TTN (The Things Network) Platform Connection & Usage

Register an Account

Visit the TTN website and register/log in with your personal account. In the Console, select a cluster based on your geographical location and other criteria.

Create an Application

Click Create application, fill in Application ID and application name as desired, then click Create application to complete creation.

Add a Device

Go to the management page of the application you just created, click + Register end device to add a registered node device, and choose Enter end device specifics manually for custom configuration.

Determine each option based on the geographical location and the frequency band used by the device. Ensure the frequency band used by the node matches that of the gateway. Select the LoRaWAN version and regional parameters according to the protocol version supported by the actual hardware. For details, refer to the documentation page of the corresponding product.

For more detailed explanations of the two activation modes and their parameters, refer to the official documentation:

• End Device Activation | TTN Docs
• ABP vs OTAA | TTN Docs

OTAA Mode Configuration

When using OTAA mode, you need to provide a JoinEUI (also known as AppEUI), which is usually preset by the device manufacturer. Since our product is a programmable device, the JoinEUI can be set arbitrarily, as long as the same value is used during programming. The format should be 16 hexadecimal characters (0~9, A~F).

After filling in the values, click Confirm to see more configuration options. The DevEUI and AppKey can be generated by clicking the 🔁 Generate button. It is recommended to save these values for later use. Fill in the End device ID, then click Register end device to complete the registration.

ABP Mode Configuration

In ABP mode, the following four parameters can be generated by clicking the 🔁 Generate button: DevEUI, Device address, AppSKey, and NwkSKey. It is recommended to record these values for later use. Fill in the End device ID and click Register end device to complete the registration.

Device Programming and Network Join

After completing the previous steps of creating an application and adding a device on the TTN platform, the next step is to program the device to communicate with the platform via a gateway. You need to enter the corresponding parameters (either filled or generated earlier) into the example program below. If you did not save these parameters earlier, you can still find them in the TTN platform's device settings.

• For OTAA mode: use JoinEUI, DevEUI, and AppKey.
• For ABP mode: use Device address, AppSKey, and NwkSKey.

Arduino

Click the tabs below to get the corresponding device’s driver library and example programs. Refer to the format and order of the configuration functions, and fill in the connection parameters obtained in the previous steps.

            LoRaWAN.configOTAA(
                "****************",                  // DevEUI
                "****************",                  // AppEUI / JoinEUI
                "********************************",  // AppKey
                "2"  // Upload Download Mode
            );
        

            LoRaWAN.configABP(
                "********",                          // Device address
                "********************************",  // AppSKey
                "********************************",  // NwkSKey
                "2"  // Upload Download Mode
            );
        

            LoRaWAN.configOTAA(
                "****************",                  // DevEUI
                "****************",                  // AppEUI / JoinEUI
                "********************************",  // AppKey
                "2"  // Upload Download Mode
            );
        

            LoRaWAN.configABP(
                "********",                          // Device address
                "********************************",  // AppSKey
                "********************************",  // NwkSKey
                "2"  // Upload Download Mode
            );
        

            #define DEVEUI "****************"
            #define APPEUI "****************"
            #define APPKEY "********************************"
        

            #define DEVADDR "********"
            #define APPSKEY "********************************"
            #define NWKSKEY "********************************"
        

            #define DEVEUI "****************"
            #define APPEUI "****************"
            #define APPKEY "********************************"
        

            #define DEVADDR "********"
            #define APPSKEY "********************************"
            #define NWKSKEY "********************************"
        

TTN Data Transmission

Live Data (Real-time Data)

After completing the above steps, if the device is properly connected to the gateway, you will be able to see the device's connection logs and uplink data on the TTN management page.

Messaging (Downlink Data)

Click on the Messaging feature to manually send data to the device from the web interface.

MQTT Client

Use an MQTT client to receive data from the TTN server and enable bidirectional communication. The MQTT server address, port, username, and password can be found in the TTN application management page under Other Integrations-MQTT.

• Uplink Topic: v3/{application id}@{tenant id}/devices/{device id}/up

• Downlink Topic: v3/{application id}@{tenant id}/devices/{device id}/down/push

• The default payload format for subscribed data is base64 encoded.

For more information about MQTT topics and formats, refer to the official documentation:

• MQTT Server | TTN Docs

More Information

• Glossary (1) | TTN Docs

• Glossary (2) | TTN Docs

• Integrations | TTN Docs