Tutorial: Using COM.LoRaWAN in UIFlow

sodoku

I wrote a tutorial on using COM.LoRaWAN in UIFlow.
This is my first tutorial at hackster.io, I would highly appreciate some feedback.

https://www.hackster.io/sodoku/m5stack-com-lorawan-using-uiflow-fdcd7f

Zontex

Hi @sodoku

Great job! looks amazing, thank you for supporting and sharing it with the community!

LasNiko

Great job. Does this work the same with the old (blue) LoRaWAN module?

sodoku

@lasniko you could reuse some parts of the tutorial, but the older blue module uses completely different AT-commands.

Arno

thank you very much for this very valuable information for a beginner like me.

holgerw 0

Great Tutorial,

please go on with it, would like to find an way to upload sensordata to TTN via ABP.
I have only an singleGateWay here and it does not let my join via OTAA.

I am stuck here.

many greetins from danube/austria
holger

anvalin

Hello @sodoku. Many thanks for sharing the tutorial! I found it on m5stack.hackster.io and it helped me a lot. Registered two COM.LoRaWAN 868MHz modules sucessfully with TTN and managed to see uplinks (alas with long join latency and lots of retrying uplinks though I am in the very middle of Berlin - it seems coverage still has to improve a lot). I am still struggling with the adaption of the official P2P example. Especially regarding use with a sensor in a setup without use of buttons to initiate data requests. If you'd find the time to extend your tutorial his would be much appreciated.
Also I wonder about the real life range of the modules. I have currently set them to 5V and cannot pull data beyond 20m distance, line of sight. Seems odd ... what are your experiences? Can this be enhanced using 12V? Maybe a faulty antenna connection?
As a side note - all blocks in Flow 1.7.2 are dedicated to the older blue modules - but an implementation for the M031-C is in development, as confirmed by M5Stack support.

sodoku

@anvalin I am glad I could help. I haven't done an example with sensors yet, because M5Stack said they would release support to the module in UIFlow which would make my example obsolete. I might still do it if I find the time.

I think the input power doesn't matter since the 12V will be regulated down to 5V anyway. I am also in Berlin. With a simple P2P test and a TTGO board in my window I recieved packages about 400m away. My record though was getting a connection to an outdoor TTN gateway which is over 8km away!
LoRa works best with a line of sight, any buildings inbetween can significantly decrease the signal.

sodoku

@holgerw-0 didn't see your question. Did you manage to get it working?

I haven't used ABP so far, but you should be able to use it by setting the ABP settings from TTN:

AT+NwkSKey=kkkk
AT+AppSKey=kkkk
AT+DevAddr=kkkk

and then switching from OTAA to ABP:

AT+OTAA=0

anvalin

Hi @sodoku
first COM.X LoraWan blocks became available with UI.Flow 1.7.5. Unfortunately still no support for the european frequency model.

I now run a public TTN gateway myself covering a portion of the Gleisdreieck area filling a blind spot. Hopefully adding an external LoraWan antenna with higher gain will solve my range problem at my nodes location - half a kilometre distance in a dense urban area can really be a show stopper with LoraWan when there's no gateway around ;)

sodoku

@anvalin glad you got something working. Your gateway is about 4km away from me. Not sure I will manage to get a connection to you :D

bob_isat

Hi @sodoku and thanks for the nice tutorial.

As @LasNiko , I plan to try the same :Using old blue LORAWAN Module (LORA868) to send data to TTN.

Would you have any insights on the commands to use by any chance ?

Blocks exists in UIFLOW 1.8.2 but hard to find documentations related to it

0_1629795653114_87e75100-4779-45fb-b249-bc0c096a98cd-image.png

Cheers,

bob_isat

bob_isat

@anvalin said in Tutorial: Using COM.LoRaWAN in UIFlow:

Hello @sodoku. Many thanks for sharing the tutorial! I found it on m5stack.hackster.io and it helped me a lot. Registered two COM.LoRaWAN 868MHz modules sucessfully with TTN and managed to see uplinks (alas with long join latency and lots of retrying uplinks though I am in the very middle of Berlin - it seems coverage still has to improve a lot). I am still struggling with the adaption of the official P2P example. Especially regarding use with a sensor in a setup without use of buttons to initiate data requests. If you'd find the time to extend your tutorial his would be much appreciated.
Also I wonder about the real life range of the modules. I have currently set them to 5V and cannot pull data beyond 20m distance, line of sight. Seems odd ... what are your experiences? Can this be enhanced using 12V? Maybe a faulty antenna connection?
As a side note - all blocks in Flow 1.7.2 are dedicated to the older blue modules - but an implementation for the M031-C is in development, as confirmed by M5Stack support.

Damned, i had the same expectation! (the 12V to enhance range)...

anvalin

COM.LoRaWAN Module 868MHz V2.0 (ASR6501, product code MS03031-C4) is now listed at retailers. Hopefully this new module will finally see full UIFlow support.

Donpedrito

No news for the COM.X 868 Modul in UIFlow. Still not in the UIFlow "Library".
Edit:
@sodoku, the COM.LORAWAN 868 (ASR6501, M031-C) modul has different "AT"-Commands and if i use these commands instead of yours in the description, i could communicate with the modul via Console and USB and can send "payloads" to TTN, but no chance to use some other "programming-blocks" in UIFlow. The AT-Command Introductions are here: