Feature Request: Code that works for testing 2x Lora Vision Shields

[hpssjellis]

@akash73

I am having troubles getting my 3 Lora Vision Shields working in North America.
Any code or suggestions would be appreciated but I think my biggest issue is my gateways are not stable. (I will probably drive the 40 km and do some testing where there are more gateways).

The other issue seems to be just less North American testing.

It would be really good if we could do some point-to-point testing with the Vision Shields. The https://github.com/sandeepmistry/arduino-LoRa library looks promising but I can't even get the MRKWAN DumbModemLoraSender program working. (Looks like it is directly from the sandeemistry library.)

Any suggestions for connecting the Semtech module up correctly? I might eventually be able to access all 160 pins on the PortentaH7 so direct connections might be a possibility in the near future. I just need to know more information about what needs to be connected.

I have posted a similar issue with the sandeepmistry LoRa Library

[facchinm]

Hi Jeremy,
the "dumb" mode only works for SAMD boards (MKRWAN13x0) since they share SPI and UART pins. One way to bypass the issue is by using this core https://github.com/GrumpyOldPizza/ArduinoCore-stm32l0 and this patch GrumpyOldPizza/ArduinoCore-stm32l0#57 to directly write the Murata module firmware. When doing so the SAMD (or STM32 in the Portenta) can communicate with the module using the standard serial port and you can avoid the LoraWAN stack and talk directly with the radio.

In the meantime, I'm setting up a new API to allow manually changing the channel mask, overriding the default configuration (arduino/mkrwan1300-fw@9479bb9). This would allow sending messages via single channel "gateways" (like ESP32 with LoRa radio)

Hope it helps!

[hpssjellis]

Thank you so much @facchinm for looking into this. I have got my LoRanWan Vision Shield connecting in North America on the https://explorer.helium.com/coverage network. I contacted their devs who have purchased the board with a portenta and will try to add Helium support in their arduino LongFi library.

For point-to-point LoRa I am not really sure how to use https://github.com/GrumpyOldPizza/ArduinoCore-stm32l0 with the patch but the LoRa ping/pong example looks exactly what I want. Not really sure what board would work. See Image below.

I will probably wait for you to have something from Arduino that I can test.

[giulcioffi]

Hi @hpssjellis, PR #90 adds new APIs to enable/disable channels. Could you please try them and give us some feedback? Thanks!

[hpssjellis]

@giulcioffi . I would really like to help test these. Controlling the channel mask should be helpful. Do you have any links to example programs I can try? I really appreciate you working on this.

.

I made a quick attempt to print information but had no luck. Does the channel information need a live connection, I don't think so? Notice I had no printout from getChannelMask.

[giulcioffi]

Sorry, the firmware binary was not updated...I just pushed a new commit in PR #90 with the updated firmware. Please upload the example MKRWANFWUpdater_standalone with the new binary to update the firmware.
Then, to test the new APIs, an example sketch could be the following. Remember to call modem.begin() with your region, before everything else.

#include <MKRWAN.h>

LoRaModem modem;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  while (!Serial);
  
  if (!modem.begin(EU868)) {
    Serial.println("Failed to start module");
    while (1) {}
  };

  Serial.println("getChannelMask: " + String(modem.getChannelMask()));

  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(0): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(0)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(1): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(1)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(2): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(2)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(3): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(3)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(4): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(4)));

  modem.disableChannel(1);
  modem.enableChannel(4);

  Serial.println("get new ChannelMask: " + String(modem.getChannelMask()));
}

void loop() {

}

[hpssjellis]

@giulcioffi that worked better. Using this code

#include <MKRWAN.h>

LoRaModem modem;

void myPrintMask(){
 
  Serial.println("Your module version is: " + String(modem.version()) );
  Serial.println("getDataRate: " + String(modem.getDataRate()) );
  Serial.println("getADR: " + String(modem.getADR()) );
  Serial.println("getRX2Freq: " + String(modem.getRX2Freq()) );
  Serial.println("getRX2DR(): " + String(modem.getRX2DR()) );
   
