LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorial 31: LoRa Server Project

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This is part 31 of the LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorial.

In this video series different topics will be explained which will help you to understand LoRa/LoRaWAN.
It is recommended to watch each video sequentially as I may refer to certain LoRa/LoRaWAN topics explained earlier.

In this tutorial I will demonstrate how to install and configure the open source LoRaWAN network server called LoRaServer.

The LoRa Server project provides open source components for building LoRaWAN networks.
The LoRa Server project consists of four major components: LoRa Gateway Bridge, LoRa Server, LoRa App Server and LoRa Geo Server.
All components are licensed under the MIT license and can be used for commercial purposes.

The LoRa Gateway Bridge abstracts the packet forwarder UDP protocol data into JSON and sends it to the LoRa Server over MQTT.
The LoRa Server is the LoRaWAN network server.
It de-duplicates and handles the received uplink frames from the gateway(s), handles the LoRaWAN mac layer and schedules the downlink data transmissions.
The LoRa App Server is the LoRaWAN Application Server and handles the join-requests, encryption of application payloads and offers a RESTful JSON API, gRPC API or MQTT for external services.
The LoRa App Server has a web interface to manage users, organisations, applications and devices.
It also allows you to see the received sensor data.
Many users are sending their sensor data to The Things Network.
Now you can create your own private LoRaWAN network by using the LoRa Server components.

More information about the LoRa Server project:
https://www.loraserver.io
All LoRa Server project code:
https://github.com/brocaar
LoRa Server forum:
https://forum.loraserver.io

The LoRa Server and the LoRa App Server each requires their own PostgreSQL database.
There are many configurations of these components possible, for example:
- All LoRa Server components and their dependencies can be installed on their own servers.
- All LoRa Server components and their dependencies can be installed on the gateway itself, which I will demonstrate in this video.
- All LoRa Server components and their dependencies can be installed on a single server instance.
- LoRa Gateway Bridge can be installed on the gateway itself, the other LoRa Server components and their dependencies can be installed on a single server instance.

How it works
The gateway has the Semtech packet forwarder installed.
The global_conf.json and local_conf.json files are used to configure the packet forwarder.
In the global_conf.json file the Lora Gateway Bridge server address and port 1700 are set.

The Lora Gateway Bridge abstracts the received packet forwarder UDP protocol data.
The data is converted into JSON and publishes it to a MQTT broker.
The lora-gateway-bridge.toml file is used to configure the Lora Gateway Bridge.

The Lora Server is the LoRaWAN network server and it has a PostgreSQL database to store the gateway data.
The loraserver.toml file is used to configure the Lora Server.

The Lora App Server is the LoRaWAN application server and it also has a PostgreSQL database to store the gateway data.
The lora-app-server.toml file is used to configure the Lora App Server.

I have created a manual how to install and configure the LoRa Gateway Bridge, LoRa Server, LoRa App Server and their dependencies on the RAK 831 Pilot Gateway.
https://www.mobilefish.com/developer/...

The LoRa Gateway OS is an easy way to get started with LoRaWAN and the LoRa Server project.
LoRa Gateway OS are SD card images which contains out-of-the-box support for the Semtech packet forwarder, Lora Gateway Bridge, LoRa Server and LoRa App Server for certain concentrator shields.
More information: https://www.loraserver.io/lora-gatewa...

There are also gateways on the market with the LoRa Server components already installed, such as the RAK WisKit.
This kit contains among other things:
- RAK2245 Pi HAT (LoRa concentrator module)
- Raspberry Pi 3B+
- WisNode (LoRa Node)

A tutorial about this can be found at:
https://www.hackster.io/fomi-T/simple...

An SD Card MAY wear out.
The lifetime of SD cards is limited by the number of writes.
It is recommended NOT to use cheap SD cards.
LoRa Server tries to minimise the number of database writes.

Check out all my other LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorial videos:
   • LoRa/LoRaWAN tutorials  

Subscribe to my YouTube channel:
   / @mobilefish  

The presentation used in this video tutorial can be found at:
https://www.mobilefish.com/developer/...

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