Contents
Introduction
Welcome to a step-by-step guide to using the Advanced LORIOT Network Ranger application.
The LORIOT Advanced Network Ranger application is a new standalone tool which stores and displays the relayed GPS and radio information of a LoRaWAN device and the relevant gateway(s) within range.
The Advanced Network Ranger application is available to dedicated customer as a hosted service or on-premise deployment. Please get in touch with sales@loriot.io if you would like to test the solution or inquire an instance.
In this guide, we will demonstrate:
- Configuring the Network Ranger application in the user dashboard
- Testing LoRaWAN devices and gateways using the application and an overview of the displayed information.
Integrated LoRaWAN GPS Devices
LoRaWAN devices are required to be back-end integrated by LORIOT to be compatible with the Advanced Network Ranger application.
We currently support the following LoRaWAN devices:
Adeunis Field Test Device ChipCAD Micromite ZANE GPS Devices
Additional LoRaWAN GPS devices will be integrated and supported by LORIOT. For a specific device you require to be integrated, please contact us at support@loriot.io
Adding devices
For device data to be displayed in the Network Ranger application, first we must add the compatible LoRaWAN device to our virtual application in the user dashboard.
This is based on the assumption you have already created a Network and added at least one gateway.
Login into your user account as usual and select Applications from the menu.
Create a new application or select your existing application: Applications ➜ New Application.
Enroll a Device in an existing Application: Select Application ➜ Enroll Device
Fill out the mandatory fields depending on the selected enrollment process method and click on "Enroll".
The device is now registered in the virtual application and ready to communicate with the network server via the gateway.
WebSocket Application Output
For the virtual application to route device data to the Advanced Network Ranger application, the virtual application requires to have WebSocket enabled in Application Outputs.
The default application output for a virtual application is already a WebSocket. If if it has previously been changed, the WebSocket must be re-enabled in Application Outputs.
LORIOT Networkserver v5.0+ enables multiple simultaneous application outputs for a single virtual application; therefore you can still output to your chosen output(s) in parallel to a WebSocket.
Go to the overview page for your application and select Manage outputs: Application → Select Application → Manage outputs
The WebSocket output is the default output of a new application, but if not already selected, it is required to add as an output.
Select Add new output and select WebSocket from the available list.
The Application output is now set to WebSocket which the applications can use.
Gateway Information & Output Verbosity
Gateway and Radio information must be included with a device payload for it to be displayed in the Network Ranger application. This feature is available to all accounts on the network server.
We can enable the inclusion of radio and gateway location verbosity in the application features window: Application ➜ Select Application ➜ Features 
Location data is the default option for an Application, however if not already selected please re-configure.
Output Verbosity should also be Extended
The application is now configured to enable the gateway location and radio information for the WebSocket.
Advanced Network Ranger Application
To guide the WebSocket Application output towards your advanced network ranger application you need to retrieve the Authentication Token from the Access Tokens dashboard in your LORIOT application.
It is also possible to generate a new Authentication Tokens or revoke previous tokens.
Combine the URL of the Advanced Network Ranger Application with the retrieved Authentication token:
https://{your Advanced Network Ranger Application URL}/?token=vgEAWwABCD5uZXh0LmxvgmlvdC5pbwDtNtzBqC0uWuurnI6azrg=
For example: https://advancedranger.loriot.io/?token=vgEAWwAAAA5uZXh0LmxvcmlvdC5pbwDtNcuBqC0uWuurnI6azrg=
To get access to our test version or to inquire for your private instance, please get in touch with sales@loriot.io
After you have entered the Advanced Network Ranger URL with your applications Authentication Token the dashboard will be displayed:
Network Ranger Features
Map overview
The Advanced Network Ranger application makes use of the OpenStreetMap API and Leaflet as the map provider to display the location of gateways and devices:
For the moment the map style can't be changed but its on our the roadmap to include a map style selection into the application.
Map Icons
The device uplink messages and the receiving gateways are displayed as icons on the map.
The elements can be selected with a mouse click to trigger advanced actions in the dashboard.
➜ There are the following noticeable features initially on the displayed on the map.
- Gateways
- Uplink messages
- Number of displayed transmissions
- Date & timepicker
- List of spreading factors
- Menu bar with additional options and actions
The color represents the spreading factor the device used to communicate with any gateway which received its packet: 
- Gateways will only show on the map once they have received a radio packet from a device.
- Gateways will be displayed at the position which was entered into the dashboard.
- Devices will only show on the map once they have successfully connected with a gateway.
Live stream
Per default, the Advanced Network Ranger will automatically display every new uplink message received. It is possible to pause the live data stream by clicking the pause sign button in the menu bar.
After clicking the button it will change into a play icon to restart the stream.
Historical Data & Time Picker
The Advanced Network is able to store your historical GPS data up the limits defined during the installation or provided by the LORIOT infrastructure. The time picker allows you to load historical data into the application
The application will show the 100 latest transmissions after the initial load of the dashboard. To load more transmission simply click the "Load older transmissions" button in the left corner of the dashboard.
Data Download
The Advanced Network Ranger allows users to download the data loaded in the application as CSV-file. To trigger the download use the following button in the menu bar.
The prepared csv-file will always contain the data selected in time picker, even if less data is displayed in the dashboard.
Device Filter & Tracks
By selecting an uplink message and clicking the "Show only this device" Button in the detail pop-up window the application will show only uplink messages from this specific device:
After clicking the button, the application will only show uplink messages from the selected device and the selected device EUI will be visible in the menubar:
To remove the filter simply click the little "x" next to the device EUI.
With a device filter activated you can see it is possible to show tracks between a devices uplink messages. To activate the tracks just click the "Tracks" button in the menu bar.
Two uplinks from the same device are connected with a line if they have been received after each other within a 10 minute time frame.
Device Data
When a device communicates with a gateway, it will transmit a radio packet including its GPS coordinates.
The gateway will upload this data to the Network Server, and the Network Ranger application will display the device location on the map including the device details;
- DevEUI
- radio transmission data
- which gateway received the packet
- the timestamp and the transmission distance
We can view these details by selecting a device icon on the map:
We can see in the image above the gateway has received a transmission from the device.
The relevant data is displayed in the top left corner and a short description is also shown next to the gateway and device.
In the example below, the device packet has been received by two separate gateways and the gateway gwEUI identifies the gateways.
Gateway Data
The Gateway receives a packet from a compatible Network Ranger device and it will display in the application.
Selecting the gateway icon will display the Spreading Factor and distance transmitted of a device packet.