  Serial.println("getDevAddr: " + String(modem.getDevAddr()) );
  Serial.println("getNwkSKey: " + String(modem.getNwkSKey()) );
  Serial.println("getAppSKey: " + String(modem.getAppSKey()) );
  Serial.println("getFCU: " + String(modem.getFCU()) );
  Serial.println("getFCD: " + String(modem.getFCD()) );
  Serial.println("getChannelMask: " + String(modem.getChannelMask()));
  
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(0): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(0)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(1): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(1)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(2): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(2)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(3): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(3)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(4): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(4)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(5): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(5)));
  Serial.println("isChannelEnabled(6): " + String(modem.isChannelEnabled(6)));
  Serial.println("-------------------------------");
}

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  while (!Serial);
  
  if (!modem.begin(US915)) {
    Serial.println("Failed to start module");
    while (1) {}
  };

  Serial.println("For modem.begin(US915)");

  Serial.println("Now Showing default Channels ");
  myPrintMask();

  Serial.println("Now Disabling all channels and enable channel 2 ");
  modem.disableChannel(0);
  modem.disableChannel(1);
  modem.enableChannel(2);
  modem.disableChannel(3);
  modem.disableChannel(4);
  modem.disableChannel(5);
  modem.disableChannel(6);
  myPrintMask(); 

  
  Serial.println("Now enable all channels except 2");
  modem.enableChannel(0); 
  modem.enableChannel(1); 
  modem.disableChannel(2); 
  modem.enableChannel(3); 
  modem.enableChannel(4); 
  modem.enableChannel(5); 
  modem.enableChannel(6); 
  myPrintMask(); 

}

void loop() {

}

I got these results

For modem.begin(US915)
Now Showing default Channels 
Your module version is: ARD-078 1.2.3
getDataRate: 0
getADR: 1
getRX2Freq: 923300000
getRX2DR(): 8
getDevAddr: 00000000
getNwkSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getAppSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getFCU: 0
getFCD: 0
getChannelMask: ffffffffffffffff00ff0000
isChannelEnabled(0): 1
isChannelEnabled(1): 1
isChannelEnabled(2): 1
isChannelEnabled(3): 1
isChannelEnabled(4): 1
isChannelEnabled(5): 1
isChannelEnabled(6): 1
-------------------------------
Now Disabling all channels and enable channel 2 
Your module version is: ARD-078 1.2.3
getDataRate: 0
getADR: 1
getRX2Freq: 923300000
getRX2DR(): 8
getDevAddr: 00000000
getNwkSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getAppSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getFCU: 0
getFCD: 0
getChannelMask: ff84ffffffffffff00ff0000
isChannelEnabled(0): 0
isChannelEnabled(1): 0
isChannelEnabled(2): 1
isChannelEnabled(3): 0
isChannelEnabled(4): 0
isChannelEnabled(5): 0
isChannelEnabled(6): 0
-------------------------------
Now enable all channels except 2
Your module version is: ARD-078 1.2.3 ARD-078
getDataRate: 1
getADR: 0
getRX2Freq: 1
getRX2DR(): 923300000
getDevAddr: 8
getNwkSKey: 00000000
getAppSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getFCU: 0
getFCD: 0
getChannelMask: 0
isChannelEnabled(0): 1
isChannelEnabled(1): 1
isChannelEnabled(2): 0
isChannelEnabled(3): 1
isChannelEnabled(4): 1
isChannelEnabled(5): 1
isChannelEnabled(6): 1
-------------------------------

Possibly the default channelmask should be saved as it looks like it gets lost if you disable all the channels.

P.S. How would code look to use only one channel to allow 2 Portenta's with the Lora Vision Shield to communicate?

[giulcioffi]

Hi @hpssjellis, thank you for pointing out this failure on Portenta. getChannelMask() was sometimes failing during the series of channel enabling/disabling operations...I now pushed a commit that should fix this issue.
About the communication between 2 Portenta with the Lora Vision Shield, this will need some additional development since you will need to move from LoraWAN to Lora protocol. You can do this by using a single-channel gateway and the provided APIs.

[hpssjellis]

@giulcioffi That is great. I thought it didn't work but then I ran the updater and my code worked great. Here is the new output.

