Multitech Conduit (ipk packages)

brocaar · December 19, 2017, 10:30am

This is not yet part of the documentation, but I’ve been creating Multitech Conduit specific packages for both the LoRa Gateway Bridge as the latest gateway HAL and packet-forwarder (SPI version!).

The lora-gateway-bridge will put the configuration file under /var/config/lora-gateway-bridge. You start it using /etc/init.d/lora-gateway-bridge start (start|stop|restart).

The lora-packet-forwarder package can be started using /etc/init.d/lora-packet-forwarder-ap1 (start|stop|restart) or /etc/init.d/lora-packet-forwarder-ap2, depending for which slot you want to start the packet-forwarder.
Note: this allows you to run two packet forwarder instances when both slots have a LoRa card installed. I’m not sure if this is a good idea or could cause damage as both antennas are close to each other, but it is possible.

On packet-forwarder start, it creates a config file under /var/config/lora-packet-forwarder-ap1 (or -ap2). The init script will either use the 915Mhz or 868Mhz configuration file and depending the Conduit version will enable GPS support or not. It will also set the gateway MAC to the EUI of the installed LoRa card on that slot.

It is recommended to install these packages on a clean mLinux factory image (e.g. http://www.multitech.net/mlinux/images/mtcdt/3.3.13/).

See https://dl.loraserver.io/multitech/conduit/ for the LoRa Server and packet-forwarder .ipk packages. The recipe sources are located at: https://github.com/brocaar/loraserver-yocto.

Installation in short:

Install lora-gateway-bridge, update the configuration with your MQTT credentials and start it
Install lora-packet-forwarder, start it (see above). At this point it is already configured to match the LoRa Gateway Bridge config (localhost:1700). You might need to update the packet-forwarder configuration to match your channel-plan or modify addition config.

Looking forward to receive feedback on this! Then it can be included in the documentation

Nicolasr · December 21, 2017, 3:45pm

Thanks Brocaar,

Such packages are really an improvement to setup Multitech Conduit which we use a lot.
Two questions though, since I cannot do the test at the moment:

you claim for packet forwarder that when launched it automatically creates the config fil. Is the source config file installed somewhere in /etc so that we can modify it (with for instance antenna gain).
do you intend to do the same with the channel manager

brocaar · December 21, 2017, 4:01pm

you claim for packet forwarder that when launched it automatically creates the config fil. Is the source config file installed somewhere in /etc so that we can modify it (with for instance antenna gain).

It copies a template configuration when no config file is present (in /var/config/lora-packet-forwarder... and then fills the gateway id and SPI path. See also: loraserver-yocto/layers/meta-semtech/recipes-lora/lora-packet-forwarder/lora-packet-forwarder/mtcdt/lora-packet-forwarder-ap1.init at master · brocaar/loraserver-yocto · GitHub

After that you can edit it as you wish and the init.d will not make any more modifications.

do you intend to do the same with the channel manager

Yes

brocaar · January 29, 2018, 10:46am

I’ve updated the documentation and would like to publish this soon. Would really like to get some feedback on the following installation steps:

https://github.com/brocaar/lora-gateway-bridge/blob/multitech_conduit_docs/docs/content/install/gateway/multitech.md.

Nicolasr · January 31, 2018, 4:23pm

I’ve carefully read the doc and although I did not test it, everything seems OK to me.

I still have to receive last revision of the conduit to complete process & tests.
I’ll also test with two cards installed, different configurations of channels.
Will also have to test with the multitech access point. But i’m confident it will be ok.
Once my tests are OK, i’ll be able to answer you more precisely.

etienneb · February 6, 2018, 8:17am

Well, I have followed these instructions on a factory-new gateway, and here is my feedback :

1 - Some links are missing (line 5 “Gateway Pieces and Connections” & step 6 from mLinux / AEP: Setting up the LoRa Gateway Bridge “see Gateways”). These links lead to a Github “404 not found”.

2 - During the “mLinux: Setting up the packet-forwarder (MTAC-LORA-H)” step ;
Trying to start the packet forwarder generates an error and create an empty “global_conf.json” in /var/config/lora-packet-forwarder.
I had to change the names of the files from “/opt/lora-packet-forwarder/config” :

From : global_conf.json.MTAC-LORA-H-868 (or 915).basic (or gps)
To : global_conf.json.MTAC-LORA-868 (or 915).basic (or gps)

After this step, it works
I have tried this on a Multitech Mlinux 868 gateway, so I can’t give a feedback on AEP instructions, but these were the issues I have encountered.

Also, some precisions about how to find keys and IDs, and where to put them on LoRa Server, would probably be useful.

Thank you very much,
Etienne

brocaar · February 6, 2018, 10:47am

Thanks for your feedback! Do you know if you have the SPI or USB version of the MTAC-LORA-868 card (which is the MTAC-LORA-H version)?

MTAC-LORA-868 should be the USB version, MTAC-LORA-H-868 should be the SPI version (hence the filename). In case you have the SPI version but it reports as MTAC-LORA-868, that would be an interesting case as it means there is some inconsistency in how these cards report their type.

In case you do have an USB version, then the packet-forwarder should not work, as support for USB has been dropped since many versions ago.

Thanks again for testing!

etienneb · February 6, 2018, 12:23pm

Well, I’m going to sound stupid, but I don’t know.
Here is a photograph of the card, if it can help.
Though, on the box, it is referred as “MTAC-LORA-868”

https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/06/2/1517919684-p-20180206-130058-vhdr-on.png

brocaar · February 6, 2018, 2:28pm

Are you sure that one works with the packet-forwarder version provided in the .ipk package? As mentioned here https://www.multitech.com/models/94557296LF, this is the USB version.

