How To Configure Multi-RAK Gateway Mesh

Table of Contents

• Gateway-A with Built-in LoRa Network Server
• Gateway-B with MQTT Bridge
• External MQTT Broker Setup
• RAK LPWAN Node
• Traffic Testing and Monitoring

This section is a sample demonstration on how to interconnect your RAK7249 Macro Outdoor Gateway with its Built-in LoRa Network Server to another RAK Gateway and make an application for the RAK LPWAN Node. For this sample demonstration, we will be using the RAK811 LPWAN Node.

Requirements

1. RAK811 LPWAN Node
2. RAK7249 Macro Outdoor Gateway (LoRa Server in use)
3. RAK7249 Macro Outdoor Gateway (MQTT Bridge in use)

Gateway-A with Built-in LoRa Network Server

This section is the detailed discussion on how to set-up the built-in LoRa Server for your RAK7249 Marco Outdoor Gateway using the Web Management Platform.

We will first set-up the built-in LoRa network server. Before going through the steps, access the Web Management Platform as discussed in the prior section.

Packet Forwarder Set-up

By navigating through LoRa Gateway tab-> LoRa Packet Forwarder-> General Setup, set the Protocol in the drop-down list to Build-in LoRa ® Server.

You can leave the rest of the settings with their default values. Remember to "Save & Apply".

Configure the LoRa Server

Navigate through LoRa Network Server tab -> General and turn-on this feature using the Enable slider.

Select your Region (Frequency Band). For this demonstration, we are going to use EU863-870 frequency band.

Register RAK7249 Gateway

Navigate through LoRa Network Server-> Gateway and enter the Gateway EUI in the field.

By pressing the "Add" button, you will be redirected into a new tab where you will need to fill the mandatory parameters: Name and Description.

If everything is set-up correctly, you should see the same set-up with the image shown below:

Gateway-B with MQTT Bridge

In this section, we will demonstrate on how to point the External RAK7249-B Macro Outdoor Gateway to the built-in LoRa Server of Gateway-A Macro Outdoor Gateway.

Packet Forwarder Set-up

By navigating through LoRa Gateway tab-> LoRa Packet Forwarder-> General Setup, set the Protocol in the drop-down list to LoRa Gateway MQTT Bridge.

LoRa Gateway MQTT Bridge

Navigate through LoRa Gateway tab -> LoRa Gateway MQTT Bridge -> General Setup and turn on this feature using the Enable slider.

Update the credentials needed in the list provided below.

• • MQTT Broker Address: IP address of Gateway-A
  • MQTT Broker Port: By default, its value is 1883. Please update this if it is not.

After clicking "Save & Apply", all LoRa traffic should be redirected via the Bridge of Gateway-B to the MQTT Broker of Gateway-A.

Registering RAK7249-B in RAK7249-A's LoRa Network Server

This procedure is the same as when you registered RAK7249-A in its built-in LoRa Network Server. Please refer to the Gateway-A with Built-in LoRa Network Server and repeat the process. The image below is the representation of what your configuration should look like with the two Gateways are added.

You can add more Gateways in the same manner as we did for the two. This is a convenient way to monitor if they are up using the "Last Seen" feed.

External MQTT Broker Setup

This section provides the procedure in setting the external MQTT Broker for your Application Setup.

Preparing the Raspberry Pi

• The following items listed below with its download links for the tools and files needed for this demonstration:
  • Raspbian Buster Lite Image
  • Balena Etcher Tool
  • PuTTY SSH Client

• Download the Raspbian Buster Lite image and flash it into your SD Card using the Balena Etcher. You can follow the steps provided in the Device Firmware Setup section. Once done, plug the SD card into the Raspberry Pi 3B+ SD card slot and power it.

Using the PuTTY SSH client, connect to the Raspberry Pi 3B+ with the following credentials:

• • Username: pi
  • Password: raspberry

Execute the following command and note the IP address of the interface you will be using to connect to the network. You will need this, as it will be the address for your MQTT Broker when configuring the Gateway:

ifconfig

Installing Mosquitto

Install the MQTT Broker (Mosquitto) via the command:

sudo apt install mosquitto mosquitto-clients

Mosquitto clients help us easily test MQTT through a command line utility. We will use two command windows; one to subscribe to a topic and one to publish a message to it. Those will be explained in detail further in the tutorial.

sudo systemctl enable mosquitto.service

Publish to the MQTT Broker

We will now then configure the Gateway to connect to our external MQTT broker. For the purpose of this example, we are going to use the built-in LoRa Server.

First go to the Packet Forwarder Tab and choose Built-in LoRa Server as your Protocol:

Make sure you have the LoRa Network Server Enabled in the General tab:

Add Your Gateway in the Gateway tab if you haven’t done so already. You can also add multiple gateways depending on your preference.

Finally, go to the Global Integration tab and enter the address where you have your Mosquitto instance running in the MQTT Broker Address field leaving the Port with the default 1883 value.

Now that the Gateway parameters are set, we will now register your application in order to be able to send and receive data. We are going to use the RAK811 LPWAN Node as an example in the next sub-section.

Downlink

There is a convenient tool in the Built-in LoRa Server for sending a Downlink frame.

You can find it in the Device tab in the LoRa Network Server section. You can choose your Type of frame (confirmed/unconfirmed), the Frame port and the Hex Data shown in the image below:

Once you schedule a message for downlink it will be displayed in the Live Device Data window. Upon sending the next uplink via the RAK Serial Port Tool you will also see it there, as it needs an uplink frame in order to send the downlink in the RX1 window shown in the image below.

