I have a RPi Zero W gateway using @Charles interface PCB/RAK831 and code from his repo and it is super robust. I also have a RPi Zero2 W whch uses Balena ‘Basic Station’ and a RAK831 radio also. There were a couple of bugs in this that prevented the software from generating TTN credentials from MAC address on boot but Balena (Marc) were pretty dynamic in fixing this, works an absolute charm now and is super easy to support with the default tunnel etc in Balena.
What is the spec of your low power gateway? I should test both of mine for power shouldn’t I? Neither are deployed in ‘working’ scenarios but would appear suitable.
Such is the state of the Unobtainium Vortex and it’s capture of any reasonable priced MCU in its evil grasp, Adafruit have started a new YouTube feature:
MVIO on the AVR-DD parts is useful - but what would be more useful would be for them to make more of the recent parts that are completely Unobtainium - like the megaAVR 0-series. Plus some of the venerable but super useful SAMD21.
Wireless update to RPi Pico….and Eben claims not made from Unobtainium so need to think of some use cases…. Could be a nice update for a PAX counter type device?
Usual pax counters sniff for peoples BT &/or WiFi radios as a proxy for # of bodies - an indicator vs actual count. Then send count data over LoRa For privacy its not usually considered good to capture the MAC’s for long term storage centrally so some level of edge processing can be a good thing - repeat visitor detection, data extraction, duration/location ‘dwell’ time evaluation etc. good for monitoring people & traffic flows, congestion analysis, popularity eval, etc.
Another family release for lovers of STM/ARM M0+ mcu’s…… a bit memory constrained but useful for those of us who also run with LoRaWAN modules to offload the LoRaWAN stack?
There is also new M4 based offering with up to 512k Flash….and a decent chunk of RAM
Perhaps usable for more compute intense edge sensors & devices….ML anyone (EdgeImpulse?) with more power available.
New Developer Platforms from Murata and Johanson Technology enable smaller form factor, lower development cost and risk and a faster time-to-market
Key features - as a multiband device a single sku can potenially cover sub-Ghz ISM, 2,4Ghz global ISM and, for the 1st time Satellite S-Band (@2.1Ghz). Several SIP/module manufacturers have product launching or in pipeline for early production.
LR1121 is Semtech’s 3rd generation ultra-low power transceiver providing multi band LoRa and LR-FHSS communication over sub-GHz, 2.4GHz, and satellite S-Band.
Packaged in hardware/hobbyist-hacker friendly 32QFN
Fifth column is f_cnt! Who’s the “Low Power” daddy!
I’ve a TTI GNSE in the greenhouse on 180,331 uplinks, so @cndrxn is in the Low Power club too!
For the paranoid & eagle eyed, the B3 device is an nRF module on 2.4GHz so it is more than OK for it to transmit at -18dBm for 520us - but you can’t comment as that would be off-topic for the forum
All needed software can be downloaded from their website - its really an easy , beginner friendly plug & play concept and i did try out by myself the version 1 . Runs perfectly in my car together with the TTN mapper app on an Android phone…this piece of hardware is IMO a real bargain
Raspberry Pi 5: For anyone who missed the announcement late last week and who’s looking for more grunt for their projects (souped up LW gateways/LNS/servers anyone, though IMHO, the 3 was already more than enough from compute and pwr consumption pov for gateways let alone a 4 or now a 5.) Details interesting all the same….here one review
Available for pre order from usual outlets with shipments expected late October….
If you’re just running a packet forwarder a model two or even a zero is sufficient. Apparently the 5 requires active cooling when loaded so not my choice for any gateway as I don’t want moving parts and ventilation holes, just more stuff that causes issues and can break.
Yep, was sat within LOS of 4 such Pi0W based GW’s when posting the release note.
Amazing how tech moves on - never ceases to impress. The original Semtech/iMST IOT Starter Kit/Ref design (SX1301) from approx 1H15 (before TTN!) used a 2B+ - to handle Conc card/GW functionality, provide web/management interface, run a reference LNS, simple application server etc. with Web page UI for users (decoding e.g. LoRaMOTE data, showing plots - temp pressure, Vbatt, even a Google Maps gps location/trace appplication (until 1st the Google Maps API stopped working - did someone forget to pay the fees?! - then whole device retired/obscolete). Many community and client networks and GW installs got started from those simple beginnings
Anyone interested in Pi4/Pi5 benchmark/feature comparisons may be interested in this posted on Core Electronics (Australia) site
Almost finished my own TTN Mapper! A number of case revisions and a whole new LoRaWAN stack (RadioLib) later, I could actually start mapping yesterday! Cycling around town, taking the train to university… all working well!
Inspired by the Adeunis FTD but that thing is way too expensive for personal use and I thought I could do better
Also designing an adapter so I can click it on my bicycle for even easier mapping…