RN2903 can't join private network

[Felix Galindo]

I am trying to get an RN2903 radio to join my conduit’s private lora network via OTTA. My conduit is set to use sub-band 7 so I only enabled channels 48-55 & 70 on the RN2903 while setting the other channels to off.

I sent the following commmands to the RN2903:
mac set appeui 4ce0ddf054fccd2a
mac set appkey bd32aab41c54175e9060d86f3a8b7f49
mac set sync 12 (conduit uses 12 for sync word in private)
mac save
mac join otaa
(I get denied)

The gateway receives the join request and actually sends back a join accepted message back to the device. I am guessing the RN2903 never receives the join accepted message because it gives a “denied” message on the serial port.

If I set the gateway to PUBLIC, it works fine. I am guessing PRIVATE doesnt work because of some mismatched settings such as rx window/receiving freq on the RN2903 (Reference: http://www.multitech.net/developer/software/lora/introduction-to-lora/).

Has anyone encountered this issue?

[Jason Reiss]

The public mode is compatible with 3rd party devices. The private mode differs in downlinks frequency and join delay.

Introduction to LoRa

[Felix Galindo]

Can the settings on the conduit or the rn2903 be configured so that the downlink freq and join delays match without changing the network to public? I need the functionality of a private network.

[Jason Reiss]

Run the network server in private mode.

Then copy /var/run/lora/1/global_conf.json to /var/config/lora/ directory.

Then modify /etc/init.d/lora-network-server to start basic_pkt_fwd process with /var/config/lora directory

Run the server in public mode to get matching downlinking and frequencies.

The packet forwarder will keep the 0x12 sync word.

[Felix Galindo]

Ok I will try that Jason thanks. Will this still allow the gateway to operate in a similar way as the private mode, meaning the network server will run on the gateway and a cloud service is not needed?

Also can you give me a few more details on how to do this step.:

“Then modify /etc/init.d/lora-network-server to start basic_pkt_fwd process with /var/config/lora directory”

What needs to be changed in the “lora-network-server” file?

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Felix Galindo.

[Jason Reiss]

The public mode is a compatibility mode. The network server is running on the conduit in either case. If you don’t care about the sync word just running the default files in public mode. Nothing will be sent over the internet with default software on mLinux.

[Felix Galindo]

So the functionality will remain the same if I switch to public? What are differences between private and public mode in terms of functionality?

[Jason Reiss]

See the intro to lora link for details

[Felix Galindo]

I read it. Still a little confused by this “In MultiTech’s private LoRaWAN network, the MultiConnect Conduit (with LoRa mCard) functions as both the gateway and the central network server. ”

From this link, it seems the gateway only acts like a central network server in private mode. This differs from what you told me where the server still runs in public mode.

[Jason Reiss]

Using the network server on conduit it is always a private network.
That private network has two modes “private” and “public”. “private” can be used with mDots, “public” is available for compatibility with 3rd party motes.

For a true Public network you would only use the packet forwarder to send lora packet to a cloud server.

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