Modbus Gateway (LoRaWAN)

The Lobaro LoRaWAN Modbus Gateway is a LoRaWAN Gateway with integrated LoRaWAN Network Server providing sensor data via Modbus.

Hardware Components

LoRaWAN Gateway

IMST Version

RAK Version

Currently not available

LoRaWAN
Connectivity: LAN

New Version based on RAK Wireless

LoRaWAN
Connectivity: LTE / LAN / WLAN

USB-Modbus Adapter

Software Components

Chirpstack Network Server
- Semtech Packet Forwarder
- Chirpstack Gateway Bridge
- Chirpstack Network Server
- Chirpstack Application Server
- Postgres
- Redis
Lobaro Modbus Server

Usually you will not need to change anything inside the Chirpstack Application Server. All devices are managed by the Lobaro Modbus Server.

Remote access

Per default the gateway obtains the IP address via DHCP. If configured with a fixed IP address, the gateway has a label with the configured IP address and subnet.

SSH Access

The gateway can be accessed via SSH on port 22. Default login credentials are:

User: pi
Password: lobarogw
IP: DHCP with fallback to 192.168.0.1/24 (IMST) or 192.168.0.1/24 (RAK)
- On RAK with latest image also possible via WLAN AP:
  - Default SSID "RAKMBG_XXYY" (XX and YY last bytes of WLAN adapter MAC) and password "lobarowireless", RAK IP 192.168.230.1

Management UI

IMST version: http://192.168.100.26:8081/
RAK version:
- LAN: http://192.168.0.1:8081/
- WLAN: http://192.168.230.1:8081/
User & Password: Same as Chirpstack

Chirpstack

http://192.168.0.1:8080/ or IP from DHCP
User: admin
Password: lobarogw

SD Card write protection

Write protection on the SD card was removed in current firmware releases

To change any filed on the SD Card (including all config files) you need to execute the script:

~/enableWriteAccess.sh

To disable write access, restart the gateway or execute:

~/disableWriteAccess.sh

Lobaro Modbus Server

The Lobaro Modbus Server (lobaro-modbus-server) is responsible for fetching data from the local LoRaWAN Network Server and provides received data via modbus.

vim can be used to edit files.

To use WinSCP with the user "pi" the files need write access:

sudo chmod o+wr /etc/lobaro-modbus-server/lobaro-modbus-server.yml

Open or change configuration of the Lobaro Modbus Server:

sudo vim /etc/lobaro-modbus-server/lobaro-modbus-server.yml

After editing the configuration lobaro-modbus-server must be restarted:

sudo systemctl restart lobaro-modbus-server

Check the status with

sudo systemctl status lobaro-modbus-server

Check the logs with

sudo journalctl --no-pager -e -u lobaro-modbus-server

Debugging

Beside checking the logs, you can also analyze the files in the dataDir (see config).

There are two files that help writing the config and checking the results.

device-data.json - contains raw json received from Chirpstack. Can be used to verify mapping[].register.value configuration.
register-map.json - contains all register values provided via modbus. All values are formatted as int.

Example device-data.json:

{
  "0000000000000000-1": {
    "adr": true,
    "applicationID": "1",
    "applicationName": "default",
    "data": "AAMEAOQN1g==",
    "devEUI": "0000000000000000",
    "deviceName": "0000000000000000",
    "fCnt": 1,
    "fPort": 1,
    "object": {
      "temp": 22.8,
      "vBat": 3.542,
      "version": "v0.3.4"
    },
    "rxInfo": [
      {
        "gatewayID": "0000000000000000",
        "loRaSNR": 8.8,
        "location": {
          "altitude": 0,
          "latitude": 0,
          "longitude": 0
        },
        "name": "default",
        "rssi": -36,
        "uplinkID": "ce2e086a-d747-4813-9428-b7a4a45abcc8"
      }
    ],
    "txInfo": {
      "dr": 0,
      "frequency": 868300000
    }
  }
}

Example register-map.json:

{
  "Register": {
    "100": {
      "Val": 0,
      "Type": 1,
      "UpdatedAt": "2020-02-07T13:44:03.39750918Z"
    }
  }
}

Configuration file

Register Types

For mapping.[device].register.type the following types are valid:

"type" Parameter	Register Count
int16	1
uint16	1
uint32	2
int32	2
float32	2
downlink	1

Example Configuration

# The application stores persistent data at this path
dataDir: /mnt/ssd/var/data/lobaro-modbus-server/

# Chipstack configuration. Required to manage configured LoRaWAN devices.
chirpstack:
  server: http://localhost:8080
  broker: localhost
  appId: 1
  username: admin
  password: admin

# Modbus configuration. 
# <v1.2.0: Serial mode is fixed at: 8 Data bits, Even Parity, 1 Stop bit (8E1)
modbus:
  baud: 19200
  dataBits: 8 # since v1.2.0
  parity: "even" # no, even (default), odd - since v1.2.0
  stopBits: 1 # 1 (default), 1.5, 2 - since v1.2.0
  slaveId: 1
  port: /dev/ttyUSB0