Support for USB has been removed since v2.2.0 of the packet-forwarder (2015), see: https://github.com/lora-net/packet_forwarder#v220---2015-10-08.

However Multitech provides a USB version of their packet-forwarder. It might be that this one is actually active. Could you do a

ps aux |grep lora

In my case, this displays:

root@mtcdt:~# ps aux |grep lora
root       493  0.0  1.7 795112  4484 ?        Sl   Jan29   5:41 /opt/lora-gateway-bridge/lora-gateway-bridge
root      5990  2.6  0.4  52848  1056 ?        S<l  02:27   9:46 /opt/lora-packet-forwarder/lora_pkt_fwd
root      6170  0.0  0.1   2976   464 pts/0    S+   08:31   0:00 grep lora

etienneb · February 7, 2018, 6:41am

You are right, when I use the same command, the gateway bridge is started, but not the packet forwarder.
When I try to start manually the packet forwarder, I get the following error (it’s the first time I see it) :

“Starting lora-packet-forwarder: renice: getpriority: No such process”

So, since I don’t have the right model, is it possible to use another packet forwarder with Lora Server ? I will soon use a Kerlink Gateway, which may solve the problem, but I don’t think I have a Multitech SPI Lora MTAC in stock.

I will check as soon as I can.
EDIT : I have checked, all my gateways have this same USB card.

Osman · March 14, 2018, 6:04pm

Hi @brocaar,

I am still trying to set up the LoRa server, and i guess i am close to getting it up. I am using raspberry pi 3 for installation of network server and application server and both are running without any errors.
Since i have multitech conduit, i installed the lora packet forwarder and lora gateway bridge on the conduit itself . The packet forwarder log is showing which it is receiving from the microchip lora mote but i am not sure about whether it is received by the gateway bridge.
Which command should i issue to conduit to know whether the gateway bridge is working as expected.
Thank you

brocaar · March 14, 2018, 7:28pm

Please see: https://docs.loraserver.io/lora-gateway-bridge/install/debug/

brocaar · March 16, 2018, 10:58am

I’ve added packages for the MTAC-LORA- version (v1.0 FTDI mCard). I tried to test this as best as I could, but I only have MTAC-LORA-H- cards (v1.5 SPI), so I’m looking forward to your feedback on this!

Please see: https://www.loraserver.io/lora-gateway-bridge/install/gateway/multitech/ and then the mLinux with MTAC-LORA-915 or MTAC-LORA-868 section.

gpilloud · March 19, 2018, 11:08am

Hello,

Just a note about the config file :
the packet forwarder config must be different for this package.

{
    "SX1301_conf" :
    {
            "chan_FSK" :
            {
                    "bandwidth" : 250000,
                    "datarate" : 50000,
                    "enable" : true,
                    "freq_deviation" : 25000,
                    "if" : 25000,
                    "radio" : 1
            },
            "chan_Lora_std" :
            {
                    "bandwidth" : 250000,
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : 25000,
                    "radio" : 1,
                    "spread_factor" : 7
            },
            "chan_multiSF_0" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : -400000,
                    "radio" : 0
            },
            "chan_multiSF_1" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : -200000,
                    "radio" : 0
            },
            "chan_multiSF_2" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : 0,
                    "radio" : 0
            },
            "chan_multiSF_3" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : -400000,
                    "radio" : 1
            },
            "chan_multiSF_4" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : -200000,
                    "radio" : 1
            },
            "chan_multiSF_5" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : 0,
                    "radio" : 1
            },
            "chan_multiSF_6" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : 200000,
                    "radio" : 1
            },
            "chan_multiSF_7" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "if" : 400000,
                    "radio" : 1
            },
            "radio_0" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "freq" : 868500000
            },
            "radio_1" :
            {
                    "enable" : true,
                    "freq" : 869500000
            }
    },
    "gateway_conf" :
    {
            "forward_crc_disabled" : false,
            "forward_crc_error" : true,
            "forward_crc_valid" : true,
            "gateway_ID" : "008000000000AAAA",
            "keepalive_interval" : 12,
            "push_timeout_ms" : 120,
            "serv_port_down" : 1700,
            "serv_port_up" : 1700,
            "server_address" : "192.168.x.x",
            "stat_interval" : 20,
            "synch_word" : 52
    }

}

I’m currently testing this version on one of my gateways. Is there specific loraserver code on this packet forwarder or just a non-modified-by-multitech version of the pkf ?

brocaar · March 19, 2018, 2:03pm

This is based on the Multitech lora-packet-forwarder-usb code and include all the Multitech patches (which also adds their just-in-time-scheduling change).

The main goal of this package is to make it a bit easier to setup. E.g. the Multitech lora-packet-forwarder-usb does not include an init.d script but when an USB mCard is detected, it will create a symlink which does not always work. Then I wanted to make it also easier by auto-detecting the global_conf.json version to use (US or EU, based on MTAC-LORA- version) and set the config so that it by default works work with the Conduit lora-gateway-bridge package

the packet forwarder config must be different for this package.

Could you let me know why? This config is based on MultiTech Developer Resources » Conduit AEP: Convert to Basic Packet Forwarder

You will find the build recipe for this lora-packet-forwarder-usb package here: loraserver-yocto/layers/meta-semtech/recipes-lora/lora-packet-forwarder-usb at master · brocaar/loraserver-yocto · GitHub.

Colin_Helliwell · August 16, 2018, 2:51pm

Hi, what are you currently using as the recipe for libmpsse?