RAK2247-SPI (Pi-Supply) - failed to start concentrator :-(

DeBuffel · June 5, 2021, 3:19pm

I have the following hardware running in order to set up a LoRa Gateway

RAK2247(SPI) (on a lora hat from pi-supply)
RPi 4 (4GB)

Installed the software according GitHub - RAKWireless/rak_common_for_gateway.
Configured the LoRa Gateway thru 192.168.1.90:8080 (Chirpstack). No traffic flowing

Investigated and it seems that the concentrator is not able to be started - see below

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl status ttn-gateway.service
● ttn-gateway.service - The Things Network Gateway
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ttn-gateway.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2021-06-05 16:14:56 BST; 2s ago
Process: 8882 ExecStart=/opt/ttn-gateway/packet_forwarder/lora_pkt_fwd/start.sh (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 8882 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: redefined parameters will overwrite global parameters
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: local_conf.json does not contain a JSON object named SX1301_conf
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: local_conf.json does contain a JSON object named gateway_conf, parsing gateway parameters
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: gateway MAC address is configured to DCA632FFFE817E1C
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: packets received with a valid CRC will be forwarded
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: packets received with a CRC error will NOT be forwarded
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: INFO: packets received with no CRC will NOT be forwarded
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway ttn-gateway[8882]: ERROR: [main] failed to start the concentrator
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway systemd[1]: ttn-gateway.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jun 05 16:14:56 rak-gateway systemd[1]: ttn-gateway.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $

Any idea on how this can be solved?

Thanks
DeBuffel

DeBuffel · June 6, 2021, 8:34am

Below the output I am getting. Seems that many people have experience this / however found no solution to start the concentrator.

$ pi@raspberrypi:/opt/ttn-gateway/packet_forwarder/lora_pkt_fwd $ sudo ./start.sh
*** Beacon Packet Forwarder for Lora Gateway ***
Version: 4.0.1
*** Lora concentrator HAL library version info ***
Version: 5.0.1;
***
INFO: Little endian host
INFO: found global configuration file global_conf.json, parsing it
INFO: global_conf.json does contain a JSON object named SX1301_conf, parsing SX1301 parameters
INFO: lorawan_public 1, clksrc 1
INFO: no configuration for LBT
INFO: antenna_gain 0 dBi
INFO: Configuring TX LUT with 16 indexes
INFO: radio 0 enabled (type SX1257), center frequency 867500000, RSSI offset -158.000000, tx enabled 1, tx_notch_freq 0
INFO: radio 1 enabled (type SX1257), center frequency 868500000, RSSI offset -158.000000, tx enabled 0, tx_notch_freq 0
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 0>  radio 1, IF -400000 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 1>  radio 1, IF -200000 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 2>  radio 1, IF 0 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 3>  radio 0, IF -400000 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 4>  radio 0, IF -200000 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 5>  radio 0, IF 0 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 6>  radio 0, IF 200000 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora multi-SF channel 7>  radio 0, IF 400000 Hz, 125 kHz bw, SF 7 to 12
INFO: Lora std channel> radio 1, IF -200000 Hz, 250000 Hz bw, SF 7
INFO: FSK channel> radio 1, IF 300000 Hz, 125000 Hz bw, 50000 bps datarate
INFO: global_conf.json does contain a JSON object named gateway_conf, parsing gateway parameters
INFO: gateway MAC address is configured to 0000000000000000
INFO: server hostname or IP address is configured to "127.0.0.1"
INFO: upstream port is configured to "1700"
INFO: downstream port is configured to "1700"
INFO: downstream keep-alive interval is configured to 10 seconds
INFO: statistics display interval is configured to 30 seconds
INFO: upstream PUSH_DATA time-out is configured to 100 ms
INFO: packets received with a valid CRC will be forwarded
INFO: packets received with a CRC error will NOT be forwarded
INFO: packets received with no CRC will NOT be forwarded
INFO: Reference latitude is configured to 10.000000 deg
INFO: Reference longitude is configured to 20.000000 deg
INFO: Reference altitude is configured to -1 meters
INFO: fake GPS is enabled
INFO: Auto-quit after 20 non-acknowledged PULL_DATA
INFO: found local configuration file local_conf.json, parsing it
INFO: redefined parameters will overwrite global parameters
INFO: local_conf.json does not contain a JSON object named SX1301_conf
INFO: local_conf.json does contain a JSON object named gateway_conf, parsing gateway parameters
INFO: gateway MAC address is configured to DCA632FFFE817E1C
INFO: packets received with a valid CRC will be forwarded
INFO: packets received with a CRC error will NOT be forwarded
INFO: packets received with no CRC will NOT be forwarded
ERROR: [main] failed to start the concentrator

DeBuffel · June 6, 2021, 2:39pm

Solved it - the lora pi-supply hat uses BCM port 22 to reset the 2247 concentrator (while in the RAK config BCM port 17 is used by default)

Hobo · June 6, 2021, 11:50pm

Hie @DeBuffel ,

sorry for not being able to reply earlier. I am putting this here mostly for posterity in case other users face similar issues. When you have a:
ERROR: [main] failed to start the concentrator
Most of the time it is due to improper reset pin. This applies for all concentrator modules.
Good job finding it on your own, you are one customer that makes us happy

Regards
Vladislav

DeBuffel · June 7, 2021, 8:01am

Hi @Hobo,

Yes step by step we are getting there

After starting the concentrator I see the RX LED is on and I would like to see the packets being received. What is the easiest way to monitor (CLI command) if packets are received on the RAK2247?

Rgds

nmcc · June 7, 2021, 9:26am

The standard system log - Google for Pi related answers

DeBuffel · June 7, 2021, 9:49am

Yes I checked that before. The reason why it could not be found was due to weak power supply
(system booted etc but RAK did not process). With 3A power supply it is good and I see traffic flowing

Thanks guys

system · June 9, 2021, 9:49am

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