LoPy4 lora nanogateway example not working

[davorin]

Good afternoon (o;

Found my old LoPy4 board and gave it a shot to test the TTN network with the lora nano gateway example from here:

https://docs.pycom.io/tutorials/networks/lora/lorawan-nano-gateway/

So installed vscode and pymakr plugin and flashed the LoPy4 board to latest 1.20.3.b0..
as this is the only version where I get a WiFi connect message...

But it throws then an error message and the Lopy4 isn't pingable

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x16 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fff0028,len:8
load:0x3fff0030,len:1992
load:0x40078000,len:12104
load:0x40080400,len:5032
entry 0x4008060c
WiFi connected!
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "main.py", line 19, in <module>
  File "nanogateway.py", line 88, in start
OSError: [Errno 202] EAI_FAIL
Pycom MicroPython 1.20.3.b0 [v1.11-db33be7] on 2020-07-01; LoPy4 with ESP32

With 1.20.2.r4 I get the same EAI_FAIL error but after few minutes it responds to pings in second intervals:

entry 0x400a05bc
WiFi connected!
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "main.py", line 19, in <module>
  File "nanogateway.py", line 88, in start
OSError: [Errno 202] EAI_FAIL
Pycom MicroPython 1.20.2.r4 [v1.11-ffb0e1c] on 2021-01-12; LoPy4 with ESP32

Is there any pybytes firmware or any nano gateway example that actually works?

Well if not I just throw away the boards...

cheers
richard

[robert-hh]

@davorin The version is slightly different, as it contains a few bug fixes. And there is no pybytes in it. Waiting for ntp.org sometimes happens.

[davorin]

@robert-hh
Hello Robert

Is this the same as the official 1.20.2.r4 I already flashed?

Hmm...just hangs there:

rst:0x7 (TG0WDT_SYS_RESET),boot:0x16 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fff8020,len:8
load:0x3fff8028,len:2128
load:0x4009fa00,len:19760
entry 0x400a05bc
[     3.004] Starting LoRaWAN nano gateway with id: 30aea4fffe74c1b8
[     4.568] WiFi connected to: TammiSiech
[     4.577] Syncing time with pool.ntp.org ...

Had to remove your pycom.pybytes_on_boot(False) as it isn't known...

AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'pybytes_on_boot'

Went back to official 1.20.2.r4 and wiped FatFS....didn't hang so far...
but also don't see it connected to TTN at all....

thanks in advance
richard

[robert-hh]

@davorin Don't blame the board. It works well for me at least.
But as Lora gateway these are not well suited, simply because they support only a single channel.
Thank you for providing the core dump. It helps to trace software errors. May I ask you to try this firmware package: https://github.com/robert-hh/Shared-Stuff/blob/master/LoPy4-1.20.2.r4.tar.gz
I have the elf file for these, which allow me to locate the error.

Edit: This firmware uses LFS2.3, which is not backward compatible. So you have to reload all files. Anyhow, to have a clean start, it's better to do a full erase of the board before a new test.

[davorin]

@robert-hh said in LoPy4 lora nanogateway example not working:

import pycom
pycom.pybytes_on_boot(False)

Hello Robert

Ah this helped now...but getting a panic after it connects...hough don't see anyhting on the ttn console:

entry 0x400a05bc
[     3.082] Starting LoRaWAN nano gateway with id: 30aea4fffe74c1b8
[     4.596] WiFi connected to: TammiSiech
[     4.605] Syncing time with pool.ntp.org ...
[2932692.528] RTC NTP sync complete
[2932693.481] Opening UDP socket to eu.thethings.network (52.169.76.255) port 1700...
[2932693.481] Setting up the LoRa radio at 868.1 Mhz using SF7BW125
[2932693.481] LoRaWAN nano gateway online
[2932693.481] You may now press ENTER to enter the REPL

Pycom MicroPython 1.20.2.r4 [v1.11-ffb0e1c] on 2021-01-12; LoPy4 with ESP32
Type "help()" for more information.
>>> Guru Meditation Error: Core  1 panic'ed (LoadProhibited). Exception was unhandled.
Core 1 register dump:
PC      : 0x4010a8bb  PS      : 0x00060630  A0      : 0x800e0ff8  A1      : 0x3ffd91d0  
A2      : 0x00000001  A3      : 0x00000001  A4      : 0x00000000  A5      : 0x00000001  
A6      : 0x00000000  A7      : 0x00060023  A8      : 0x80109706  A9      : 0x3ffe73e0  
A10     : 0x00000001  A11     : 0x00000001  A12     : 0x3f94f190  A13     : 0x3f94f190  
A14     : 0x3ffe7570  A15     : 0x3ffe74d0  SAR     : 0x00000018  EXCCAUSE: 0x0000001c  
EXCVADDR: 0x00000001  LBEG    : 0x40094230  LEND    : 0x4009425e  LCOUNT  : 0xffffffff  

ELF file SHA256: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Backtrace: 0x4010a8bb:0x3ffd91d0 0x400e0ff5:0x3ffd91f0 0x400e1066:0x3ffd9210 0x400e1585:0x3ffd9240 0x400e17f7:0x3ffd9260 0x400e0199:0x3ffd92a0

Seems highly unreliable this LoPy board....

So into the trash can those boards and get a real LoRa gateway...

[robert-hh]

@davorin Use 1.20.2.r4 and disable pybytes.

import pycom
pycom.pybytes_on_boot(False)

The nanogateway software itself works. Take it from the github pages: https://github.com/pycom/pycom-libraries/blob/master/examples/lorawan-nano-gateway/nanogateway.py, not from the doc pages.
I have it running here on a Lopy as a test, and as long as I do not reboot it manually, it runs. Once every few weeks I have to reboot it manually, when the local AP of my home network stalled and the LoPy does not reconnect by itself.
You have to be aware that this is a single channel gateway. if you want to use it, your node have to be tuned to that single channel.