If you want to test the Gateway downlink via the external MQTT Broker, you need to first create a json file which you will be sensing your data in. Below is what the file formatting structure needs to look like:

{
  "confirmed": true,
  "fPort": 10,
  "data": "1001"
}

Create the file, for example with the following command and copy the data in discussed above:

sudo nano test.json

After you have created the file, you need to schedule it for downlink. This means that you have to publish it via Mosquitto with the command:

sudo mosquito_pub application/{{application_ID{{/device/{{device_EUI}}/ tx –f test.json

• The packet will be scheduled for downlink, which you can see in the Gateway Packet logger.
• When the next uplink frame that comes for the Application/Device specified by the application_ID and device_EUI is received, the Gateway will send the data in the RX1 window to the node. You should have a response similar to the one in Figure 15.

RAK LPWAN Node

This document discusses the steps on how to add your RAK811 LPWAN Node Application into the Built-in LoRa Network Server demonstration. For this demonstration, it is best advised to use our very own RAK Serial Port Tool.

Register the Application

Connect your RAK811 to your computer by following the Interfacing your RAK811 LPWAN Node section or the RAK811 LPWAN Node. Once connecting is successful, open the RAK Serial Port Tool and press the RESET Button (RST) to reboot your device to check the LoRa parameters same with the image shown below:

• In case your device is already configured to work in OTAA same with the image above, it will attempt connecting to the gateway but does not get authenticated as it is not registered yet and needs to be configured first.

Set the Region/Band by plugging in the AT Command below in the RAK Serial Port Tool. For this demonstration, EU868 frequency band shall be used.

at+set_config=lora:region:EU868

Set the authentication mode to OTAA:

at+set_config=lora:join_mode:0

• Now that your RAK811 LPWAN Node is working in the correct region and mode, you need to fill in the application parameters in your Gateway. This will register the specific device and allow you to exchange data.

• Navigate through LoRa Network Server -> Application -> Devices. Enter a name for your application and press the "Add" button.

Refer back to the RAK Serial Port Tool shown in Figure 16: RAK811 LPWAN Node Parameters and take note the Application EUI and Application Key. Input those into the corresponding fields in the Application Configuration screen in the Gateway:

• Setting the Application EUI:

at+set_config=lora:app_eui:XXXX

• Setting the Application Key:

at+set_config=lora:app_key:XXXX"

Save & Apply (Make sure the Auto Add Device Slider is in the off position).

Adding the Device

Locate the application created in the previous section and press the "Edit" button.

Enter the Device EUI into the corresponding field and press "Add" button.

Enter a Device name, make sure you are in Class A, OTAA mode. Leave the rest of the parameters with their default settings then Save & Apply.

Data Transfer Monitoring

By following the steps in the previous sections, you should now have your Device registered and if you click on the Device EUI, you will open the corresponding Device window. Go to the Live Device Data tab. Here you can monitor data that the application is exchanging in real time.

Using the RAK Serial Port Tool, execute the AT command provided below to reboot the RAK811. Alternatively, you could press the RESET Button (RST).

at+set_config=device:restart

Upon reboot, your RAK811 should be able to join via OTAA if all the credentials are authenticated. You should see a Join request in the Live Data tab and the Join Succeeded! message in the Serial Tool.

Traffic Testing and Monitoring

Uplink

Now your RAK811 LoRa Node is authenticated with the built-in LoRa Server. As it is connected to the external MQTT Broker via the Global Integration, you can monitor traffic in both the Live Data tab and on the Raspberry Pi 3B+ where the Mosquitto resides. Let us test this by sending an uplink frame via the RAK811.

In the command line window of the Raspberry Pi 3B+, we need to subscribe to the Application/Device we are going to monitor the traffic. This is done via the following command. Take note of the following syntax in the list below to have the command executed correctly:

• • application_ID: is the application ID from the Application tab in the Gateway.
  • device_EUI: is the Device EUI of the RAK811 LoRa Node

mosquitto_sub -t application/{{application_ID}}/device/{{device_EUI}}/rx -v

After executing the command, you need to send some data via the RAK Serial Port Tool. Use the command below to send an uplink frame on Frame port 1, with the Payload 1110:

at+send=lora:1:1110

• Now if you look at the three windows in the image above, in the RAK Serial Port Tool, Live Device Data and the CLI of the Raspberry, you will see that the message arriving is displayed.

• You can also monitor the Gateway traffic itself. You can do this via the command. Take note of the following syntax in the list below to have the command executed correctly:

mosquitto_sub -t gateway/{{eui}}/rx -v

• This is very convenient as you have three ways to monitor and you can see the metadata and payload in both the Gateway and via the MQTT Broker.

Downlink

There is a convenient tool in the Built-in LoRa Server for sending a Downlink frame.

You can find it in the Device tab in the LoRa Network Server section. You can choose your Type of frame (confirmed/unconfirmed), the Frame port and the Hex Data shown in the image below:

Once you schedule a message for downlink, it will be displayed in the Live Device Data window. Upon sending the next uplink via the RAK Serial Port Tool you will also see it there, as it needs an uplink frame in order to send the downlink in the RX1 window shown in the image below.

If you want to test the Gateway downlink via the external MQTT Broker, you need to first create a json file which you will be sensing your data in. Below is what the file formatting structure needs to look like:

{
  "confirmed": true,
  "fPort": 10,
  "data": "1001"
}

Create the file, for example with the following command and copy the data in discussed above:

sudo nano test.json

After you have created the file, you need to schedule it for downlink. This means that you have to publish it via Mosquitto with the command:

sudo mosquito_pub application/{{application_ID{{/device/{{device_EUI}}/ tx –f test.json

• The packet will be scheduled for downlink, which you can see in the Gateway Packet logger.
• When the next uplink frame that comes for the Application/Device specified by the application_ID and device_EUI is received, the Gateway will send the data in the RX1 window to the node. You should have a response similar to the one in Figure 27.

Updated October 30, 2024 02:38