Setting up Dragino LPS8 Indoor LoRaWAN gateway with TTN Server

Overview

This article covers the Setting up Dragino LPS8 Indoor LoRaWAN gateway with The Things Network Server (TTN Server). In LoRaWAN communication there are LoRa nodes, LoRa gateways, Network Servers as well as Application Servers. Here, we will first set up a gateway and register the gateway on The Things Network Server so that it receives the data from the LoRa Nodes.

The most popular Indoor gateway is manufactured by Dragino. The Dragino gateways which are widely used in basic learning or industrial applications are LIG16, LPS8, LG01, LG308, OLG02 and others. The configuration method and setting them with the Things Network are almost the same. As a reference, we will take LPS8 Gateway to learn about the LoRaWAN projects.

Dragino LPS8 Indoor LoRaWAN gateway

The LPS8 is an open-source LoRaWAN Gateway. It lets you bridge LoRa wireless network to an IP network via WiFi, Ethernet. The LoRa wireless allows users to send data and reach extremely long ranges at low data rates. The LPS8 uses a Semtech packet forwarder and is fully compatible with the LoRaWAN protocol.

It includes an SX1308 LoRa concentrator, which provides 10 programmable parallel demodulation paths. LPS8 has pre-configured standard LoRaWAN frequency bands to use for different countries. Users can also customize the frequency bands to use in their own LoRa network.

The gateway has an antenna to receive the LoRa Packets in 8-channels. On the front side, it has a USB Type C port for Input Power of DC 5V,2A. Apart from the power, it also has an Ethernet port, USB Host Port & a Toggle button to reset the gateway.

At bottom of the gateway, it has the LoRa Pico Station information Like Model-LPS8, Frequency Band, Serial Number, and the WiFi mac address.

LED Indicators

LPS8 has totally four LEDs, They are:

➢ Power LED: This RED LED will be solid if the device is properly powered.
➢ LoRa LED: This RGB LED will blink GREEN when the LoRaWAN module starts or transmit a
packet.
➢ SYS LED: This RGB LED will show different colors in the different states:
✓ SOLID BLUE: The device is alive with a LoRaWAN server connection.
✓ BLINKING BLUE: a) Device has internet connection but no LoRaWAN Connection. or b)
The device is in the booting stage, in this stage, it will BLINKING BLUE for several seconds and
then with SOLID RED and BLINKING BLUE together
✓ SOLID RED: The device doesn’t have an Internet connection.
➢ ETH LED: This LED shows the ETH interface connection status.

How to configure LPS8 Indoor LoRaWAN Gateway?

You can configure the LPS8 LoRaWAN Gateway by three methods. The LPS8 is configured as a WiFi Access Point by factory default. You can access and configure the LPS8 after connecting to its WiFi network, or via its WAN Ethernet port.

1. Connect via WiFi

At the first boot of LPS8, it will auto-generate a WiFi network called dragino-xxxxxx with password: dragino+dragino

You can use a PC to connect to this WiFi network. The PC will get an IP address of 10.130.1.xxx and the LPS8 has the default IP 10.130.1.1.

2. Connect via Ethernet with DHCP IP from router

Alternatively, connect the LPS8 Ethernet port to your router and LPS8 can obtain an IP address from your router. In the router’s management portal, you should be able to find what IP address the router has assigned to the LPS8. You can also use this IP to connect.

3. Connect via WiFi with DHCP IP from router

If the LPS8 already connects to the router via WiFi, use can use the WiFi IP to connect to LPS8.

Configuring Network Connection to Gateway

You can use any of the methods mentioned above to connect the Gateway to WiFi Network. The LPS8 is configured as a WiFi Access Point by factory default. So I followed the first method to connect to the network.

The Gateway will generate WiFi access point called dragino-xxxxxx with password: dragino+dragino. Connect to that Access point by entering the password.

After successful connection, open any of the Web Browser. Then browse to the following IP: 10.130.1.1. A web page like the below will appear.

Enter the User Name: root & Password: dragino. Then hit enter. A webpage like below will appear.

The login page will show internet connectivity status. If it is connected to the internet, it is wifi or ethernet. The webpage will also show the status of LoRaWAN connection, the LoRa connection, and the Access point connection.

At this moment the Dragino LPS8 LoRaWAN Indoor Gateway doesn’t have an internet connection. So, first, we need to configure the LPS8 as a WiFi client by providing the Wifi credentials.

Go to the network, then click on WiFi.

The following Webpage will appear.

Click on the WiFi survey and select your WiFi Network. Then enter the WiFi password. Also “Enable WiFi client” option. Finally, you can click on save and apply.

Now you will get the following response as green. Congratulations, your Gateway is connected to the WiFi Network.

Now uncheck the above Enable WiFi access point option and click on the save and apply button. This will disable the Access Point. At this time you need to find the IP Address of your Gateway. You can get the IP Address from your WiFi Router Login page.

In case if you are unable to get the IP Address of your Gateway then you can connect the Gateway via Ethernet with fall back IP. The complete process is explained in the LPS8 User Manual.

Configuring Gateway Frequency & Gateway ID

Now, we need to setup the LoRa frequency. To do that go to the LoRa option as shown in the image below.

From the frequency option you need to select your LoRa frequency. Currently, I am using my LoRa devices from Europe. So I choose EU868 which is basically between 863-870MHz.

You can select the frequency band allowed in your region. There is also an option for GPS Enabling which you may enable or disable. Finally, click on save and apply.

The frequency band is allocated now. Now we need to get the Gateway ID. To get that go to the following option as LoRaWAN Semtech UDP.

Copy the Gateway ID as this will be required later. Then select the LoRaWAN Server as The Things Network V3. Select the server address as eu1.cloud.thethings.network.

Click on save & apply. So finally the setting up of LPS8 Dragino LoRaWAN Gateway completes.

Registering LPS8 LoRaWAN Gateway on The Things Network

Now we need to register the LoRaWAN Gateway on The Things Network. To do that go to thethingsnetwork.org.

Here you need to signup by providing all required details. Then log in to the platform using the same credentials. Get back to the homepage & Click on the username and select console.

The Things Network has divided all countries into 3 different clusters and assigned different server locations. Select the cluster according to your region. For me, I will select Europe.

From the homepage of the things stack community edition, choose to register a gateway.

The registration page will appear. The owner will be selected by default. You may change it if you want. Enter the gateway ID that you copied earlier from the LoRaWAN page.

Then Give a name for your gateway, and also add a description for the gateway if you want.

Then set the gateway server address, frequency plan and keep all remaining selections as default. Then click on create Gateway. Finally, the gateway will be created successfully.

The status of the gateway will show disconnected initially. Refresh the page after some time. Hence the Gateway will show connected status.

Finally we configured the 8-channel LPS8 gateway to communicate with The things networks server & activated the LoRaWAN Pico station. This is how we can set up & register the Dragino LPS8 LoRaWAN Gateway to The Things Network Server TTN.

Now the LoRa Nodes can send data to the Gateway over long distances. The LoRa Nodes will pick the data from a remote location and send it to the LPS8 LoRaWAN Gateway. The LoRaWAN Gateway can be configured with other servers where we can monitor the data remotely.

Video Tutorial & Guide

There is a ready-made LoRaWAN Node available in market called as Ra-07 LoRaWAN Node, which can be configured with LPS8 LoRaWAN gateway to receive the sensor data over a LoRa Network.