Gateways

If you are using LoRaWAN sensors you will need to be within the coverage area of a LoRaWAN "gateway". Gateways receive data from LoRaWAN sensors and send it to the cloud, where it is then directed to your dashboard. Some councils are providing free gateway coverage which you can see on this TNN mapper website.

If you are not covered by an existing gateway you will need to buy your own. Farmo has been selling the RAK7249 gateway and found it to robust and reliable, but you can buy any gateway providing it is LoRaWAN compliant and has the same frequency standard as your sensors (mostly this would be AS923).

A gateway will need power and a way to "backhaul" your data to the cloud. There are options:

Power 

a) 240v power. A PoE adaptor (provided with RAK7249 gateway) plugs into the 240v outlet and connects a ethernet cable to the gateway.

b) 12v power from a solar system (often a solar pump system is hijacked for the 12v power).

Data

a) You can put a mobile data SIM card in the gateway and it will use approx 1gb of data per year. Deals vary but $150 for 12mnths prepaid is around the mark.

b) If the gateway is on a house or shed with wi-fi you can use that wi-fi signal for your gateway.

Position is really important. The higher the better for coverage by line of sight. If you are not sure of your coverage for a small charge we can run a mapping tool which creates a coverage map of your farm for a specific gateway placement.