loradar_tool/Configuration 2 (RAK831)/README.md

LoRadar (Configuration 2)

Hardware used

This configuration setup uses the following hardware:

• Single board computer: Raspberry Pi 3
• LoRa module: RAK831, a gateway accessory from RAK wireless suitable for both 915 MHz and 923 MHz ISM frequency bands was used to capture LoRa packets
• Antenna: A 1/2 wave 860-960 MHz antenna with 2 dBi gain attached to the LoRa module
• Connection bridge: Mini PCI-e to USB adaptor to connect between the Raspberry Pi and mTAC-LORA-915A (https://techship.com/products/mpcie-to-usb-adapter-card/)
• Storage: 32 GB microSD card inserted to the Raspberry Pi for data storage

Software used

• libloragw library: (https://github.com/Lora-net/lora_gateway/tree/master/libloragw) was used for the Raspberry Pi to access the LoRa card and configure radio frequencies
• Packet logger: (https://github.com/Lora-net/lora_gateway/tree/master/util_pkt_logger) This software records all LoRa packets received by the LoRa card and outputs in csv format every hour.

The Raspberry Pi has been configured to initiate the 'Packet logger software' upon powering on and obtaining the correct time via the Internet (A delay of 5 minutes has been placed).

Instructions

1. Download the Raspberry Pi (RPi) image according to the frequency bandplan of interest:

• 915 frequency: https://drive.google.com/file/d/152h2gsr0qCEwhxA85HMopOMlC9T-ab5G/view?usp=sharing
• 923 frequency: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C8UnJD_nmafLdlegIELojVEpTFHHc2O4/view?usp=sharing

2. Flash the image onto an SD card, using balenaEtcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/)
3. Insert the SD card into the RPi and power it on, and the data collection should commence in 5 minutes (It is recommended that you connect the RPi to a wired or wireless network so that the correct time can be obtained)

Information extraction (Requires Internet Connection)

To extract the information, follow the steps below:

1. Download the Config2_LoRadar_Extractor.py python script from above and place it in the Downloads folder of the Raspberry Pi
2. Open a terminal and enter the following commands to install the required libraries:
   sudo apt-get install python3-matplotlib --assume-yes
sudo apt-get install python3-pandas --assume-yes
3. Open the python script with Python 3 (IDLE)
4. Run the module (Requires Internet Connection)
5. Upon successful extraction, a csv file will be created in the same directory as the Config2_LoRadar_Extractor.py python script