FiPy as LoRa gateway + LTE transmitter

[Hazel Mitchell]

Hi all,

I'm developing a LoRaWAN-based sensor network and need a gateway that can receive the LoRa messages from sensor nodes, then transmit the data over 4G. I was going to use one of these: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/rak7243c-pilot-gateway?variant=39945345007814 (RAK7243C) but they're out of stock everywhere.

Would a FiPy be able to do the same thing?

Alternative suggestions also appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Hazel Mitchell]

@jcaron Thanks for the info!

[jcaron]

@Hazel-Mitchell A FiPy alone can only listen on a single LoRa channel at a time, which is not compatible with it being a real standards-compliant LoRaWAN gateway. You can use the "nano-gateway" script from the docs to make it a single-channel gateway, but end devices and/or the network will need to be adjusted to reflect this, otherwise you'll end up with huge packet loss.

If you want a real gateway you'll have to go for the PyGate. However IIRC you can't use a FiPy with that, but you can use a GPy to get the LTE backhaul.

Note that a gateway is power-hungry, so you'll need an external power source (not batteries).