Hi Maurits, I hope to be setting up one around 2012 Haarlem.
Also, I’m working as a software engineer at the municipality of Haarlem, and of course the city has a strong interest in LoRa (including commercial and private LoRa) for all kind of Smart Cities and Haarlem open data projects. So, if the TTN Network proves to be nice and use cases arise, I’ll be pushing setting up public gateways by the city itself (not necessarily TTN Gateways, but connected to TTN).
If anyone else has done something similar, let me know!
As for the municipality: soon now we’ll have a private gateway (probablyLibelium Plug & Sense, so watch for those sensors around town) active on the roof of the 5 stories Zijlvest/Raakspoort city offices. There will be cabling in place for more gateways, maybe something for TTN?
If it is useful for the network, I will setup one in the Slachthuisbuurt (Zomervaart). Up to now I only made and tested a node (with Teensy, RFM92 and GPS module). I tested it in Leiden, Utrecht and near Arnhem on a journey by train.
Interesting initiatives from the municipality @arjanvanb.
If they are available, I could buy a TTN Gateway, but I did not support the Kickstarter.
Nice @nico1966a. If you want to test if your node can reach Bloemhofstraat, then send me a PM and I’ll move my single channel gateway upstairs. (It’s on the 2nd floor right now; I can move it two stories higher; SF12 on channel 0, 868.1 MHz.)
(I got a 500 meter range this weekend, but while I was walking around the Spaarne river, the WiFi failed on the gateway, so I did not get any further readings after only 15 minutes of walking…)
Indeed, @nico1966a, nice distances. But unfortunately this also shows that higher might not always be better. (Or is it?) If this would have been a real node, and all its packets would be received by many gateways far away, then such might affect other nodes using the same frequency (channel) and spreading factor (SF; subchannel). And it would surely eat the capacity of those far-away gateways while there would be no actual need for that, if close-by gateways receive the packets too.
As such, I was surprised that even SF7 (fastest possible data rate, lowest air time, worst distance) was received 48 km away. I’d love to see what happens for nodes that are not that high, along with high altitude gateways. We “only” need someone to sponsor the gateway and location…
Cool, that is very impressive. Our Dronten gateway has been one of the best performing gateways so far, due to the surrounding (or actually: the lack of) clutter. I was a bit disappointed with the performance of the Almere West gateway, but here you show that line of sight is king (not considering capacity issues etc).
It would be nice if we could discuss some sponsoring by @gerard_alticom for the Lelystad location. That would nicely fill in the gap between Almere and Dronten and would provide Flevoland with instantaneous coverage into the agricultural area.
Note that my tests were not dedicated tests; I just took a node up into the tower when Gerard showed us around. I’ve been standing still at a few locations for a few minutes each time, to get at least one transmission out on SF7, SF9 and SF12 in a few directions. But the main goal was to get acquainted with Gerard and the tower; not to do the measurements.
Luckily most of the time the network is the other way around.
Gateways should be placed at perfect locations, nodes will be scattered around through town and in the fields.
The antenna is an important piece of both gateway and node, this includes antenna placement. Gateway antenna should be placed on a higher location outside to get a good range. Node antennas can not always be placed at an optimal location, the libelium node in the photo has the antenna very close to the metal lamp and shielded by the solar panel. Having it in front of the solar panel would most likely give a better range.
In April this year, Reshift Digital and the Dutch Java User Group organized the IoT Tech Days in Utrecht. That day, TTN presented one of the keynotes and along with Reshift Digital the IoT Lab Nederland was announced.
Now, Reshift is hosting a meetup in their Haarlem headquarters:
Oh yes, we’ve launched our own IoT Tech Community! We’re looking forward to welcome you at the very first IoT Tech Community Meetup on Tuesday the 5th of July at the Reshift Headquarters, Haarlem (the Netherlands). If you bring your knowledge, enthusiasm and curiosity along, we’ll take care of inspiring speakers, free food and drinks!