How to use AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN public network support

To use Everynet's public network support, you enable certain roaming parameters when creating the service profile. In this beta release, these parameters are available when you use the AWS IoT Wireless API, or the AWS CLI. The following sections show the parameters you must enable, and how to enable public network using the AWS CLI.

Note

You can enable public network support only when creating a new service profile. You can't update an existing profile to enable public network using these parameters.

Roaming parameters

Specify the following parameters when creating a service profile for your device. Specify these parameters when adding a service profile from the Profiles hub of the AWS IoT console, or using the AWS IoT Wireless API operation, CreateServiceProfile, or the AWS CLI command, create-service-profile.

Note

AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN does not support handover roaming. When creating the service profile, you can't enable the HrAllowed parameter that specifies whether to use handover roaming.

• Roaming activation allowed (RaAllowed): This parameter specifies whether to enable roaming activation. Roaming activation enables an end device to activate under the coverage of a vNS. When using the roaming feature, RaAllowed must be set to true.

• Passive roaming allowed (PrAllowed): This parameter specifies whether to enable passive roaming. When using the roaming feature, PrAllowed must be set to true.

Enable public network support for devices

To enable public LoRaWAN network support on your devices, run the following procedure.

Note

You can enable the public network capability only for OTAA devices. This feature is not supported for devices that use ABP as the activation method.

1. Create service profile with roaming parameters

   Create a service profile by enabling the roaming parameters.

   Note

   When you create a device profile for the device that you'll associate with this service profile, we recommend that you specify a large value for the RxDelay1 parameter, at least greater than 2s.

   • Using the AWS IoT console

     Go to the Profiles hub of the AWS IoT console and choose Add service profile. When creating the profile, choose Enable public network.

   • Using the AWS IoT Wireless API

     To enable roaming when creating a service profile, use the CreateServiceProfile API operation or the create-service-profile CLI command, as shown in example below.

     aws iotwireless create-service-profile \ 
         --region us-east-1 \
         --name roamingprofile1 \ 
         --lorawan '{"AddGwMetadata":true,"PrAllowed":true,"RaAllowed":true}'

     Running this command returns the ARN and ID of the service profile as output.

     {
         "Arn": "arn:aws:iotwireless:us-east-1:123456789012:ServiceProfile/12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d",
         "Id": "12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d"
     }

2. Check roaming parameters in service profile

   To check the roaming parameters that you specified, you can view the service profile in the console, or using the get-service-profile CLI command, as shown in example below.

   • Using the AWS IoT console

     Go to the Profiles hub of the AWS IoT console and choose the profile that you created. In the Profile configuration tab of the details page, you'll see RaAllowed and PrAllowed set to true.

   • Using the AWS IoT Wireless API

     To view the roaming parameters that you enabled, use the GetServiceProfile API operation or the get-service-profile CLI command, as shown in example below.

     aws iotwireless get-service-profile \ 
         --region us-east-1 \ 
         --id 12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d

     Running this command returns the service profile details as output, including the values for roaming parameters, RaAllowed and PrAllowed.

     {
         "Arn": "arn:aws:iotwireless:us-east-1:123456789012:ServiceProfile/12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d",
         "Id": "12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d",
         "Name": "roamingprofile1"
         "LoRaWAN": {
             "UlRate": 60,
             "UlBucketSize": 4096,
             "DlRate": 60,
             "DlBucketSize": 4096,
             "AddGwMetadata": true,
             "DevStatusReqFreq": 24,
             "ReportDevStatusBattery": false,
             "ReportDevStatusMargin": false,
             "DrMin": 0,
             "DrMax": 15,
             "PrAllowed": true,
             "RaAllowed": true,
             "NwkGeoLoc": false,
             "TargetPer": 5,
             "MinGwDiversity": 1
         }
     }

3. Attach service profile to devices

   Attach the service profile that you created with the roaming parameters to your end devices. You can also create a device profile and add a destination for your wireless devices. You'll use this destination to route uplink messages that are sent from your device. For more information about creating device profiles and a destination, see Add device profiles and Add destinations to AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN.

   • Onboarding new devices

     If you haven't already onboarded your devices, you specify this service profile to be used when adding your device to AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN. The following command shows how you can use the create-wireless-device CLI command to add a device using the ID of the service profile that you created. For information about adding the service profile using the console, see Add your wireless device specification to AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN using the console.

     aws iotwireless create-wireless-device --cli-input-json file://createdevice.json

     The following shows the contents of the file createdevice.json.

