Single Channel Packet Forwarder part 2 [Deprecated]

BoRRoZ · November 16, 2017, 9:08pm

8 posts were merged into an existing topic: Node not showing up in Applications

bluejedi · November 26, 2017, 12:24pm

I have been experimenting with TTN last year with RPi based single channel gateway and RFM95 and RN2483 based nodes. The RPi and MCU’s were later re-used for other projects. Not long after the TTN environment was updated/changed.
I decided to wait until the TTN gateways that were planned for my neighbourhood become available before picking up again. However, availability of the ‘The Things Network Gateway’ devices (and their roll-out) has been seriously delayed and there still is no TTN coverage in my area. I decided to setup a single channel gateway again instead and continue from there.

I currently have a running Things4U ESP single channel gateway v5 (hardware: ESP-12E, RFM95W and SSD1306 OLED display). I am yet unable to test it due to a lack of nodes. Next step is setting up some nodes that will work with this gateweway.

I have the following questions, hope you can help:

Where can I find the most actual ‘standard reference’ code for a TTN node (RFM95/SX1276 based) for AVR (e.g. Pro Mini) and ESP8266?
How to properly configure the nodes / adapt the code so the nodes will work successfully with the Things4U single channel gateway?
Both ABP and OTAA. I’m looking for some clear step-by-step instructions and/or code examples.
I have previously used Thomas Telkamp’s single channel packet forwarder for Raspberry Pi software but that is no longer maintained (“this repository is deprecated, and the code is not up-to-date to use on The Things Network”).
What is the best alternative/most up to date software for a Raspberry Pi + RFM95W/SX1276 based single channel gateway?

PeterKatana · November 26, 2017, 6:00pm

Hi all,

I am playing since some weeks with BME280 and an arduino pro mini with the code from lex (LoRaWAN_TTN_Env_Node). Everything was fine. Since some days (tried also the cayenneLP integration) I didnt receive traffic neither in the traffic tab of my two getways within the ttn console nor in the data tab of my device. Gateways were an Dragino Raspi hat with the single_channel_paket_forwarder and the Dragino LG01-P. Both gateways are connected to the ttn.

I also changed the to the “relax frame counter” and I can also see the data packets sended by the raspi gateway in the raspi terminal. I get also the EV_TXCOMPLETE in the console. I use ABP btw.

Any ideas what’s wrong ?
Thanks for your help !
Peter

bluejedi · November 26, 2017, 4:34pm

I have a single channel gateway (https://github.com/things4u/ESP-1ch-Gateway-v5.0) running.
Have no nodes running at the moment but the gateway picks up a few messages per day.
In TTN Console / Gateway / Gateway Overview I can see that the messages are received by the backend but no traffic is showing up in Gateway Traffic.
The gateway is only running since a few days. I have not seen any traffic showing up in ‘Gateway Traffic’ yet.
This appears similar to your issue.

snschm · November 28, 2017, 6:29pm

Hey Guys,
I have a problem with my Single Channel Gateway and a sensor node.
My gateway is a Raspi + Dragino-LoRa-GPS-Shield. The sensor node is an ArduinoUNO with a Dragino-LoRa-Hat.

The code i use for the node is this:

github.com

SensorsIot/LoRa/blob/master/Nodes/Dragino/HelloWorld/HelloWorld.ino



// MIT License
// https://github.com/gonzalocasas/arduino-uno-dragino-lorawan/blob/master/LICENSE
// Based on examples from https://github.com/matthijskooijman/arduino-lmic
// Copyright (c) 2015 Thomas Telkamp and Matthijs Kooijman

// Adaptions: Andreas Spiess

#include <lmic.h>
#include <hal/hal.h>
//#include <credentials.h>

#ifdef CREDENTIALS
static const u1_t NWKSKEY[16] = NWKSKEY1;
static const u1_t APPSKEY[16] = APPSKEY1;
static const u4_t DEVADDR = DEVADDR1;
#else
static const u1_t NWKSKEY[16] = {0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00};
static const u1_t APPSKEY[16] = {0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00};

This file has been truncated. show original

The right keys from the console are in MSB inserted.
I can receive frames from the node in the gateway traffic window but in the application data and device data there are no frames at all and the device status is “never seen”.
The device is activated over ABP.
I tried to reset Frame Counter Checks without success. Deactivate Frame Counter Checks doesn´t help too.

I hope you can help me. There are a few threads with the same or nearly the same problem but the answers dont help in my case.

Thanks.

bluejedi · November 28, 2017, 6:36pm

Not an answer to your question but I’m curious which single channel gateway software you are running on the RPi. Do you have a link?

snschm · November 28, 2017, 6:40pm

This one:

bluejedi · November 28, 2017, 6:43pm

Have you noticed the following?:

*** IMPORTANT ***
Please note this repository is deprecated, and the code is not up-to-date to use on The Things Network.
This repository will not be further maintained. Please find another repository if you want to deploy a single channel gateway.

