Access to LoRa node information via serial connection

[Lorne Vaasjo]

I’m new to this system and have been asked to create a simple demonstration project where the status information of connected LoRa nodes is transmitted out of the Conduit via a serial interface.
Can anyone tell me what easiest method to achieve this is. I presume that the data would be available via the USB device port, debug port and possibly via an RS232 accessory card.

[Peter Ferland]

The simplest method would be to use a MTAC-MFSER card. There is a node red output node for the MFSER module so the flow could be as simple as a LoRa input node, a function node that parses the message and the output node to the serial port. You can also interface to the serial port as you would any other at /dev/ttyAP1 or /dev/ttyAP2 depending on which accessory port you used. If you use the commandline you’ll need to set the mode using the mts-io-sysfs function described here:
http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/mlinux/using-mlinux/mlinux-using-accessory-cards/mtac-mfser-usage/

[Lorne Vaasjo]

Thanks Peter. Is the existing USB device port unavailable to do this type of operation?

[Peter Ferland]

The USB device connector provides a serial terminal so you could just use stdout there You’d need to handle the lora data as if you were on a mlinux conduit after installing the mosquitto mqtt pub/sub commands from the mosquitto-clients package. http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/conduit-mlinux-lora-communication/
You can also try plugging in a USB serial adapter into the USB host connector, modules for some chips are available in the opkg feed. For example the pl2303’s module is provided by kernel-module-pl2303

[Author]

Posts