Adding LoRa devices
Device profiles
To be able to add LoRa devices to Chirpstack, a device profile MUST first be created.
Such device profile holds all the information about the device characteristics and will be used to connect all the same devices.
The device profiles are been created/managed in the dedicated section.
When adding a new device profile, you’ll be ask for mandatory information such as:
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Device LoRaWAN region such as EU868, US902, IN865…
This MUST be the same than the VeeaHub LoRa gateway configuration. -
MAC version: LoRa specification version that follow the device (provided by the manufacturer)
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uplink interface: depending on the device configuration
This is necessary to identify which device didn’t emit a message in a specified time and as a result might be in a degraded state. -
ADR algorithm: usually Default is fine for all deployments.
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Joining method: OTAA or ABP
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Codec: how to decode the raw payload from the device. Usually JS functions are directly provided by the manufacturer.
For more information, please refer to the official documentation: https://www.chirpstack.io/docs/chirpstack/use/device-profiles.html
Applications
In the Chirpstack devices MUST be part of an application. The application can be managed in the application section.
For more information, please refer to the official documentation: https://www.chirpstack.io/docs/chirpstack/use/applications.html
LoRa devices
Devices are managed in the context of an application.
From inside an application, devices can be added with the following information:
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Device EUI (provided by the manufacturer)
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Link to the device profile (previously created)
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Device AppKey (provided by the manufacturer)
Once all information has been provided and the device has been created inside Chirpstack, you can enable the joining sequence from the device following the device user manual.
You can view the joining sequence using the LoRaWAN frames tab.
As succesfull joining sequence includes a JoinRequest from the device and a JoinAccept from the gateway.
Device profile templates
Chirpstack v4 comes with a very handy solution to handle device profiles.
It enables existing templates, created by anyone, to be loaded into the system.
A github repository offers hundreds of templates: http://github.com/TheThingsNetwork/lorawan-devices
You can load them into your system with the Adding Device-profile Templates document: https://support.veea.com/hc/en-us/articles/28868052901523-Adding-Device-profile-Templates
Device bulk-provisionning
In some use case, tens or hundreds of devices needs to be added to Chirpstack. To eliminate the task of manual entry of each device, bulk-provisionning scripts have been created to load all device information from a csv sheet into Chirpstack system
The Veea Support team can provide those bulk-provisionning scripts, upon request: https://support.veea.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Please note that a secure token will need to be generated from your Chirpstack interface and given to the bulk-provisionning scripts to enable a secure communication.
Configuring a LoRa device
Most of the existing LoRa devices are been configured using a Downlink payload.
The device manufacturer MUST provide documentation or a payload generation tool for you to generate the payload that matches the required configuration.
The device manufacturer MUST also provide the port number under which the device can receive a downlink payload.
Then, using the Queue page, the payload can be stacked. The device will get it at the next communication window. Usually, a manual interaction with the device can force directly a communication window.