     Contents of createdevice.json

     {
         "Name": "DeviceA",  
         "Type": LoRaWAN,
         "DestinationName": "RoamingDestination1",
         "LoRaWAN": {
             "DeviceProfileId": "ab0c23d3-b001-45ef-6a01-2bc3de4f5333",
             "ServiceProfileId": "12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d",
             "OtaaV1_1": {
                 "AppKey": "3f4ca100e2fc675ea123f4eb12c4a012",
                 "JoinEui": "b4c231a359bc2e3d",
                 "NwkKey": "01c3f004a2d6efffe32c4eda14bcd2b4"
             },
             "DevEui": "ac12efc654d23fc2"
         },
     }

     The output of running this command produces the ARN and ID of the wireless device as output.

     {
         "Arn": "arn:aws:iotwireless:us-east-1:123456789012:WirelessDevice/1ffd32c8-8130-4194-96df-622f072a315f",
         "Id": "1ffd32c8-8130-4194-96df-622f072a315f"
     }

   • Updating existing devices

     If you have already onboarded your devices, you can update your existing wireless devices to use this service profile. The following command shows how you can use the update-wireless-device CLI command to update a device using the ID of the service profile that you created.

     aws iotwireless update-wireless-device \
         --id "1ffd32c8-8130-4194-96df-622f072a315f" \
         --service-profile-id "12345678-a1b2-3c45-67d8-e90fa1b2c34d" \ 
         --description "Using roaming service profile A"

     This command doesn't produce any output. You can use the GetWirelessDevice API or the get-wireless-device CLI command to get the updated information.

4. Connect device to cloud using Everynet

   As roaming has been enabled, your device must now perform a join to obtain a new DevAddr. If you're using OTAA, your LoRaWAN device sends a join request and the Network Server can allow the request. It can then connect to the AWS Cloud using the network coverage provided by Everynet. For instructions on how to perform the activation procedure or join for your device, see the device documentation.

   Note

   • You can enable the roaming capability and connect to the public network only for devices that use OTAA as the activation method. ABP devices aren't supported. For instructions on how to perform the activation procedure or join for your device, see the device documentation. See Activation modes.

   • To disable the roaming capability for your devices, you can disassociate the devices from this service profile, and then associate them with another service profile that has the roaming parameters set to false. After switching to this service profile, your devices must perform another join so that they don't continue running on the public network.

5. Exchange uplink and downlink messages

   After your device has joined to AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN, you can start exchanging messages between your device and the Cloud.

   • View uplink messages

     When you send uplink messages from your devices, AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN delivers these messages to your AWS account using the destination that you configured earlier. These messages will be sent from your device to the Cloud over Everynet's network.

     You can use either view the messages using the AWS IoT rule name or use the MQTT client to subscribe to the MQTT topic that was specified when creating the destination. For more information about the rule name and other destination details that you specify, see Add a destination using the console.

     For more information about viewing uplink message and the format, see View format of uplink messages sent from LoRaWAN devices.

   • Send downlink messages

     You can queue and send downlink messages to your devices from the console, or by using the AWS IoT Wireless API command, SendDataToWirelessDevice, or the AWS CLI command, send-data-to-wireless-device. For information about queuing and sending downlink messages, see Queue downlink messages to send to LoRaWAN devices.

     The following code shows an example of how you can send a downlink message using the send-data-to-wireless-device CLI command. You specify the ID of the wireless device to receive the data, the payload, whether to use the acknowledge mode, and the wireless metadata.

     aws iotwireless send-data-to-wireless-device \
         --id "1ffd32c8-8130-4194-96df-622f072a315f" \
         --transmit-mode "1" \
         --payload-data "SGVsbG8gVG8gRGV2c2lt" \
         --wireless-metadata LoRaWAN={FPort=1}

     The output of running this command generates a MessageId for the downlink message.

     Note

     In some cases, even if you receive the MessageId, packets can get dropped. For information about troubleshooting such scenarios and resolving them, see Troubleshoot downlink message queue errors.

     {
         MessageId: "6011dd36-0043d6eb-0072-0008"
     }

View coverage information

After you've enabled the public network, you can view the network coverage information in the AWS IoT console. Go to the Coverage hub of the AWS IoT console and then search for locations to see the coverage information of your devices on the map.

Note

This feature uses the Amazon Location Service to display the coverage information of your devices on an Amazon Location map. Before using Amazon Location maps, review the Terms and Conditions for Amazon Location Service. Note that AWS may transmit your API queries to your chosen third party data provider, which may be outside of the AWS Region that you are currently using. For more information, see AWS Service Terms.