Get a Microchip LoRa(R) Technology Evaluation Kit

In the US, you'll want to buy the 900 MHz version of the Microchip LoRa(R) Technology Evaluation Kit. This kit contains everything needed to develop a LoRaWAN Network, and for this exercise, a gateway on TTN. Included in the kit are:

• An 8-channel Gateway and
• Two Motes
• A Local LoRaWAN Network/Application Server
• A GUI for configuration and testing (Windows, Linux and Mac OS)
  

The core board includes pre-installed demo code, an LCD display for easy setup and evaluation, and is powered by a standard USB interface.

Set Up Your Gateway Hardware

1. Connect the Gateway Radio Board to the Gateway Core Board.
2. Connect the 915MHz antenna to the Gateway Radio Board.
3. Connect an ethernet cable from your router to the ethernet jack on the Gateway Core board.
4. Connect a micro USB cable from a 5V supply to the "5V USB Power" jack on the Gateway Radio Board.
5. Connect a micro USB cable from your computer (Linux, Mac, or Windows) to the USB jack on the Gateway Core Board. This will be used to configure the gateway through the LoRa Development Utility GUI.
6. Install the included micro SD card into the slot on the Gateway Core Board. This card is used to store the gateway parameters.

Install the LoRa Development Utility GUI

Download the appropriate version of the software for your PC. The software is available on the LoRa(R) Technology Evaluation Kit's product page and can be installed on Windows, Linux, or Mac.

Make sure to install the Java that is included.

Once your installation is complete, you can run the utility from this location:  <install_dir>\Microchip\LoRaSuite\Applications\LoRaDevUtility\LoRaDevUtility.jar

The GUI should look something like this:

Configure Your Gateway

Once you have the LoRa Development Utility running and your gateway hardware set-up, you should be able to see your gateway listed in the LoRa Development Utility.

Follow these steps to configure your gateway on The Things Network:

1. The "Gateway ID" must be unique on the TTN network. This may require a little trial and error, but in the "Core Board Setup," you must change the "Gateway ID" to a unique value. Try replacing the default value with something more random like 0x9251636543371045 (of course, this example may get used and no longer be unique). Hit enter to save the value.
2. Also in the "Core Board Setup" section, select "DHCP" for the IP Allocation Mode.
3. Set the time and date accurately and click the "Configure Date/Time" button.
4. In the "Server Setup" section, set your LoRa Server IP to the TTN server. You can find the correct addresses on the wiki. 
   For the US this is router.us.thethings.network or 13.66.213.36. Since the IP address is required, but may change over time you should check the hostname on an IP resolver site like http://whatismyipaddress.com/hostname-ip.
5. In the "General Actions" section, click the "Save Settings to SD Card" button.

Once you've completed these steps, you should see in the LoRa Development Utility software that you are "Online."

If it is not online, you may need to try one of the following debugging steps:

1. Click and hold S2 for about one second to switch to the status view on the Gateway Core board's LCD. See if the ETH status is "[OK]" , and an IP address has been assigned. See if the SERVER status is "[ONLINE]".
2. On your computer, try clicking the "Start" button in the "Polling Behavior" section. This will force the gateway to try to connect to the server.
3. Enable Port Forwarding in your router to open up the port 1700. 

Register Your Gateway with TTN

Make sure that you have a login for the TTN Dashboard. Once you can login, you'll be able to register gateways and create applications for your specific MOTEs.

1. From the TTN Console, click "Gateways" and click "register gateway." 
2. Check the "I'm using the legacy packet forwarder" box.
3. Copy the unique Gateway ID that you created in the last step from the LoRa Development Utility into the Gateway EUI box.
4. Fill out the rest of the page with a Description, Frequency Plan (select United States and Router will fill in automatically).
5. You can also select the location of the gateway and specify if it is indoor or outdoor.
6. Click "Register."
7. Once your gateway is registered, you can view gateway traffic. This is helpful while you are trying to make sure that your mote is connecting to the gateway.
   
   

Connect Microchip's LoRa Technology MOTE to Your Gateway

Once your gateway is online, you can connect a MOTE to it wirelessly and see the transmitted data in the TTN Dashboard. You'll need to complete two parallel steps to get this working.

1. Set up an application in the TTN Dashboard.
2. Connect and configure Microchip's LoRa Technology MOTE.

Proceed to the next step to start these two steps.

Set Up an Application in the TTN Dashboard

Make sure that you have a login for the TTN Dashboard. Once you can login, you'll be able to create applications for your specific MOTEs.

1. From the TTN Console, click "Applications" and click "create application," and give your new application a name. Click "Add Application."
   
   
2. From within your newly created application, go to the "Devices" section and click "register device" to add a new device.
   
   
3. On the "Register Device" page, give the device a name that is unique within this application. For our example, we are calling it "loramote1."
4. Click the button to auto-generate a Device EUI and App Key.
5. Click "Register."
   
   
6. This will bring you to the "Device Overview" page. You'll need information from this page for the next step. You should notice that your device's status will be "never seen" because your mote has not actually been connected to this application yet.
   
   

Connect and Configure Microchip's LoRa Technology MOTE

1. Make sure that you have installed the included antenna on the MOTE board.
2. Connect the micro USB cable from the MOTE board to the PC running Microchip's LoRa Development Utility Software.
   
   
3. In the LoRa Development Utility software, click "Find Devices." If your gateway is still connected to your PC, you should see both the gateway and the "RN module" listed. Select the RN module in order to configure it.
4. In the Server Authentication Keys section, select OTAA (over-the-air activation).
5. Select "Use Entered (DevEUI):" and copy the Device EUI from the TTN Console.
6. Copy the AppKey and AppEUI from the TTN Console into the appropriate boxes in the LoRa Development Utility Software.
   
   
7. Make sure to hit enter after entering each value to ensure that it gets sent to the MOTE.
8. Click Save.
9. Click Join.
10. You should see an "ok" and "accepted" response in the RN Module Console.

You are now joined and can send data from the MOTE!