Initial Setup on Balena cloud

Follow the steps in the exact order as the initial boostrap relies on given env variables to be present.

Create an application for the sender and the receiver: LoraGpsSender, LoraGpsReciever. If you use standalone GPS tags for sending don't need to create an app for the sender.

LoraGpsReciever Setup

At fleet level add env vars

• For the Chirpstack server.

APPLICATION_SERVER__EXTERNAL_API__JWT_SECRET=.... # Choose one
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=... # Choose one
# The chirpstack network server band settings. 
# The default is EU_863_870 so if used in europe can skip this var.
#For all possible options see https://www.chirpstack.io/network-server
NETWORK_SERVER__BAND__NAME =

Fleet configuration (Skip when using Lorix one for receiving)

RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_enable_uart
RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtparam "i2c_arm=on","spi=on","audio=on"
RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtoverlay pi3-disable-bt
RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_core_freq 250 // Seems that uart is more stable with this.
RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_gpu_mem 16mb

Add a device and follow the UI steps.

• Install the balena cli and apply the application compose file.

cd ./receiver
balena push FleetNameReciever # The selected fleet name when creating the fleet.

At fleet level add service variables

replace the ... with the value from the POSTGRES_PASSWORD env variable.

• for the chirpstack-appserver service.

POSTGRESQL__DSN=postgres://chirpstack_as:...@chirpstack-postgresql/chirpstack_as?sslmode=disable

• for the chirpstack-networkserver service.

POSTGRESQL__DSN=postgres://chirpstack_ns:...@chirpstack-postgresql/chirpstack_ns?sslmode=disable

Access the applications:

Enable the option PUBLIC DEVICE URL and click the link next to the option. Chirpstack App Server: http://url:8080
Login: admin admin

SMART connect: https://url:8443/server
Login: smart smart

TracCar: https://url
Login: admin admin

Setup chirpstack app server

• Network-servers/Add

name: local
server: chirpstack-networkserver:8000 # For lorix `localhost:8000`

• Service-profiles/Create

name: gpsTracker
server: gpsTracker
Add gateway meta-data: selected

• Device-profiles/Create

  Join tab settings.

  RX1 delay - 1
  RX2 data-rate - 3
  RX2 channel frequency - 869525000
  Factory-preset frequencies - 868100000, 868300000, 868500000, 867100000, 867300000, 867500000, 867900000
  

  • For Rpi sender (skip when not using the Rpi sender)

    name: rpi
    server: local
    LoRaWAN MAC version: 1.0.3
    LoRaWAN Regional Parameters revision: A
    Join (OTAA / ABP): Device supports OTAA
    

  • For Irnas sender

    name: irnas
    server: local
    LoRaWAN MAC version: 1.0.3
    LoRaWAN Regional Parameters revision: A
    Codec: Custom JavaScript codec functions
        For the decode/encode field -  ask Irnas which ones to use from https://toolset.smartparks.org/
        Also ensure the decoder includes all fields expected by `lora-to-gps` server - hdop,lat,lon,gps_resend,gps_time,time,battery,motion
    
    

• Gateways/Create

name: lorix
description: anything
# for Rpi sender - look for the gateway_ID in the sender's compose file or in the corresponding env variable  if overridden by one.
# for Lorix one - it is the mac address or look at http://lorixOneIP/lora/forwarder or in the config file:` /etc/lora-packet-forwarder/global_conf.json`
id:...
server: main
location: #drag the pin to the current gateway location. This determines when a gps tag is outside a parimeter and when to send Prometheus alerts.

• Applications/Create

name: gpsTracker
description: gpsTracker
profile: gpsTracker
codec:none

• Applications/gpsTracker/Devices/Create

  • Rpi sender (skip when not using the Rpi sender)

    name: rpi
    description: rpi
    EUI: generate random # write it down as it will be used when setting up the Rpi sender
    profile: rpi
    Disable frame-counter validation: selected
    Tags: 
        type    rpi
    
    # The fields belod show only after creating the device.
    Tab KEYS:
        Application key: generate random # write it down as it will be used when setting up the sender
    
    

  • Irnas sender

    name: (the tag ID)
    description: irnas
    EUI: # Take it from https://console.thethingsnetwork.org/
    profile: irnas
    Disable frame-counter validation: selected
    Tags: 
        type    irnas
    
    # The fields belod show only after creating the device.
    # Take all these from https://console.thethingsnetwork.org/
    Device address:
    Network session key:
    Application session key:
    

Setup Lorix to connect to Chirpstack

• Login to lorix using the WEB gui with admin and lorix4u
• Navigate to Lora -> Forwarder -> Select Chirpstack Gateway Bridge
• Edit the Bridge configuration and under the mqtt section add the IP address of the Rpi like server="tcp://192.168.1.188:1883". For now Lorix OS doesn't support mDNS names so need to set a static address for the IP so that it doesn't change between restarts.
• Save and click the Start button. The logs should show no errors which means it is connected to chirpstack

Setup Chirpstack to send the data to other systems(optional).

SMART connect

• Applications/gpsTracker/Integrations/Create

kind: HTTP
headers:
    SMARTserver: https://smart-connect:8443
    SMARTcarea: get it from SMART connect
    SMARTuser: smart
    SMARTpass: smart
    SMARTDesktopFile: # Optional header if you want to create an upload to Smart Desktop. See the section for Smart Desktop setup.
# Or the IP if not on the same machine as the packet forwarder.
Uplink data URL: http://lora-gps-server:8070/smartConnect

Traccar

• Applications/gpsSender/Integrations/http

Payload marshaler: JSON legacy
headers:
    traccarServer: http://traccar:5055
Endpoints: http://lora-gps-server:8070/traccar # Or the IP if not on the same machine as the packet forwarder.

multiple Endpoints are separated by coma:
http://lora-gps-server:8070/smartConnect, http://lora-gps-server:8070/traccar

LoraGpsSender setup

skip when not using the Rpi sender.

At fleet level add env vars

APP_KEY= // the one set in Chirpstack app server
DEV_EUI= // the one set in Chirpstack app server
BAND= // by default is is set to EU868 , other possible values are: AS923, EU868, AU915, US915, IN865, KR920

Fleet configuration

RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_enable_uart
RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtoverlay pi3-miniuart-bt

• Now add a device and follow the UI steps.

• Apply the application compose file.

cd ./sender
balena push FleetNameSender

Traccar setup

Add each tracker as device with its corresponding Device EUI(no empty spaces between the pairs. All lower case).

Smart Desktop setup

If you want to upload data into SMART desktop it needs to be connected to SMART connect and also set the content of the data to be uploaded as a header in the chirpstack HTTP integration setup.

• Install the Smart connect plugins.
• Setup the connection to SMART connect. It requires HTTPS and for this can use the default certificate in https://github.com/arribada/SMARTConnect
• Create an example Patrol and export it. This will be used as a template.
• Take the content of the Patrol file and set it as chirpstack HTTP integration header.

Notes

If traccar fails to start with - Waiting for changelog lock

• stop the container and run the following commands on the device.
• balena volume ls - copy the volume name for traccar to use in the next command.
• balena run -it --rm -v data-volume-name:/opt/traccar/data --entrypoint=/bin/bash traccar/traccar:4.14-ubuntu
• java -cp lib/h2*.jar org.h2.tools.Shell -url "jdbc:h2:/opt/traccar/data/database" -driver org.h2.Driver -user sa
• SELECT * FROM PUBLIC.DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK;
• update PUBLIC.DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK set locked=0 WHERE ID=1;