Author Topic: Choosing LoRa module and Gateway  (Read 1350 times)

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Offline sairfan1Topic starter

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Choosing LoRa module and Gateway
« on: January 21, 2020, 08:51:42 pm »
I'm about to start working on a project with LoRa and need help to choose appropriate LoRa modules and Gateway, I need about 190 nodes that will send data to server through LoRa Gateway.

My first question is related to selecting modules i found many modules on AliExpress for example #AliExpress but some other modules like #link-lab I want to know, if modules from aliexpress works good for a professional project? does modules like at Link Lab has some additional features/benefits like security etc. or can someone recommend such module which is cheap on price but has additional features like security, encryption etc.

Second question is regarding LoRaWAN Gateway, what i understand is that LoRa Gateway can connect to 8 nodes at a time, while in my application LoRa nodes will transmit data every 75-100 seconds (temperature and pressure) as Gateway can connect 8 devices at a time there is great chance that data from many devices will fail to post on the server, if this is the case, what are the possible solutions.

Please also advise if you think some different technology could be a better solution.

#AliExpress https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32859550198.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.16256c505z34JP&algo_pvid=2f841eec-742d-40ee-9164-8395492dcd12&algo_expid=2f841eec-742d-40ee-9164-8395492dcd12-7&btsid=246626f7-edca-4728-8d74-266961766e79&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_8,searchweb201603_53 

#link-lab https://www.link-labs.com/lora
« Last Edit: January 24, 2020, 04:55:00 pm by sairfan1 »
 

Offline sairfan1Topic starter

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Re: Choosing LoRa module and Gateway
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2020, 08:21:50 pm »
No sure if my question is really goof/incorrect or really no body has any idea about this issue.
 

Offline rstofer

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Re: Choosing LoRa module and Gateway
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2020, 10:54:36 pm »
In looking at the Aliexpress link, I wondered about the two chosen frequencies and whether they apply in the US.

SparkFun has a Raspberry Pi gateway and nodes that are all at 915 MHz.

https://www.sparkfun.com/search/results?term=lora

https://www.adafruit.com/?q=lora

I know exactly nothing about LoRa...
« Last Edit: January 24, 2020, 11:03:48 pm by rstofer »
 

Offline Kasper

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Re: Choosing LoRa module and Gateway
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2020, 08:13:29 am »
I am not really familiar with it but a few notes for you.

Some gateways have 1 channel, others have more.

Gateways can have multiple nodes on each channel.

Nodes and gateways come in varieties: different frequencies (for different regions) and different ranges. 

1 channel gateway
Quote
These are +20dBm LoRa packet radios that have a special radio modulation that is not compatible with the RFM69s but can go much much farther.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4074

8 channel gateway
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4327

The bad news, I'm not sure if this applies everywhere but if it does, you might want something other than LoRa or to reduce your amount of communication.
Quote
For The Things Network’s public community network the Fair Access Policy 151 limits the data each end-device can send, by allowing:

An average of 30 seconds uplink time on air, per day, per device.
At most 10 downlink messages per day, including the ACKs for confirmed uplinks.
A good goal is to keep the application payload under 12 bytes, and the interval between messages at least several minutes.
https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/limitations-data-rate-packet-size-30-seconds-uplink-and-10-messages-downlink-per-day-fair-access-policy-guidelines/1300
 

Offline sairfan1Topic starter

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Re: Choosing LoRa module and Gateway
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2020, 06:15:09 pm »
we will be using own MQTT server so we do not have any issue regarding services,
At the moment biggest issue is regarding choosing hardware, like if we have about 200 nodes/clients how can we send data to server every 75 seconds, so that we can avoid any data loss while posting data to server, LoRa is not a must, can someone advise what else can we use? (low power is a must)
« Last Edit: January 27, 2020, 06:17:29 pm by sairfan1 »
 


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