Overview

We can install the ChirpStack Bridge directly on the mPower gateways. This requires mPower 6.3.0 or higher. The bridge package will be lost on firmware upgrade and need to be reinstalled.

 

System Design

The system follows the following pattern:

• The Packet Forwarder using the UDP protocol or Basics Station using WebSockets communicates with the onboard ChirpStack Gateway Bridge.
• The onboard ChirpStack Gateway Bridge communicates to the MQTT Broker using MQTT messages.
• The MQTT Broker communicates to the ChirpStack Server using MQTT messages.

 

Installation

Interactive Wiki site for ChirpStack installation documentation

1. Download the signed tarball depending on your architecture:
   • MTCDT
   • MTCDT3
   • MTCAP
   • MTCAP3
2. Login to your device and navigate to administration/package_management
   
3. Pick the package from the folder icon and click install
   
4. The package should appear in the ‘Installed Packages’ section
   
5. ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration is now available in LoRaWAN > Network Settings
   

Setup

LoRa Packet Forwarder + ChirpStack

Go to the LoRa Network Page

Set the LoRa Mode to PACKET FORWARDER

Enable ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration

Enabling this toggle will display all the ChirpStack settings and automatically configure the LoRa Packet Forwarder Server Settings

From the LoRa Packet Forwarder side, enabling this setting will do the following:

• Hide the Server Settings since it will be communicating with the ChirpStack Gateway Bridge
• Set Server Address for the LoRa Packet Forwarder to 127.0.0.1 (Since our ChirpStack Gateway Bridge is installed locally)
• Configure the Upstream and Downstream ports for the LoRa Packet Forwarder to whatever value you pick with the Backend Port Bind in the
  
  ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration

  

Note: If you don’t see the ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration enable toggle, the package was not installed correctly.

Setup LoRa Packet Forwarder

Setup your Channel Plan and other relevant settings.

Setup ChirpStack Gateway Bridge

Setup the relevant settings. The Port Bind within the Backend section is automatically synced with the LoRa Packet Forwarder

Authentication

Generic MQTT

This mode assumes you have generic MQTT Server(s) and let you setup all standard MQTT Server settings.

Note: The Ca Certificate File, TLS Certificate File and TLS Key File require the raw data of these files to be pasted in, not a path within the device

Azure IoT Hub

This mode sets you set the Azure specific requirements.

Note: TLS Certificate File and TLS Key File require the raw data of these files to be pasted in, not a path within the device

LoRa Basic Station + ChirpStack

Go to the LoRa Network Page

Set the LoRa Mode to BASIC STATION

Enable ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration

Enabling this toggle will display all the ChirpStack settings and automatically configure the LoRa Basic Station Server Settings

From the LoRa Basic Station side, enabling this setting will do the following:

• Set Server Address for the LoRa Basic Station to 127.0.0.1 (Since our ChirpStack Gateway Bridge is installed locally)
• Configure the Upstream and Downstream ports for the LoRa Basic Station to whatever value you pick with the Backend Port Bind in the
  
  ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration

  

Note: If you don’t see the ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration enable toggle, the package was not installed correctly.

Setup LoRa Basic Station

Station Config

Setup your station config depending on your hardware. Example configurations can be found here

Credentials

This should be set to LNS mode

URI

This parameter sets up the Websocket for the LoRa Basic Station. The format is:

websocket-type://server-address:port

There are two options available:

• WebSocket (ws://) – For non-TLS connections
  • Example:ws://localhost:1780
• WebSocket Secure (wss://) – For TLS-secured connections
  • Example:wss://localhost:1780

Note: The Server Address must be localhost/127.0.0.1 and the port must match what you set in UDP bind input of the Backend section within ChirpStack Gateway Bridge

Certificates (Optional)

If you would like the communication between the LoRa Basic Station and the ChirpStack Gateway Bridge to be encrypted, you will need to setup the relevant certificates.

Note: This information needs to match whatever you set within the ChirpStack Gateway Bridge Configuration

Two of the most popular modes are:

Server TLS (CA Certificate Required)

You will need to fill in the Server Cert with its data

Mutual TLS (CA + Client Certificate Required)

You will need to fill in the Server Cert, Gateway Cert and Gateway Key with their data

Note: The Ca Certificate File, TLS Certificate File and TLS Key File require the raw data of these files to be pasted in, not a path within the device

Setup ChirpStack Gateway Bridge

Channel Plan

This section lets you generate a channel plan. The channels defined here need to match the LoRa Basic Station

Backend

The UDP Bind needs the server to be localhost and the port needs to match whatever you set in the LoRa Basic Station URI. If you configured certificates for the WebSocket communication in the LoRa Basic Station configuration, these certs will need to be matched here.

Authentication

Generic MQTT

This mode assumes you have generic MQTT Server(s) and let you setup all standard MQTT Server settings.

Note: The Ca Certificate File, TLS Certificate File and TLS Key File require the raw data of these files to be pasted in, not a path within the device

Azure IoT Hub

This mode sets you set the Azure specific requirements.

Note: TLS Certificate File and TLS Key File require the raw data of these files to be pasted in, not a path within the device