In order to manage your LoRaWAN® network, we are going to use the ThingPark Community Platform (TPCP), which is powered by ThingPark Enterprise running in the cloud. In Step 1, you are going to create an account on ThingPark Community Portal, which provides free access to TPCP Platform for any non-commercial use up-to 50 LoRaWAN® end-devices. You can configure one or multiple gateways to create your network: in general LoRaWAN® networks provide a better quality of service when you have macro-diversity (i.e. multiple gateways are able to receive device uplinks).
In order to create a ThinkPark Community account, please visit ThingPark Community
This portal provides information about LoRaWAN® and related IoT topics. We are going to use that page to create an account on TPCP.
For the MiniHub LoRaWAN® Gateway to connect to the TPCP platform via the Internet, it needs to be connected to a WiFi network. To achieve this, follow these steps:
- Green LED will go off
- Red LED will blink slowly
When Mini Hub switch into AP mode, on your computer, you can see the Mini-Hub AP in available WiFi Network list. Please notice that in our case, AP name is MINIHUB_800203
* Please notice that last 6 digits of the WiFi Network name are the Serial number of your MiniHub.
When the gateway is successfully connected to the WiFi Network you selected, the following screen displays and the MiniHub gateway reboots automatically.
To use your LoRaWAN® Gateway, you need to register (provision) it into your account on TPCP. If you purchase your gateway from TPCP Market, your gateway is already configured and registered into your Actility account. In this case, you can skip this step.
Note : ThingPark Admin Console redirects to the ThingPark Enterprise (TPE) dashboard. TPE dashboard shows Base stations, Devices, Alerts and Messages
- Base Stations
- Devices
- Alerts
- Messages
* When you login to TPCP for the first time, there are no registered gateways, devices or connections/applications.
If you purchased the MiniHub gateway from TPCP Marketplace, and your TPC and marketplace accounts share the same email address, the gateway is already configured and registered into you Actility account.
The home page looks like this:
When selecting the gateway from the list, the gateway details are displayed, like illustrated in the Figure. If you completed the WiFi connection in Step 2, the gateway status is ONLINE (Green).
In order to process collected data from the end-device, you need to have a backend application for further processing. To keep this activity simple, we are going to use a web site (https://webhook.site/) which launches a free HTTP end-point to receive your data.
In order to create a page at webhook web site, you need to visit the site. A page will be created automatically so you can monitor the collected Device Data. See Figure.
* webhook.site
** Once you have completed Step 6, you will be able to see data coming from the Device.
On TPCP, a Connection is a link to an Application Server for backend processing. Connection provisioning is the definition of introducing “end point to communication”. To define Connection, only 3 information are required:
You will create Connection definition which points to backend application. At the TPCP Admin console you can create application definition which will point to backend service which had been created at Step 5.
Now, you have to select the type of transport protocol that you going to use as backend service. In our example, we are going to use https:// service.
You need to fill in the required information:
The final step of implementation is the device registration on the TPCP, which requires the following information:
DevEUI and AppKey parameters are crucial to ensure the communication between the device and the ThingPark platform.
Note: For Tinovi devices, DevEUI and AppKey are written on the sticker inside the device. See Figure
* Providing the AppKey value on (inside) the device presents a practical way for a device used in R&D, but this method shall not be used with devices in production due to its obvious security weakness.
To access the device creation form:
Now, you must insert battery into your LoRaWAN® device and ensure it is sending data*
*Please notice that your device just transfers data, but it does not mean that data are received by TPE.