For modem.begin(US915)
Now Showing default Channels 
Your module version is: ARD-078 1.2.3
getDataRate: 0
getADR: 1
getRX2Freq: 923300000
getRX2DR(): 8
getDevAddr: 00000000
getNwkSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getAppSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getFCU: 0
getFCD: 0
getChannelMask: ffffffffffffffff00ff0000
isChannelEnabled(0): 1
isChannelEnabled(1): 1
isChannelEnabled(2): 1
isChannelEnabled(3): 1
isChannelEnabled(4): 1
isChannelEnabled(5): 1
isChannelEnabled(6): 1
-------------------------------
Now Disabling all channels and enable channel 2 
Your module version is: ARD-078 1.2.3
getDataRate: 0
getADR: 1
getRX2Freq: 923300000
getRX2DR(): 8
getDevAddr: 00000000
getNwkSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getAppSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getFCU: 0
getFCD: 0
getChannelMask: ff84ffffffffffff00ff0000
isChannelEnabled(0): 0
isChannelEnabled(1): 0
isChannelEnabled(2): 1
isChannelEnabled(3): 0
isChannelEnabled(4): 0
isChannelEnabled(5): 0
isChannelEnabled(6): 0
-------------------------------
Now enable all channels except 2
Your module version is: ARD-078 1.2.3
getDataRate: 0
getADR: 1
getRX2Freq: 923300000
getRX2DR(): 8
getDevAddr: 00000000
getNwkSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getAppSKey: 00000000000000000000000000000000
getFCU: 0
getFCD: 0
getChannelMask: fffbffffffffffff00ff0000
isChannelEnabled(0): 1
isChannelEnabled(1): 1
isChannelEnabled(2): 0
isChannelEnabled(3): 1
isChannelEnabled(4): 1
isChannelEnabled(5): 1
isChannelEnabled(6): 1
-------------------------------

If you can think of some code to test point to point that would be really useful. I will be testing my own ideas based on sandeepmistrys lora, but using your channel masks

[facchinm]

@hpssjellis unfortunately the mask is not enough for point to point communication; you can use it to talk with a low cost, single channel gateway (eg. an ESP32 with Semtech radio) that will transparenly forward the data to the cloud.
LoraWAN encryption schemes are compulsory, so the "gateway" board will just receive garbage.
Moreover, the gateway must be able to communicate directly to the radio chip, so we are back to square one (no way to do it using Portenta HW).
The only way to exploit P2P is by writing a very custom firmware for the Murata module, taking this as a starting point.

[hpssjellis]

Just checking, @facchinm and @giulcioffi . The Portenta vision shield LoRa hardware limitations, are they simplified with the Breakout board, which does give access to some of the lora chip pins?

Also if I am stuck with Murata chip programming, I would give it a try, I just need a few examples to get started.

[facchinm]

So, I just tested a possible procedure and I think it could work for you 🙂

1. download this core https://github.com/facchinm/ArduinoCore-stm32l0/tree/vision_shield (vision_shield branch) in your sketchbook/hardware folder (eg. with cd $sketchbook/hardware/mycores && git clone https://github.com/facchinm/ArduinoCore-stm32l0 -b vision_shield)
2. Upload the attached sketch to your Portenta PortentaLoRaBridge-210323a.zip
3. Select "Arduino Portenta Vision Shield" from "Tlera Corp STM32L0 Boards" board entry
4. Upload any sketch after selecting the Portenta serial (this won't overwrite the sketch running on Portenta)
5. I used LoRa_Callbacks example from inside the core and it works great, ping-ponging data between two boards.

Let me know if you need any help!

[hpssjellis]

@facchinm Martino, I really like where this is going.

I have an error running on windows. (I installed the Tlera board then replaced the board code with your repository. Not sure if that is the best method. )

[facchinm]

Almost there 😄 The PortentaLoRaBridge sketch should be flashed on the Portenta, so you should select Portenta H7 M7 as target. All the other sketches than will run on the Murata if compiled for Vision Shield 😉

[hpssjellis]

That makes sense but @facchinm I am getting same error using either the M7 or M4 core. Are you running a newer than 1.3.2 mbed board? Where would I find the Class Uart to check?