Multitech Conduit Gateway 8 Radio Channels Configuration

[lorawan2016]

Hello,

Is there any guide about how to configure the Multi-tech Conduit gateway AEP model as packet-forwarder with activated 8 radio channels?

What’s the recommended configuration for the 8 channels, frequencies in EU, duty cycle, data rate, etc.?

Any example would help to clarify the approach.
Thanks in advice!

[Mike Fiore]

for AEP Conduit:
http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/aep-lora-packet-forwarder/

for mLinux Conduit:
http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/conduit-mlinux-convert-to-basic-packet-forwarder/

[lorawan2016]

Thanks Mike,

I already know your links but none of them clarify the approach or any example for AEP packet-forwarder to configure the 8 radio-channels with legal frequencies in EU, duty cycle, data rate, etc..

What’s to avoid and what’s recommended in such configurations? … best practices.

[Mike Fiore]

There are multiple example configurations linked directly from this page:

http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/aep-lora-packet-forwarder/

Is that not what you’re looking for?

There’s also some discussion here:

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/setting-up-multitech-conduit-gateway-for-ttn/216/80

[lorawan2016]

Hello,

Thanks again Mike.
Though this is not exactly answering my questions, I appreciate the time you spent answering my question. Simply, I can’t find the 8 radio channel configurations in any of the given links and in the TTN link there’s mLinux not AEP configuration.

In Conduit AEP configuration as packet forwarder, is the MQTT client/broker needs to be configured and enabled so that the packets forward to the server in two directions?…. I am asking this because I have AWS MQTT to subscribe/publish from/to the gateway.

Do you have any idea?

[Mike Fiore]

Here is the link directly to an example 8-channel configuration for EU868.

http://www.multitech.net/developer/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/EU-868-example-config.txt

I already posted links above that describe how to set your mLinux or AEP Conduit in packet forwarder mode.

You can use MQTT input and output nodes in Node Red on the AEP Conduit to communicate with an external MQTT broker.

[lorawan2016]

Thanks Mike,

Yes I tried previously the Node-RED nodes with MQTT and it worked.
Now my intention is to try the AEP Conduit as packet-forwarder without Node-RED to communicate with an external MQTT broker.

[lorawan2016]

Mike,

The example in the link is just for two of 8 radio channels, namely radio_ch0 and radio_ch1. The objects below it are 8 spreading factor configurations over the two radio_ch0 and radio_ch1.

[Jason Reiss]

Base code for the packet forwarder
https://github.com/Lora-net/packet_forwarder

ETSI regulations
http://www.erodocdb.dk/docs/doc98/official/pdf/rec7003e.pdf

The MTAC_LORA card has two front end radios.
Each configured for a single frequency.

The 8 demodulators are configured with an offset in “chan_multiSF_0” – “chan_multiSF_7” configuration “if” setting. These are the 8 channels.
Offsets can be up to 500k off the center channel.

[lorawan2016]

Thanks Mike and Jason,……now I got it.

Jason,…. I thought Conduit gateway already has a packet forwarder and all I have to do is to configure the Conduit gateway as packet-forwarder and then just to write the server address in the gateway-configuration section to create the connection. Apparently, the code in your link tells me it’s not as I have expected.

The broker I want to connect to is MQTT broker so I don’t know if I need to install any MQTT library on Conduit gateway to get this working?

The packet forwarder in your link is C-based code and one has to install C++ tool-chain or similar to get it working?

[Mike Fiore]

You can’t just connect the packet forwarder directly to a MQTT broker. There has to be a network server in between. If you want the Conduit gateway to push packets to a MQTT broker, you’ll need to enable the network server on your Conduit. The easiest way to publish info to MQTT would be to set up a Node Red flow:

For upstream (mote -> cloud) you’d want to wire the following
LoRa Input Node -> Function Node (processing) -> MQTT Output Node

For downstream (cloud -> mote) you’d want to wire the following
MQTT Input Node -> Function Node (processing) -> LoRa Output Node

[lorawan2016]

Thanks Mike!

Well you are considering the following settings:
1. AEP Conduit version.
2. Network server configuration.
3. Using Node-RED to achieve MQTT messaging.

The question here, is Node-RED reliable enough to be considered for big LoRa network deployment, lets say thousands of end-devices? … can Node-RED be left running the application for two years without interruptions?

While my intention is to have the following settings:
1. AEP Conduit version.
2. Packet-forwarder configuration.
3. Messaging over MQTT protocol.

Hence, according to your answer in the previous message, I have to have a network server in between. Let it be my own network server to be installed instead.

Could you explain to me if the included MQTT library in network server configuration can be used under packet-forwarder configuration? … or I have to install new MQTT library to get the packet-forwarder configuration working to communicate to the application server?

Installing new libraries or software on Conduit gateway, is it recommended without affecting its performance?

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