ChirpStack LoRaWAN Integration

ChirpStack is an open source LoRaWAN network server stack. This tutorial explains how to receive LoRaWAN sensor data via ChirpStack using the MQTT Agent. The tutorial is based on the Dragino LHT65 LoRaWAN sensor device as an example.

Install and start ChirpStack

1. Make a copy of the ChirpStack Docker repository with the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/brocaar/chirpstack-docker.git
cd chirpstack-docker

2. Start ChirpStack

docker-compose up

3. Login to the ChirpStack UI (http://localhost:8080/ admin/admin)

Create the ChirpStack LoRaWAN Gateway

1. Navigate to the Service-profiles page and click the + Create button.
2. Create a service profile with the following settings:
   • Add gateway meta-data: enabled
   • Enable network geolocation: enabled
   • Minimum allowed data-rate: 0
   • Maximum allowed data-rate: 5 (Europe), 4 (US)
3. Navigate to the Gateways page and click + Create button.
4. Create a gateway with the following settings:
   • Gateway ID: 8 byte hexadecimal number (e.g. a841452101b04161, see gateway device manual for how to retrieve the gateway ID)
   • Network-server: docker-network-server
   • Service-profile: service profile you created earlier

Create the ChirpStack LoRaWAN Device

1. Navigate to the Applications page and click the + Create button.
2. Create an application with the following setting:
   • Service-profile: service profile you created earlier
3. Navigate to the Device-profiles page and click the + Create button.
4. Create a device profile with the following settings:
   • General:
     • LoRaWAN MAC version: see device manual (select 1.0.3 in case of Dragino LHT65)
     • LoRaWAN Regional Parameters revision: see device manual (select A in case of Dragino LHT65)
     • Max EIRP: 14 (Europe)
     • Uplink interval (seconds): see device configuration (select 1200 in case of Dragino LHT65)
   • JOIN (OTAA/ABP):
     • Device supports OTAA: enabled
   • CODEC:
     • Custom JavaScript decoder function: add a function that decodes the base64 encoded binary data (in case of the Dragino LHT65 go to the Dragino LHT65 support page in order to download a ChirpStack data decoder).
5. Navigate to the Applications page and select the application you created earlier
6. On the Devices tab click the + Create button.
7. Create a device with the following settings:
   • General:
     • DeviceEUI: 8 byte hexadecimal number (see LoRa device manual for how to retrieve this identifier from the device).
     • Device-profile: device profile you created earlier
8. Navigate to the KEYS (OTAA) tab and configure the new device with the following setting:
   • Application key: 16 byte hexadecimal number (see device manual for how to retrieve the application key from the device).

Create the OpenRemote MQTT agent

1. Login to the OpenRemote manager UI (https://localhost/ admin/secret)
2. Navigate to the Assets page, click + in the asset tree on the left.
3. In the Add asset dialog do the following:
   • Select the MQTT Agent asset type in the list
   • Name: ChirpStack MQTT Agent
   • Confirm with ADD
4. Click Modify and configure the following asset attributes:
   • Host: IP address of the ChirpStack server (e.g. 192.168.170.83)
   • Port: 1883
   • Confirm with SAVE

Create the OpenRemote LoRaWAN device asset

1. Navigate to the Assets page, click + in the asset tree on the left.

2. In the Add asset dialog do the following:

   • Select the Thing Asset type
   • Name: Dragino LHT65
   • Confirm with ADD

3. Click Modify

4. Click ADD ATTRIBUTE and do the following in the Add attribute dialog:

   • Type: Custom attribute
   • Name: Temperature
   • Value type: Number
   • Confirm with ADD

5. Expand the Temperature attribute and click ADD CONFIGURATION ITEMS

6. In the Add configuration items dialog do the following:

   • Select Agent link in the list
   • Confirm with ADD

7. Expand the Agent link configuration item and configure the Agent ID:

   • Agent ID: Chirpstack MQTT Agent

8. Click ADD PARAMETER in order to add the MQTT topic configuration.

9. In the Add parameter dialog do the following:

   • Select Subscription Topic
   • Confirm with ADD

10. Edit the Subscription Topic.

    The ChirpStack MQTT topic for sensor values has the following format:

    application/{application id}/device/{deviceEUI}/event/up
    
    application id: see Applications list in the Chirpstack UI
    deviceEUI: 8 byte hexadecimal LoRaWAN device identifier

    Example for the Subscription Topic value:

    application/1/device/a841452101b04161/event/up

11. Click ADD PARAMETER in order to add a json path configuration.

12. In the Add parameter dialog do the following:

• Select Value Filters
• Confirm with ADD

13. Expand the new Value Filters parameter and click ADD ITEM
14. In the Add item dialog do the following:

• Select JSON Path
• Confirm with ADD

15. Expand the new JSON Path item and do the following:

• Path: $.object.TempC_DS (Note: this is an example for the Dragino LHT65 data decoder)
• Return First: enabled

The following json structure shows an example of the Dragino LHT65 MQTT topic value:

{
  "applicationID":"1",
  "applicationName":"dragino-lht65-application",
  "deviceName":"dragino-lht65",
  "deviceProfileName":"lht65-profile",
  "deviceProfileID":"c3eb48d6-eddc-4038-bee9-1d5855d98d90",
  "devEUI":"a841452101b04161",
  "rxInfo":[
      {
        "gatewayID":"3499452178b04155",
        "uplinkID":"a1da5994-04c9-4bb7-ad2d-088c8668d2d1",
        "name":"dragino-lg308",
        "rssi":-55,
        "loRaSNR":9.5,
        "location": {
          "latitude":8.232323023,
          "longitude":7.8383283838,
          "altitude":664}
      }
  ],
  "txInfo": {
    "frequency":868100000,
    "dr":5
  },
  "adr":true,
  "fCnt":2064,
  "fPort":2,
  "data":"y+AG5wFZAQawf/8=",
  "object": {
    "BatV":3.04,
    "Ext_sensor":"Temperature Sensor",
    "Hum_SHT":"34.5",
    "TempC_DS":"17.12",
    "TempC_SHT":"17.67"
  }
}

16. Click SAVE