IRIT, Toulouse university
Keywords
LoRaWAN, CubeCell, Arduino, neOCampus end-devices
The neOSensor series of end-devices may be seen as a simple, efficient and cheap way to interface sensors with the neOCampus IoT infrastructure. Previously focusing on WiFi networks, ESP8266 and ESP32 based neOSensor experienced many limitations due to the (very) short range of WiFi network (especially when you're located within basements or ways too high regarding WiFi gateways).
To overcome these limitations, we decided to design a brand new LoRaWAN version based on the Heltec CubeCell module. This one provides native battery and solar panel support while being programmed through the Arduino IDE … enabling us to share many of our libraries between these two different releases. Open-source and designed with KiCad, you can build your own neOSensor :)
We also defined neOCayenneLPP, an upgraded version of the popular CayenneLPP data exchange format. It enables us to send compact and versatile frames while keeping a good sensors' data resolution.
https://github.com/fthiebolt/neOCampus-arduino
https://neocampus.univ-tlse3.fr/_media/lora/neocayennelpp_lorawan-data-exchange.pdf
Such ability to being able to collect data over (relative) long distance (versus WiFi) while keeping cost constraints in the cheap range, leverages the needs for a broad range of use cases (e.g equipment located in basements … and everything located >=50m away of any WiFi gateway). Additionally, having a private LoRaWAN infrastructure helps to maintain operational costs at very low-levels. However, these new end-devices challenged us regarding their life-cycle management: data ingestion process needs metadata like positioning … hence requiring access to our LoRaWAN server APIs.
Contact
Dr THIEBOLT François thiebolt_at_irit.fr
