pkt info (^p): 1,16,9,7,10,6,-72
2021-12-21T08:19:32.460594> splitted in:  [1, 16, 9, 7, 10, 6, -72]
2021-12-21T08:19:32.460720> (dst=1 type=0x10(DATA) src=9 seq=7 len=10 SNR=6 RSSI=-72)
2021-12-21T08:19:32.460854> rcv ctrl radio info (^r): 125,5,12,865200
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461063> splitted in:  [125, 5, 12, 865200]
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461202> (BW=125 CR=5 SF=12)
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461354> rcv timestamp (^t): 2021-12-21T08:19:32.458436*2855775172
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461477> 
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461599> adding time zone info
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461728> new rcv timestamp (^t): 2021-12-21T08:19:32.458436+00:00
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461851> got first framing byte
2021-12-21T08:19:32.461967> --> got LoRa data prefix
2021-12-21T08:19:32.462079> +++ rxlora[865200]. dst=1 type=0x10 src=9 seq=7 len=10 SNR=6 RSSIpkt=-72 BW=125 CR=4/5 SF=12
2021-12-21T08:19:32.462192> valid app key: accept data
2021-12-21T08:19:32.462302> number of enabled clouds is 1
2021-12-21T08:19:32.462413> --> cloud[0]
2021-12-21T08:19:32.462519> uploading with python CloudThingSpeak.py
2021-12-21T08:19:32.462629> python CloudThingSpeak.py "TC/20.50" "1,16,9,7,10,6,-72" "125,5,12,865200" "2021-12-21T08:19:32.458436+00:00" "0000DCA6325C2A7A"
2021-12-21T08:19:33.505723> ThingSpeak: uploading (multiple)
2021-12-21T08:19:33.506113> rcv msg to log (\!) on ThingSpeak ( default , default ):
2021-12-21T08:19:33.506407> ThingSpeak: will issue curl cmd
2021-12-21T08:19:33.506699> curl -s -k -X POST --data field1=20.50 https://api.thingspeak.com/update?key=SGSH52UGPVAUYG3S
2021-12-21T08:19:33.506943> ThingSpeak: returned code from server is 1008058
2021-12-21T08:19:33.507124> --> cloud end

The WAZIUP data cloud platform #

Go to the Cloud menu and select the Cloud WAZIUP tab.

gw-waziup-cloud

First, enable the WAZIUP cloud if needed.

Leave project_name as waziup. If you are deploying for another project, you can enter here your project name.

Set organization_name to WAZIUP_TRAINING for instance

Set service_tree to -DEMO for instance

Leave the other fields unchanged.

Last step is to reboot the gateway for changes to take effects. Wait about 1 minute, then power your LoRa demo end-device. With the provided configuration, the gateway will upload the demo device’s temperature on the WAZIUP cloud.

To see your data on the WAZIUP data cloud platform, go to https://dashboard.waziup.io and log in as guest.

Login: guest and Password: guest

It is important to understand that the name of end-devices is set by the gateway when receiving data from the end-device and when upload data to clouds. The gateway retrieves the numeric address of an end-device (between 2 and 255) and will build a more comprehensive name, depending on the naming configuration for each cloud defined on the gateway.

With the above gateway configuration for the WAZIUP cloud, the name of your device is WAZIUP_TRAINING-DEMO_Sensor9_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx as the device’s address is 9. You can see that the device name is defined as organization_name+service_tree+"_Sensor"+device_address. Also, as you are using the WAZIUP guest account, the base name WAZIUP_TRAINING-DEMO_Sensor9 is appended with the MD5 hash of your gateway id. The MD5 hash can be found on the gateway’s web admin interface in the Gateway Configuration menu and Gateway tab.

gw-3

Here, our gateway id is 00000027EB5A71F7 and therefore the MD5 hash is 3304d293a4f5524e3d058929cf6583fb. The gateway id is automatically determined from the gateway’s network MAC address so you do not need to modify it. We advise you to use the default gateway id based on the gateway network MAC address.

Therefore, in our setting, we can search on the WAZIUP dashboard the device WAZIUP_TRAINING-DEMO_Sensor9_3304d293a4f5524e3d058929cf6583fb. In your case, you will have a different MD5 hash value but the base name will be the same.

dashboard-1

The final step is to create an account on the WAZIUP dashboard. Go to https://dashboard.waziup.io and follow procedure to create an account with a user name and a password. Use only letters and numbers for user name and password.

Once you have your user name and password, go on the gateway’s web admin interface, select Cloud menu and the Cloud WAZIUP tab to enter these information into the corresponding field.

Reboot the gateway for changes to take effects. Wait about 1 minute, then power your LoRa demo end-device.

Then go again to https://dashboard.waziup.io and log in with your user name and password. You should see your device, this time without the gateway’s id MD5 hash because you have been identified as a registered user.

dashboard-2

If you want to recover data points from the WAZIUP platform in order to develop new IoT applications, you can have a look at the WAZIUP API tutorial pages. If your application is written in Javascript, you can use the WAZIUP library instead of using directly the API.

You can also have a look at the following video that shows how to set up an operational gateway in less than 5mins.

Enjoy!

2019 - Muhammad Ehsan, Mamour Diop & Congduc Pham