RAK11300 - Not Responding To Join Accept from Gateway

WisBlock
#1

Hi All,

Playing around with LoRa for the first time.

Intent:
Send data via LoRa from wiseBLOCK to a private chirpstack network server.

End device:
RAK11300 module (with LoRa antenna connected) on wiseblock.
SW Version: 1.0.0

Gateway:
RAK7246 WisGate Developer D0
SW Version:
Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1, OS “10 (buster)”, 4.19.75+.
RAKWireless gateway RAK7246 version 4.2
Configured using the RAK7246G Quick Start Guide with the sever plan as “Other” as chirpstack wasn’t an option.

Server:
Raspberry pi 3, configured with the below guide

  • chirpstack-gateway-bridge
  • chirpstack-network-server
  • chirpstack-application-server

Where I am at:
I have the gateway connected to chirpstack, displaying as “Active”
I have created a device successfully in chirpstack and configured the RAK11300 via AT commands as per the RAK11300 Module Quick Start Guide.
When I initiate joining I can see the JoinRequest being sent from the device to the gateway, and I can see the JoinAccept being sent from the gateway to the end device. The activation tab populates with OTAA generated data, and appears successful. However, after attempting to join the end device displays “AT+JOIN=FAIL” and the OTAA values are not reflected in the end device when the “AT=STATUS=?” command is used.

What am I doing wrong? It appears the gateway is acknowledging the request and provisioning the device OTAA keys, but the device isn’t receiving it?!

Thank you all,

JaiB

#2

Welcome to RAK forum and to the world of LoRa/LoRaWAN @JaiB .

It seems you know what components to setup (device, gateway and network server). One critical aspect you didn’t mention is the regional band.

LoRaWAN uses unlicensed subghz frequencies and rules on utilizing these frequencies per region is different. That’s why in Europe, we have EU868 or EU433. Then in US, US915.

Your end-device, gateway and LNS should have the same regional band. Else, they will not be able to communicate to each other.

#3

Hi carlowan,

Thanks for the reply, I am using the AU915 band and have confirmed those settings as far as I am aware they look OK

I am receiving this error in the events:

  • code:“UPLINK_MIC”
  • description:“MIC of join-request is invalid, make sure keys are correct”

Specifies the error code associated with the issue. “UPLINK_MIC” suggests a problem with the Message Integrity Code during an uplink transmission.

Upon inspection of the lora packets I can see the Gateway is attempting to transmit on a frequency outside the sub band I have configured on the network server.

Is there a configuration file on the RAK7246 WisGate Developer D0 that needs to be changed to point to a sub band within the AU915 region?

#4

Hi all,

For anyone who wants a solution to this…

I moved the Arduino IDE to configure the RAK11300 module, and attempted to use the OTAA example.

I received the below output:

Welcome to RAK11300 LoRaWan!!!

Type: OTAA

Region: AU915

=====================================

OTAA Mode, Network Joined!

Sending frame now…

Same issue as before.

I then used the example code on a RAK4630 board and it worked immediately. My assumption is that there must be something wrong with the RAK11300 for the AU region, or I have a faulty board?
Welcome to RAK4630 LoRaWan!!!

Type: OTAA

Region: AU915

=====================================

OTAA Mode, Network Joined!

Sending frame now…

lmh_send ok count 1

Anyway, I won’t be using the RAK11300 in the future.

Cheers,
JaiB

#5

Can you try the example code from our WisBlock repo LoRaWAN_OTAA_ABP

The example that is within the BSP has some problems that are fixed in the WisBlock repo.

#6

Hi @JaiB ,

As beegee said, there was issue on RAK11300 specifically on the serial.print inside the periodic uplink handler. That’s the reason why you see that the serial output just stops there.

On the github repo example, the serialprint was moved in the main loop() function that’s why it is working. I tested this and uplinks of my RAK11300 are doing fine running at AU915 frequency band.

image
image1280×858 65.4 KB