Packet Forwarder on Milesight LoRaWAN Gateway

Packet Forwarders on Milesight LoRaWAN® Gateway Work with Multiple Network Servers to Provide Secure Data Transmission

What Is Packet Forwarder?

The packet forwarder is a program running on the host of a LoRa gateway that forwards RF packets received by the concentrator to a server through an IP/UDP link, and emits RF packets that are sent by the server. It can also emit a network-wide GPS-synchronous beacon signal used for coordinating all nodes of the network. Currently, Milesight LoRaWAN® Gateway supports the following packet forwarders:

Semtech
TTN (how to connect Milesight gateway to TTN)
Loriot
ChirpStack-Generic
Milesight

Semtech UDP Protocol

The Semtech UDP protocol is, historically, the first gateway protocol that was developed for LoRaWAN®. It was built by Semtech, who still maintain it. With this protocol, uplinks, statuses and downlinks are exchanged in a pseudo-JSON format, through UDP, between the gateway and the network server. Because of the simplicity of the messages and of the protocol, it is easy to reproduce this protocol, for testing purposes or for bootstrapping. Because this protocol was implemented in the first packet forwarder publicly available, most gateways include a basic packet forwarder running this protocol.

Source: Semtech

Drawbacks of the UDP Protocol

However, this protocol lacks features for production-ready networks:

It does not provide authentication. Gateways are supposed to identify themselves with their EUI - but anyone can usurp another gateway.
There is no encryption available. Gateway messages can be intercepted - and modified - during transport.
The message exchange is not reliable since the exchange is over 2-way UDP.
The UDP protocol is based on a format close to JSON, but not fully compliant; for example, the specs specify that an object can hold multiple properties with the same index. This makes it easy to write by hand for testing purposes, but difficult to parse in some situations.

Source: Semtech

TTN Gateway Connector Protocol

TTN has developed a new protocol: the gateway connector protocol. With this protocol:

Gateways are identified by an ID and by a key. Sending a message to a router requires to know the combination.
Messages are encoded in protocol buffers while being sent. This serialization technology allows the transfer of data from a program to another, in native types, regardless of the language.

Source: TTN

LORIOT Gateway Binary

Read more about custom LORIOT packet forwarder

JSON or compressed BSON based protocol over TCP
Only HTTPS traffic (port 443)
TLS v1.2
Standard certificate-based mutual authentication
AES encryption
Easy to setup on any type of network
Network failover (e.g. 3G / 4G to Ethernet and back)
Full remote control from the dashboard
Full remote configuration from the dashboard
Remote parameterized spectrum scan
Remote access via SSH tunnel
Remote monitoring via SNMP tunnel
Remote commands (bulk reboot, bulk update, bulk firewall changes)
Self-updating, maintenance-free operation
Advanced downlink planning and queuing for maximum downlink capacity
Advanced uplink queuing for zero data loss and scale-out
Can poll local sensors and operating system parameters
Can monitor CPU, RAM and storage usage
Support for legacy USB-based radio front-ends
Support for both v1.x and v2.x LoRa gateway hardware

Source: Loriot

ChirpStack Gateway Bridge

ChirpStack Gateway Bridge has the following advantages:

MQTT (using TCP) over UDP

By using MQTT (which uses TCP) over UDP when using the Semtech UDP packet-forwarder backend, the connection becomes more reliable in case packet loss is common.

Authentication

It is possible to set up credentials for each gateway so that only gateways with valid credentials are able to ingest data.

SSL/TLS

The MQTT protocol supports SSL/TLS meaning that you are able to set up a secure connection between your gateways and your MQTT broker. This not only means that other people are not able to intercept any data, but it also means nobody is able to tamper with your data.

Source: ChirpStack

Milesight

Packet-forwarding to embedded network server on LoRaWAN® gateway is available when more secure and convenient data transmission needed to forward data/packet locally. Benefits of Milesight Embedded Network Server:

Quick Network Setup & Easy Operation Management

With Milesight embedded LoRaWAN® network server, you can ease decision-making for LoRa network deployment, because the streamlined design and installation will help you achieve quick network setup and easy operation management throughout the network lifetime.

Save Investment & Boost Business

It lowers your upfront investment and helps you adapt to nascent business cases and boost their deployment.

Full Integration into Milesight LoRaWAN® Gateway

The embedded LoRaWAN® network server is fully integrated into the gateway’s firmware so that users can reduce the need for extensive cyber-security, cloud storage, and more complex network design, which add costs and slow down deployment.

Real-Time Data Collection & Processing

In applications spanning the diversity of smart IoT deployments, Milesight LoRaWAN® gateway easily collects data and runs it in real-time, or in post-processing, to tune use cases and business models.

Ready for Future Upgrade

Once the consolidated and connected end-device volumes ramp up, customers can smoothly switch to a more carrier-grade network and operations management solutions.