Did you make any changes to make it ‘up-to-date’ (I’m not sure what parts need an update, if any)?

snschm · November 28, 2017, 6:48pm

I found this guide:

It is based on this repository and when you follow the instructions, there will be some changes in the code…
the changes depend on your location of course…

bluejedi · November 28, 2017, 6:57pm

I don’t see any code changes there, only configuration.
I’m not sure if any changes are needed but “depricated” and “not up-to-date” suggested to me that the code may have to be adapted to changes done on the TTN network.
I’m looking for an up-to-date version of a single channel gateway for RPi myself. No response on my question yet though (Single Channel Gateway part 2).

lviola · November 29, 2017, 12:53pm

Hi all,
I’ve been trying to run a single channel gateway with downlink capability but I could not get it work. I`m trying the C++ version with now successful. I could make it work only on Lua version.
Does anyone could run the version in C++ with downlink?

Additionally I could not run the new 5.0 version. it causes ESP to restart in loop.
Does anyone have the same error? And could solve it?

regards,
Viola

bluejedi · November 29, 2017, 2:30pm

Could your problem be related to incorrect wiring/configuration?

I have Things4U esp-1ch-gway v5.0 running on ESP8266 (ESP-12F) and get feedback on serial monitor and OLED display, no restarts here.
But it does not see my nodes yet. I tried with both _STRICT_1CH enabled and disabled on the gateway and tried nodes with both ABP and OTAA but the gateway does not pick up any traffic from my nodes.

lviola · November 29, 2017, 7:02pm

I’m going to recheck my wiring.
tks

ItParadyske · November 30, 2017, 2:50pm

Hi,

Does this software:
tftelkamp/single_chan_pkt_fwd
on github still work on ttn?

I got it working on the rPi, but am not able to see anything on ttn in my console

Regards
Hans

PeterKatana · November 30, 2017, 7:14pm

Good question. I have exactly the same problem. In the meantime I will try the Dragino LG01.
Br Peter

Somsak · December 1, 2017, 3:31am

I made a single gateway with RPI and RFM95. Does this single gateway only listen or also transmit RF out? IMG_20171108_171341

ItParadyske · December 1, 2017, 7:04am

Yes, I finally got it working on 13.66.213.36:1700

Somsak · December 1, 2017, 9:57am

Hi ItParadyske
I used https://github.com/hallard/single_chan_pkt_fwd with my Lorawan Hat. It is working well with 6 commands.

cd /home/pi
git clone https://github.com/hallard/single_chan_pkt_fwd
cd ~/single_chan_pkt_fwd
sudo nano global_conf.json
make
sudo /home/pi/single_chan_pkt_fwd/single_chan_pkt_fwd

Somsak

bluejedi · December 1, 2017, 1:12pm

I can confirm that hallard’s version for Raspberry Pi works well.
It has 4 advantages over tftelkamp’s original version (latter is no longer maintained):

Code has been reformatted and is easier to read (implemented by jlesech).
Configuration is stored in separate JSON configuration file instead of being hard-coded and can use DNS names instead of IP addresses (implemented by jlesech).
‘make install’ and ‘make uninstall’ was added to install the software as a service (implemented by hallard).
Servers strings in config file are up to date (implemented by hallard).

bluejedi · December 1, 2017, 1:36pm

List of single channel gateway implementations

Below is a list of actual, up-to-date RFM9x / SX127x-based single channel gateway implementations:
(Last updated on: 2017-12-05)

For Raspberry Pi

https://github.com/hallard/single_chan_pkt_fwd
Supports ABP activation, single frequency and single spreading factor. Configuration via separate configuration file (configuration changes do not require recompilation but require the software to be re-started). (Written in C++.)

For ESP8266

https://github.com/things4u/ESP-1ch-Gateway-v5.0
Supports ABP and OTAA activation, downstream messages(?), single frequency with multiple spreading factors, Web interface, WifiManager, OTA, I2C OLED display and ‘use gateway as a node’. Configuration is (partially) hard-coded (some configuration changes require recompilation while others can be changed via web interface, if enabled). (Written in C++.)
https://github.com/JaapBraam/LoRaWanGateway
Supports ABP and OTAA activation, downstream messages and single frequency with multiple spreading factors. Configuration via separate file (but file also contains code). (Written in Lua.)

For ESP32

https://github.com/kersing/ESP-1ch-Gateway-v5.0
This fork of ‘things4u ESP-1ch-Gateway-v5.0’ for ESP8266 has added support for ESP32 and (Heltec) Wifi LoRa 32 modules.
Supports the same features as things4u’s implementation but currently does not support WifiManager and OTA. (Written in C++.)
https://github.com/pycom/pycom-libraries/tree/master/examples/lorawan-nano-gateway for the LoPy (ESP32 board running MicroPython interpreter).
Supports ABP and OTAA activation, downstream messages, single frequency (not clear if multiple spreading factors are supported), configuration via separate configuration file that can be uploaded via USB or FTP. Lacks description / instructions / readme.md. (Written in MicroPython.)
.

NOTES:

Don’t forget: each implementation requires that you configure the software with your own gateway parameters before compiling/running the software.
Hallard’s Raspberry Pi version installs flawlessly (but supports the least features).
The other implementations may require some tweaking.