Is using port 224 in some "test mode" LoRaWAN compliant?

End Devices (Nodes)
1

The LoRaWAN 1.0.x specifications claim:

FPort values 1…223 (0x01…0xDF) are application-specific. FPort values 224…255 (0xE0…0xFF) are reserved for future standardized application extensions.

However, I see people referring to using port 224 for some “test mode”. Is that LoRaWAN compliant?

(Earlier, the above was part of another topic but a bit off-topic there, and I feel that a standalone topic is useful as a future reference.)

2

Test mode is the mode used by the test houses to check the compliancy of the device with the LoRa WAN specifications.

It is one of the standardized, as from LoRaWAN spec 1.1 section 4.3.2:

Note: The purpose of FPort value 224 is to provide a dedicated FPort to run MAC compliance test scenarios over-the-air on final versions of devices, without having to rely on specific test versions of devices for practical aspects. The test is not supposed to be simultaneous with live operations, but the MAC layer implementation of the device shall be exactly the one used for the normal application. The test protocol is normally encrypted using the AppSKey. This ensures that the Network Server cannot enable the device’s test mode without involving the device’s owner. If the test runs on a live network connected device, the way the test application on the network side learns the AppSKey is outside of the scope of the LoRaWAN specification. If the test runs using OTAA on a dedicated test bench (not a live network), the way the AppKey is communicated to the test bench, for secured JOIN process, is also outside of the scope of the specification.
The test protocol, running at application layer, is defined outside of the LoRaWAN spec, as it is an application layer protocol

FPort values 225…255 (0xE1…0xFF) are reserved for future standardized application extensions

This port will understand a number of commands which can e usefull to test the behavior of the device, without particular application on the node.

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3

port 224 is reserved for certification.

the specification is here https://lora-alliance.org/lorawan-certification#tab-1 (login required)

implementation of the device transmission is here

implementation of the device reception is here

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4

there are other well known port numbers defined by lora alliance, so avoid to use them freely:
200 Remote Multicast Setup
201 Fragmented Data Block Transport
202 Clock synchronization

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