Looking for a kit that lets you aggregate sensor data from the edge and visualize it in the cloud in minutes? Check out the MultiTech QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN® kit.

The MultiTech QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN is an all-in-one kit and managed cloud service that enables secure, low-power connectivity between IoT devices and cloud applications right out-of-the-box. It allows users to easily connect IoT sensor nodes to other devices and AWS over sub-GHz LoRa networking technology operating in the 868 MHz or 915 MHz bands, providing adequate channel coverage for deployments in both North America (kit version QSCAP-915-041A-AWS) and Europe (kit version QSCAP-868-041A-AWS).

The QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN features an Ethernet gateway, external LoRa antenna, AC power adaptor, and mounting bracket. The gateway, MultiTech’s 8-channel Conduit® AP Access Point, features an omni-directional internal LoRa antenna with +2 dBi gain, a 27 dBm maximum transmit power output, and 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet for IP backhaul through an RJ-45 connector. This platform provides direct LoRaWAN connectivity to the AWS IoT Core cloud.

The gateway is packaged with version 5.3 of MultiTech’s mPower™ Edge Intelligence, a embedded software solution that allows developers to easily integrate MultiTech networking hardware with upstream IoT platforms. mPower facilitates edge-to-cloud data analytics and management; supports security features such as enhanced firewall and VPN settings, secure authentication, and signed firmware validation; and also provides the ability to program compute resources so that network latency can be reduced by executing workloads at the network edge.

To prove that it works right away, MultiTech has also included a production-ready, battery-powered Dragino LHT65 temperature/humidity sensor. Of course, the QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN kit also supports hundreds of other certified LoRaWAN sensors and actuators as well.

The MultiTech QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN in Action

Moving away from the edge, the QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN connects to the AWS IoT Core via the Semtech BasicStation gateway packet forwarder. As shown in the diagram below, the BasicStation packet forwarder is a WebSockets-based program that resides on LoRa-based gateways like the MultiTech Conduit AP Access point, and forwards uplinked RF packets to a LoRaWAN network server (LNS) via a secure IP link. It is a bi-directional solution, so LNS downlinks can be sent to edge devices in the same way.

Once LoRaWAN packets have been forwarded into AWS IoT Core, users can connect their data to a variety of data visualization, monitoring, reporting, and alert services available in the AWS platform. These include the open source AWS IoT Greengrass edge runtime; AWS IoT 1-Click that triggers and executes actions; AWS IoT Device Defender for security management; AWS IoT SiteWise and the AWS IoT Things Graph for analytics; and AWS IoT Device Management.

As you can see from the illustration of a Hello, World! example application that’s provided with the kit, all of the components required to extract data from a LoRaWAN sensor node, use it to trigger an action like sending an SMS message or email, and record it in an analytics dashboard are available out of the box.

In addition to the device management capabilities afforded by these and other AWS IoT Core services, the QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN gateway can also be managed using the MultiTech DeviceHQ® cloud-based application store and device management platform.

Getting Started with the MultiTech QuickStart AWS IoT Core

The MultiTech QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN is suitable for production-grade prototyping in a variety of industries and use cases such as residential management and smart buildings.

To get started with the kit, all a user needs is a PC or laptop with Ethernet capability and an active AWS account.

After that, simply:

1. Set up Roles and Policies in IAM
2. Add a Gateway (see section “Add the Gateway to AWS IoT” from MultiTech’s Getting Started Guide for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN)
3. Add Device(s) (see section “Add a LoRaWAN Device to AWS IoT” from MultiTech’s Getting Started Guide for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN), then:

a. Verify device and service profiles

b. Set up a Destination to which device traffic will be routed and processed by a rule.

The MultiTech QuickStart AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN kit is available from https://shop.multitech.com for $318. For more information on the, access onboarding documentation or the Getting Started Guide for specific instructions and application examples.

Additional Resources:

• Purchase the MultiTech QuickStart IoT Solutions for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN – https://shop.multitech.com/qscap-915-041a-aws.html
• MultiTech QuickStart IoT Solutions for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN – https://www.multitech.com/landing-pages/events/campaigns/promotions/products/quickstart-iot-solutions/aws-iot-core-for-lorawan
• MultiTech QuickStart IoT Solutions Page – https://www.multitech.com/brands/quickstart-iot-solutions
• Onboarding MultiTech Gateway for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN – https://www.multitech.com/documents/publications/marketing-guides/Onboarding_MultiTech_Gateway_Basic_Station.pdf
• MultiTech’s Getting Started Guide for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN – https://www.multitech.com/documents/publications/marketing-guides/MultiTech_Getting_Started_Guide_for_AWS_LoRaWAN.pdf