products versions - Cumulocity Thick Edge 10.17
Introduction
It is a common use-case to require the setup of a private LoRa network, especially in constrained environments such as a shopfloor or a construction site.
Using Cumulocity Thick Edge with a Chirpstack LNS and a cheap LoRa gateway with a simple packet forwarder enabled, it is possible to have one running in a few minutes.
Pre-requisite
First of all, you will need a Cumulocity Thick Edge instance up and running with microservice enabled. It can be either the VM or the Kubernetes version.
Next, you will need enough disk space on the machine running Thick Edge to install the Chirpstack LNS.
Then you’ll need a LoRa gateway, such as an Options Cloudgate or a Multitech Conduit, configured as a basic LoRa packet forwarder.
Steps to follow
On the machine running Thick Edge, ensure that docker and docker-compose are installed then follow the steps described here: GitHub - chirpstack/chirpstack-docker: Setup ChirpStack using Docker Compose to have your Chirpstack LNS up and running with the correct region.
On Thick Edge:
- Install the LoRa plugin: download the package from the latest release: https://github.com/SoftwareAG/cumulocity-lora/releases/download/v0.33/sag-ps-iot-pkg-lora-package.zip then add it to your package list in administration application. If not already done, you will have to clone your device management application then enable the plugin on it
- Install the Chirpstack LNS connector: download the microservice from the latest release: https://github.com/SoftwareAG/cumulocity-lora/releases/download/v0.33/lora-ns-chirpstack.zip then add it and subscribe to it from your microservice list in administration application.
- Configure a new Chirpstack connector: follow the instructions here: cumulocity-lora/readme.md at master · SoftwareAG/cumulocity-lora · GitHub
- Install any needed codecs either:
– By installing the microservices from the latest release: Releases · SoftwareAG/cumulocity-lora · GitHub
– Writing your own codec with your IDE: Java, Javascript, Typescript and Python are supported
– Writing your own codec in Javascript from Cumulocity IDE as explained here: GitHub - SoftwareAG/cumulocity-lora: LoRa framework including implementations for TTN, Chirpstack, Kerlink Wanesy, Loriot, Actility, Objenious, Live Objects, Orbiwan as well as many codecs and still adding more, and lot of unique features such as user-friendly UI to send device commands, gateway management, codec IDE
Finally, ensure the LoRa gateway is properly configured to forward its packages to the Chirpstack LNS.
Next steps
Register your LoRa devices from Cumulocity, build your dashboards, and enjoy!
Useful links | Relevant resources
Installing Edge Appliance (VM): Introduction - Cumulocity IoT Guides
Installing Edge on Kubernetes: Cumulocity IoT Edge on Kubernetes - Public Preview - Cumulocity IoT Guides
LoRa framework: GitHub - SoftwareAG/cumulocity-lora: LoRa framework including implementations for TTN, Chirpstack, Kerlink Wanesy, Loriot, Actility, Objenious, Live Objects, Orbiwan as well as many codecs and still adding more, and lot of unique features such as user-friendly UI to send device commands, gateway management, codec IDE
Chirpstack docker: GitHub - chirpstack/chirpstack-docker: Setup ChirpStack using Docker Compose