There are various solutions for RPI-based LoRaWAN gateways but those are a bit power greedy. Shouldn’t it be possible to build a LoRa-Gateway using the onion omega? https://onion.io/omega2/
Here is a summary of relevant topics:
Omega-based lorawan node:
Here is a github repo for an omega based lorawan gateway:
I’m also looking at this, since the RPI+SD card is ok for development, but not not for really for field deployments (sd card failures, no emmc).
Without spending too much money, an already made solution could be used, but tinkering has more fun.
Anyway, if using a lora gateway that uses USB, such for example the NFUSE, or others, only the Onion and the USB shield might be needed, since I belive that the packet forwarder from Semtech should be able to compile for the Onion.
Other possible board, more expensive, might be the Pocket beagle, but it also depends on a SD card, which might be an issue.
As RAK shows by basing their productized gateways off of it, it is possible to use an MT76x8 with SPI as well, at least if your processor board has the second SPI chip select brought out (the first is used for the NOR flash storage).
Given quirks in the SPI engine, it’s necessary to patch both the kernel
and the lora gatway HAL
Worth noting those that these SoC’s are basically end-of-life. There are rumors of a replacement, but…