TLTN – The local things network: on the design of a LoRaWAN gateway with autonomous servers for disconnected communities

IoT devices should be easy to deploy and able to endure long periods of activity in the field without further intervention. LoRaWAN is geared to attain these objectives. European developers can easily leverage the public gateways of The Things Networks (TTN) already installed to obtain connectivity for LoRaWAN end-devices. In many developing countries Internet access cannot be taken for granted thus precluding the use of TTN. In this paper, we present a solution that allows connecting local IoT end-nodes to a LoRaWAN gateway without the need of internet access, at low cost and with low power consumption. We implement the three building blocks of the LoRaWAN architecture (Gateway, Network Server and Application Server) in a single box based on a Raspberry Pi and a LoRaWAN module. Local access to the application data is offered via a WiFi Access Point, allowing community members to access their community data even when there is no Internet access. In addition to real time IoT data, bulletin board like services can be implemented in the local repository to provide educational, health and other content that addresses the most pressing needs of isolated communities. The complete box with mentioned capabilities constitutes then the Base Station (BS).