Lora Node 151 - NSS?

#1

Hi team,

I’ve been adding the LN151 to the current LoRaMac-node codebase, mostly so I can get AU915 working.

It’s ~working, at least in ABP mode, but I have encountered a few issues:

  1. In the example code for the STM32CubeIDE, that uses a variation of a forked version of the LoRaMac-node codebase, the NSS pin is not used (it passes NC aka Not Connected). The LN151 pinout diagram says it is connected (to PA4) but when I pass in PA4…it fails to initialise the module (sits waiting for RESET forever? I really need an oscilloscope).

  2. Timers and low-power mode. I’m still working on this, it seems to never really sleep right now which is a bit of an issue for duty-cycle compliance. Next thing to fix.

Qurstions:
a. Has anyone got the NSS pin working?
b. Are all the DIO pins really connected too?
c. Is the User button connected to a pin? Which one?

Thanks,
Bruce

#2

Hello there:

About a:

In CubeIDE’s LoRaWAN code example, the SPI NSS is configured by default in software mode, so direct operation of PA4 is invalid.
Of course, if you want to pass the hardware NSS mode, you need to modify the parameters of the “SpiInit” function in “board.c”.
For most scenarios, the software NSS mode is the best choice.
However, I don’t think NSS can initialize the 1276 module.

About b:

We connected DIO0~DIO3

About c:

USER<---->BOOT0

#3

Thanks Saber, that’s perfect.

I’ll get this working a bit better and it might be useful for you to back port over to CubeIDE, and I’ll see if the LoRaMac-node peeps will accept it as a new board. They’re working on LoRaWan 1.1 compliance which would be super handy.

This board is a great base (lower power, faster, more memory etc), I just need to get AU915 going.

Thanks again for the support!

#4

Well it’s not working 100%, but good enough to see if anyone wants to help.

github.com/Bwooce/LoRaMac-node

It’s a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster, there’s still some debug to remove but review is welcome.

Timers are not working too well. Tick is sometimes not ticking, which means DelayMs pauses for infinity.

#5

In the LoRaMAC program that was offered when NODE 151 was purchased, the AU 915 band was working properly.

#6

Hey Saber, the software I was provided about a month ago (by Aaron.Lee) was based on a LoRaMAC stack that only supported 868 and US915 and US915_HYBRID. I think US915_HYBRID may be the precursor to AU915…is that what you mean or do I have older software?

File was LoRaWAN_151CC_CubeIDE.zip

#7

I am sorry, I did not notice that it is AU915.

I have realized the difference between AU915 and US915. The code in MDK only supports the old LoRaMAC region parameters. (It seems to be LoRaWAN1.0.0).
Thank you for your reminder, we plan to upgrade the version of LoRaMAC soon.
The good news is that LoRaWAN in the CubeCell series supports region AU915.

Thanks again for your reminder.