Rak831 LoRa Gateway

Gateways
1

Hello,

I have a Lora Server that I was trying to build like in quick-install guide and successful. I would like to use rak831 send data to LoRa server.

How can I install and configure the rak831 for gateway?

Thanks in advance,
Surin.

gateway-rak831
gateway-rak831.jpg703×627 81.4 KB

2

You just have to configure the address and down/up ports in the config file on the embedded packet forwarder on rak831

3

Thank you for your prompt reply.
I would like to know what components must be installed.
If you have the document to setup the rak831. It’s very good for me.

Thank you.
Surin.

4

Are you using your Rak831 with a Raspberry Pi 3 or something similar? In that case, here’s a simple tutorial: https://www.hackster.io/naresh-krish/getting-started-with-the-rak-831-lora-gateway-and-rpi3-e3351d. If I remember correctly, I think there was a typo on the reset pin on that one, but maybe it’s already been modified. Just have that in mind if the concentrator isn’t starting. Also, it shows how to set it up for TTN, but just changing the server for the packet forwarder allows you setup it up for whatever you need.

If your setup is different, just check how to properly connect your Rak831 through spi.

In any case, your basic setup consists only on the packet forwarder pointing to wherever your lora-gateway-bridge resides at, but as the image shows, you may also install the lora-gateway-bridge in the Pi (or whatever micro you are using) directly, point the packet forwarder to the internal bridge and that one to your loraserver. Installing lora-gateway-bridge should be pretty straightforward in any Debian based system such as Raspbian, and is covered in the docs: https://www.loraserver.io/lora-gateway-bridge/install/debian/

5

Did you install successfully? how to buil loraserver like

web_applications
web_applications.png2784×1778 296 KB

6

I use RAK831 as well. It works fine for me. Here is how it worked.

  1. Make sure SPI is enabled on your host device, RPi. Connect RAK831 to RPi via SPI.
  2. Connect a GPIO to RAK 831, Reset Pin.
  3. Install TTN- Packet forwarder.
    $ git clone -b spi https://github.com/ttn-zh/ic880a-gateway.git ~/temp
    $ cd ~/temp
    $ sudo ./install.sh spi
    Keep note of gateway EUI.
  4. Disable TTN Packet forwarder.
    sudo systemctl disable ttn-gateway.service
  5. Edit global_conf.json in Basic Packet forwarder.
    cd /opt/ttn-gateway/packet_forwarder/basic_pkt_fwd/
    Refer here for global_config.json for different channel plans.
    Don’t copy and paste the file as it is. Change the SX1301 part only and edit gateway EUI
    Change Server address to point at your Gateway Bridge. If Gateway bridge is running on your gateway change as follows.
    "server_address": "127.0.0.1",
  6. Reset the gateway. Try the following script from Naresh
    #!/bin/bash
    echo "17" > /sys/class/gpio/export
    echo "out" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio17/direction
    echo "1" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio17/value
    sleep 5
    echo "0" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio17/value
    sleep 1
    echo "0" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio17/value
    Run the script as root It’s a sysfs implementation hence SU privileges.
  7. Start the packet forwarder.
    sudo ./basic_pkt_fwd
  8. You should see packets being forwarded.
  9. Try sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog to check for errors, if any.
1 Like
7

how to install gateway bridge on my gateway. I use RAK831+Raspi3.

8

Install 32bit arm deb. Instructions can be found here.

9

thank u. let me try :grinning:

10

Hi Akshai_M,
I followed your advice. It works perfectly now.

Thank you for your advice.
Surin.

11

Hi,
Has anyone tested TDOA with this setup?
It definitely have hardware for proper triangulation.

12

It doesn’t. Gateways providing a fine-timestamp have a different hardware architecture and use a FPGA for defining the fine-timestamp. Because of this, they are also a bit more expensive that the RAK831.

13

For anyone looking to configure a Rak831 + RPi gateway, I wrote a quick guide and utility program to help getting it ready to use with loraserver: https://github.com/iegomez/rak831-config.

I’ll probably extend this to do everything with one configurable program when I get the time, but hope it helps anyone in need for now.

14

Have you see https://www.loraserver.io/lora-gateway-os/overview/ and https://forum.loraserver.io/t/announching-lora-gateway-os/3160? :slight_smile:

15

Hi! Yeah, I saw it, I wrote this guide some time before you announced your LoRa Gateway OS and just tidied up a bit the readme today, so thought I’d share it. Your’s is clearly a better general solution for different gateways, but I’m aiming to automate deployment of lots of Rak gateways, from getting them configured to programatically adding them at lora-app-server all in one simple program, so there’s still some place for it I think.

I’m looking to give your’s a try as soon as I can to give you some feedback. I’ll try to get to it this week, or next month when I get back from some days off.

16

Ok :slight_smile: Yes, it is always good to have different ways to install it. Note that in the next LoRa Gateway OS test release, I will also provide an atomic OTA update meganism (using www.mender.io, which is also open-source). With that you can remotely update a fleet of gateways with a couple of clicks in the Mender dashboard (which you can self-host if you want).

2 Likes
18

Any solution, to deploy a Lora Gateway OS for the Rak831 via wireless backbone, without connecting it to a LAN or usb/serial. I try to set the ssid/psk through the wpa_supplicant.conf file in /boot/ , but it did not work on it (it works via raspbian os) Any hint?