# Mapping from LoRaWAN Sensors to Modbus Registers
mapping:
  # LoRaWAN Sensor parameters
  - devEUI: 0000000000000000
    appKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
    # Chirpstack Device Profile to use. Includes the Payload Parser.
    devProfile: lobaro-environment
    devName: "name of device in chirpstack"
    # Register mapping for this device
    # One device can fill any number of registers.
    # The server will check for overlapping definitions on start.
    register:
        # Modbus Address (do NOT prefix with 0, else it's octal)
      - addr: 1
        # The value to be mapped.
        # Usually the value is taken from the Chirpstack Parser result JSON
        # and can be selected via JSON Path as handled by https://github.com/tidwall/gjson
        # There are some special values:
        # @age - age of last update in minutes (for any register of this device)
        # @now - Current time as Unix Timestamp
        value: "@age" # age of last update in minutes (for any register of this device)
        # Data type of the value. Default byte order is LittleEndian
        # Supported types are: int16, uint16 (more will come in future versions)
        type: int16
        # The value is only for messages on the specified port, 0 for "every". Default: 0
        port: 0
        # The register value is multiplied with the given factor, 0 is irgnored. Default: 1
        factor: 1

      - addr: 2
        port: 1 # status packet
        value: "object.vBat"
        type: int16
        factor: 1000
      - addr: 3
        port: 2
        value: "object.temperature"
        type: int16
        factor: 10
      - addr: 4
        port: 2
        value: "object.humidity"
        type: int16
        factor: 10
      - addr: 5
        port: 2
        value: "object.pressure"
        type: int16
        factor: 10
      - addr: 6
        port: 2
        value: "rxInfo.0.rssi"
        type: int16
      - addr: 7
        port: 2
        value: "txInfo.dr"
        type: int16
	  - addr: 8
		port: 128
		value: "0x0102" # value to be sent as downlink, either as hex (prefixed with "0x") or base64 string
		type: downlink

  # A second device as example
  - devEUI: 0000000000000000
    appKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
    devProfile: lobaro-one-wire
    register:
      - addr: 100
        value: "@age" # age of last update in minutes (for any register of this device)
        type: int16
      - addr: 101
        port: 1 # status packet
        value: "object.vBat"
        type: int16
        factor: 1000
      - addr: 102
        port: 2
        value: "object.sensors.0.temp"
        type: int16
        factor: 10
      - addr: 103
        port: 2
        value: "rxInfo.0.rssi"
        type: int16
      - addr: 104
        port: 2
        value: "txInfo.dr"
        type: int16
      - addr: 105
		port: 128
		value: "dGVzdF9kb3dubGluaw==" # value to be sent as downlink, either as hex (prefixed with "0x") or base64 string
		type: downlink

Send Downlinks

Configuration

mapping:
    register:
      - addr: 8
        port: 128
        value: "0x0102" # value to be sent as downlink, either as hex (prefixed with "0x") or base64 string
        type: downlink

Set the register to type "downlink" to allow sending the "value" via LoRaWAN to the deivce.

With the example above:

Write any value to modbus register with address 8
A downlink "0x0102" will be queued on port 128
The register will keep the written value in case of success. In case of error the value will be 0.

Chirpstack

The gateway uses a local Chirpstack server. Access management interface on https://<gw-ip>:8080.

Documentation can be found on Chripstack.io.

For each type of device the lobaro-modbus-server needs to reference a Device Profile. See: Chirpstack Device Profile Management. The Device Profile of each LoRaWAN device must be referenced by its name or UUID in the lobaro-modbus-server.yml config file.

Gateway administration

When ever any file on the SD-Card need to change make sure to execute

~/enableWriteAccess.sh

Change password

Login via SSH (see: Modbus Gateway (LoRaWAN))

passwd

Change IP address

IMST

sudo vim /etc/network/interfaces

pi@LoRaGateway:~ $ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)

# Please note that this file is written to be used with dhcpcd
# For static IP, consult /etc/dhcpcd.conf and 'man dhcpcd.conf'

# Include files from /etc/network/interfaces.d:
source-directory /etc/network/interfaces.d

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# DHCP (Default, comment line to disable DHCP)
iface eth0 inet manual

# Fixed IP (Uncomment to enable or use /etc/dhcpcd.conf)
#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet static
#    address 10.0.0.42/24
#    gateway 10.0.0.1

RAK

sudo vim /etc/dhcpcd.conf

Edit last lines to:

# RAK_eth0_IP
profile static_eth0
static ip_address=192.168.0.1/24
static routers=192.168.0.1

interface eth0
fallback static_eth0

Page tree

Modbus Gateway (LoRaWAN)

Hardware Components

Software Components

Remote access

SSH Access

Management UI

Chirpstack

SD Card write protection

Lobaro Modbus Server

Debugging

Configuration file

Register Types

Send Downlinks

Chirpstack

Gateway administration

Change password

Change IP address

IMST

RAK