Netualizer

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====== LPWAN IoT Use Case: LoRa to AWS ======

Now, let's try to set up a real life //LPWAN// IoT topology. Consider the following scenario:

{{:iot:lora.png?700|}}

One embedded device (i.e. raspberry pi) running a Netualizer agent receives temperature and pressure readouts from a //[[https://www.bosch-sensortec.com/products/environmental-sensors/pressure-sensors/bmp280/|BMP280]]// temperature sensor. The //BMP280// and the raspberry pi are connected by means of a //SPI// I/O interface. Readouts are encapsulated on top of //CoAP// and transmitted over //LoRa// a few kilometers away to another rapsberry pi. This second raspberry pi, that acts as a //gateway//, decapsulates the //BMP280// readouts and encapsulates them into //MQTT// for transmission over Ethernet to AWS. A single controller configures and deploys both devices in the field. The real devices look like this:

{{:iot:1.jpg?800|}}

Let's create a new project by clicking on //File ⇒ New ⇒ Project// and name it //loraAws//. Make sure that the local built-in agent does not get attached (uncheck box):

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Now, let's attach the agent running on the device sensor by clicking on //Agents ⇒ Add Agent//:

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Then enter the management IP address of the raspberry pi that runs the Netualizer agent:

{{:iot:4.png?1000|}}

Double click on the agent entry:

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And let's name it //sensor//:

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Now, attach this Netualizer agent to the project by entering //Yes//:

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Then add the physical layer and select the //LoRa radio//:

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And place the physical layer on the configuration:

{{:iot:9.png?1000|}}

Let's add a LoRa layer and name it //lora//:

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And place it on top of the physical layer. In order to support IPv6 over LoRa, we need an adaptation layer as LoRa cannot handle the minimum 1280-byte MTU size of IPv6 datagrams. We can use the //Bluetooth Low Energy// (BLE) IPv6 adaptation mechanism for this. Therefore, create a new //6LoBTLE// layer and name it //adaptation//:

{{:iot:11.png?1000|}}

Similarly, place the //adaptation// layer on top of the //lora// layer. Next, add IP and UDP layers and respectively name them //ip// and //udp//. Keep the defaults:

{{:iot:12.png?1000|}}

Then create a CoAP layer, name it //coap//:

{{:iot:13.png?1000|}}

And place it on top of the //udp// layer:

{{:iot:14.png?1000|}}

Let's add the SPI interface and call it //spi//:

{{:iot:15.png?1000|}}

Put it on top of the //coap// layer:

{{:iot:16.png?1000|}}

To avoid configuring every single layer to support the sensor, let's create a BMP280 helper layer instead and call it //bmp280//:

{{:iot:17.png?1000|}}

Then place it on top of the //bmp280// layer. This finalizes the stack on the sensor device:

{{:iot:18.png?1000|}}

We will get back to this stack later to configure a few more things. For now, let's configure the gateway, add a new agent by clicking on //Agents ⇒ Add Agent// and enter the management IP address of the Netualizer agent running on the gateway device:

{{:iot:19.png?1000|}}

Then double click on the agent entry:

{{:iot:20.png?1000|}}

And name the configuration //gateway//:

{{:iot:21.png?1000|}}

Add it to the project:

{{:iot:22.png?1000|}}

Let's build the LoRa stack first. Create a physical interface and select the //LoRa radio//:

{{:iot:23.png?1000|}}

Place it on the configuration:

{{:iot:24.png?1000|}}

Add a LoRa layer and name it //lora//:

{{:iot:25.png?1000|}}

And place it on top of the physical layer. As before, create a new //6LoBTLE// adaptation layer and name it //lowbtle//:

{{:iot:26.png?1000|}}

Let's build the whole stack up to the CoAP layer as we did for the sensor device, keeping all default parameters:

{{:iot:27.png?1000|}}

Now we need a stack for the other side of gateway. This is the stack that connects to AWS. First create another physical layer and select the //wlan0// interface to connect the public Internet:

{{:iot:28.png?1000|}}

Then add an ethernet layer that name it //eth//:

{{:iot:29.png?1000|}}

Place this layer on top of the physical layer and create an IP layer that we name //ip2// since //ip// is already in use:

{{:iot:30.png?1000|}}

The //ip2// layer is placed on top of the physical layer and a TCP layer is created and named //tcp//:

{{:iot:31.png?1000|}}

//tcp// is put on top of the IP layer. To interact with AWS, we need security so we add a TLS layer that is named //tls//:

{{:iot:32.png?1000|}}

The TLS layer is placed on top of the TCP layer. Now let's create an MQTT layer to talk to AWS IoT, it can be named //mqtt//:

{{:iot:33.png?1000|}}

This layer is placed on top of the TLS layer:

{{:iot:34.png?1000|}}

Next thing we need is access to AWS. Rather than configuring every stack to support it we can create an AWS layer and name it //aws//:

{{:iot:35.png?1000|}}

Place the //aws// layer on top of the //mqtt// layer. This finalizes the stack. Now, we can configure a few more things. Let's forward every packet that arrives a the //coap// layer must be forwarded to the //aws// layer. We can right click on the //coap// layer and click on //Destination Peer//

{{:iot:36.png?1000|}}

Let's select the //aws// layer as destination:

{{:iot:37.png?1000|}}

After this the configuration shows the packet path between one stack and the other:

{{:iot:38.png?1000|}}

Now, let's configure the //aws// layer. Let's right click on the layer and select //Action//:

{{:iot:39.png?1000|}}

Then click on //publish// to push the readouts that arrive to the AWS layer into //AWS IoT//:

{{:iot:40.png?1000|}}

Then change the //Client ID// to match the AWS console information:

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Copy/paste the information:

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Similarly, select the //EndPoint// to match the AWS console information:

{{:iot:43.png?1000|}}

Copy/paste the information:

{{:iot:44.png?1000|}}

Then select the //Topic// field:

{{:iot:45.png?1000|}}

And enter //Temperature//:

{{:iot:46.png?1000|}}

Click on the //CA certificate//:

{{:iot:47.png?1000|}}

And select the file:

{{:iot:48.png?1000|}}

Also click on the //Client certificate//:

{{:iot:49.png?1000|}}

And select the corresponding file:

{{:iot:50.png?1000|}}

Finally select //Client private key// (and select the corresponding file):

{{:iot:51.png?1000|}}

Now, let's figure out what the LoRa address is by right clicking on that layer. It should say (if defaults are used) //11//:

{{:iot:52.png?1000|}}

As promised, let's go back to the device sensor by double clicking on the agent entry:

{{:iot:53.png?1000|}}

Right click on the LoRa layer and select //Dest Address// to change the destination address:

{{:iot:54.png?1000|}}

Enter //11// as destination address:

{{:iot:55.png?1000|}}

On the CoAP layer, enable //Post Readouts// to push readouts to the gateway device:

{{:iot:56.png?1000|}}

On the gateway device, right click on the IP layer of the LoRa stack to figure out what the destination IPv6 address is:

{{:iot:57.png?1000|}}

Back on the sensor device, change the //Url// field to specify the CoAP server on the gateway device:

{{:iot:58.png?1000|}}

Enter the URL as //[IP Address]/Temperature//:

{{:iot:59.png?1000|}}

Then on the gateway device select the CoAP layer select the //Forward List//: 

{{:iot:60.png?1000|}}

And enter //Temperature//:

{{:iot:61.png?1000|}}

Then we can start the suite by clicking on //Scripts ⇒ Run Suite//

{{:iot:65.png?1000|}}

We can look at the device on the AWS Console:

{{:iot:62.png?1000|}}

And launch a client to subscribe to //Temperature// readouts:

{{:iot:63.png?1000|}}

After a few seconds we can see the temperature readouts showing up:

{{:iot:64.png?1000|}}

That's it. We have a temperature sensor pushing readouts using CoAP over LoRa and arriving to a gateway that pushes them to AWS.
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