RAK10701-P Field Tester unable to receive downlink

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

Hello,

I am trying to get RAK10701 node working on ChirpStack server following this Quickstart.

I ran into few small problems in the guide itself:

1. In the decoder JS which goes into the Codec on Chirpstack side, there is last “]” missing in the end

2. There is alternative decode script on github where “,” is missing in the function parameter (between bytes and variables)

3. While declaring the fields on DataCake, it is also needed to add NUM_GW (integer), otherwise downlink decoder JS not working

4. chirpstack v4 expects decodeUplink now instead of decode, so I have added below part on top of main Decode function

function decodeUplink(input) {
        return { 
            data: Decode(input.fPort, input.bytes, input.variables)
        };   
}

Finally I managed to get the downlink scheduled and sent from DataCake. (Guide says that node expects it to be on fport 2, I have tried the same on port 1 as well)

I can see that payload is correct

However I am not getting anything on the RAK10701 side, no data (f.eg No.of Gateways shows “–”)
I am sure I have followed the guide precisely.

What can be next step of troubleshooting?

thanks
Sergi

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

Welcome back @sergi_jini

Can you see the downlinks in Chirpstack and on the gateway logs?

Thanks for the tip with Chirpstack V4 decoder changes.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

Hello beegee,
Thanks for response.
I do see JSON down in my GW logs:

Feb 17 13:26:15 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[2118]: JSON up: {"rxpk":[{"jver":1,"tmst":3852626973,"chan":7,"rfch":0,"freq":867.900000,"mid": 9,"stat":1,"modu":"LORA","datr":"SF10BW125","codr":"4/5","rssis":-41,"lsnr":13.5,"foff":92,"rssi":-41,"size":23,"data":"gAszUQEAEgABbKfM2GEFGZoV19fUAEo="}]}
Feb 17 13:26:15 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[2118]: INFO: [up] PUSH_ACK received in 77 ms
Feb 17 13:26:15 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[2118]: INFO: [down] PULL_RESP received  - token[150:135] :)
Feb 17 13:26:15 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[2118]: JSON down: {"txpk":{"imme":false,"rfch":0,"powe":14,"ant":0,"brd":0,"tmst":3853626973,"freq":867.9,"modu":"LORA","datr":"SF10BW125","codr":"4/5","ipol":true,"size":12,"data":"YAszUQGgCgAGm3E5"}}

Also, I am not sure the Downlink I see in Chirpstack is the one sent from DataCake.
From DataCake, f.eg one of the parameter is the number of Gateways seen by the node. As show on below snapshot from DataCake - it is 1

But on ChirpStack side downlink messages, I do not see such value. Also Fport is NULL

Uplink

Downlink

Sergi

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

fPort 0 is not the downlink from Datacake. It should be fPort 2, as you have it setup in Datacake:

Is Chirpstack version V4 or V3?
I never tried it on V4, the tutorial was made with Chirpstack V3. I had a lot of problems with Chirpstack V4 with the integrations and gave up on it for now.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

it is ChirpStack V4

On DataCake all seems to be fine, fport = 2

I can test the payload, decoded data makes sense for me.

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

Could be related to Chirpstack V4. V4 has many changes and at first try the integration with Datacake didn’t work at all anymore. I talked with Datacake and they had to make some adjustments to work with Chirpstack V4.

But I never tried the Field Tester with Chirpstack V4.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

I saw your question on ChirpStack forum on this topic from last year. So the problem still remains.
Do you know if there is any alternative to DataCake which I can use with RAK10701?

I had such hopes for this device, as I am using DIY field tester at the moment

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

I wrote the guide for Datacake because I am very familiar with it.

But theoretically it should work with others like Ubidots, or just a simple web server running javascript (or PHP/Python/…) to receive the downlinks, analyze them and create the uplink.

I am good with end-devices, but not with server applications, so I cannot help you with creating it.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

I suspect that problem might be in CS API side. From V4, chirpstack-rest-api should be installed separately, before it was installed by default. So now I simply do not have it, nothing is listening to the downlink. I will be checking again once I configure the CS API. Hope that is the only reason

[crmrosa (claudio roberto machado da rosa)]

I have the same problem

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

Ok I decided to go different way, since DataCake support is not responding. I am going to listen to MQTT and then enqueue downlink myself once the EUID of my RAK tester is mached.

f.eg below python script (example taken from ChirpStack documentation), will send downlink to the given EUID

import os
import sys
import grpc
from chirpstack_api import api
# Configuration.
# This must point to the API interface.
server = "[Chirpstack server IP]:8080"
# The DevEUI for which you want to enqueue the downlink.
dev_eui = "[RAK EUID]"
# The API token (retrieved using the web-interface).
api_token = "[API from Chirpstack]"
if __name__ == "__main__":
  # Connect without using TLS.
  channel = grpc.insecure_channel(server)
  # Device-queue API client.
  client = api.DeviceServiceStub(channel)
  # Define the API key meta-data.
  auth_token = [("authorization", "Bearer %s" % api_token)]
  # Construct request.
  req = api.EnqueueDeviceQueueItemRequest()
  req.queue_item.confirmed = False
  req.queue_item.data = bytes([0x01, 0x9A, 0x9E, 0x01, 0x01, 0x0F])
  req.queue_item.dev_eui = dev_eui
  req.queue_item.f_port = 2
  resp = client.Enqueue(req, metadata=auth_token)
  # Print the downlink id
  print(resp.id)

Here is how bytes([0x01, 0x9A, 0x9E, 0x01, 0x01, 0x0F]) payload looks like on the end node - so the downlink problem is solved.

Next, I have another piece of python code (will share later), to subscribe to the MQTT topic and listen to the uplinks.
Main challenge will be to port the Javascript decode scripts into python and merge all in one. This final py script will be running on the same chirpstack server as a service, so I will get rid of the 3rd party dependency.

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

Hello @sergi_jini

If you get it working with your solution, please share it here. It looks like a good alternative to Datacake.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

That will take some time, but surely - if I succeed, will share it here as well.

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

@sergi_jini

I found a bug in the FieldTester payload decoder. It always returned min and max distance as 250m.
I pushed the update to our Github repo

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

Thanks. I did not try yet on real payload, so I will not be able to validate, but will keep fw updated

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

Evening Bernd

My current version is 3.4.11
I tried uploading the zip from the GitHub but getting below error

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

I am confused.
The link in your message goes to the Payload Decoder and has nothing to do with the firmware. The bug with the distances was not in the firmware but in the Payload Decoder used in Datacake.

DON’T INSTALL A STANDARD AT COMMAND FIRMWARE ON THE RAK10701. YOU WILL LOOSE ALL FUNCTIONALITY OF THE DEVICE.

The RAK10701 is not listed in WisToolBox yet. It will be added in the future.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

That’s bad news, I was not aware of it. I already did it as wistoolbox suggested that there is one fw update available. Now device is not starting up at all, however I can still access it via wistoolbox.

Can you share the stable working firmware so I can flash it again?

[beegee (Bernd Giesecke)]

Flash the RAK10701_H_Latest_Firmware.zip from the Download Center

There is a beta version as well, but I am not sure if it is advisable to use it already.

[sergi_jini (Sergi)]

It worked. Device is back online now. Thanks a lot