Feature available from SPN firmware version 2.0.3

Sometimes using only one gateway is not enough to cover an area, therefore a second gateway (or more) needs to be used. However, by doing so when using SPN, data are split between multiple gateways.

Furthermore, sometimes it can be interesting to combine an iFemtoCell (indoor gateway) with an outdoor gateway (Wirnet Station, Wirnet iBTS). The classical solution to achieve that is to use an external LNS (LoRa Network Server), however, it can be complex and often requires an access to the internet.

To solve these problems the multiple-gateways feature can be used. This feature allows the use of slave gateways (iFemtoCell SPN, Wirnet iBTS, Wirnet station) with a master iFemtoCell SPN. The slave gateways are in charge of forwarding every LoRa packets they received. The master gateway gathers the LoRa packets it received (from end-devices and gateways) within a single interface.

• An end-device sends a frame.
• One or more gateways receive the frame (the master gateway can also receive frames).
• The slave gateways forward the received frame to the master (through Ethernet, WiFi or GSM).
• The slave gateways do not save the frame.
• The master gateway chooses which gateway received the frame the best.
• The master gateway save the frame from the best gateway (the duplicated frame are discarded).

The multi-gateways feature requires a “master” license. The license type can be checked in the Overview menu under the License section.

• A master gateway will display: Gateways x / 20
• A slave gateway will display: Gateways 1 / 1

In the Multi-gateways menu under the Packets forwarding section, check the enable packets forwarding option and fill the Host field. The Host field must contain the IP address or the domain name (e.g. klk-wifc-03002e) of the master gateway. It can be found in the Overview menu of the master gateway.

The configuration of the master is not applied to the slaves. Make sure to configure for each slave the regional parameters, the Rx/Tx parameters, the network parameters, and so on, accordingly to your needs. Any interface (USB key, web interface,…) can be used to configure the slave.

Install a packet forwarder on the gateway. The instructions are detailed in the Wirnet iBTS wiki.
The target of the packet forwarder is configured with the following options (in the configuration file):

• server_address must contain the IP address or the domain name (e.g. klk-wifc-03002e) of the master gateway. It can be found in the Overview menu of the master gateway.
• serv_port_up must be 1700
• serv_port_down must be 1700

The configuration of the master is not applied to the slaves. Make sure to configure for each slave the regional parameters, the Rx/Tx parameters, the network parameters, the LBT, and so on, accordingly to your needs.

Install a packet forwarder on the gateway. The instructions are detailed in the Wirnet station wiki.
The target of the packet forwarder is configured with the following options (in the configuration file):

• server_address must contain the IP address or the domain name (e.g. klk-wifc-03002e) of the master gateway. It can be found in the Overview menu of the master gateway.
• serv_port_up must be 1700
• serv_port_down must be 1700

The configuration of the master is not applied to the slaves. Make sure to configure for each slave the regional parameters, the Rx/Tx parameters, the network parameters, the LBT, and so on, accordingly to your needs.

The master gateway can also be used to receive LoRa frames. Make sure to configure it's regional parameters, the Rx/Tx parameters, the network parameters, and so on, accordingly to your needs.

If the packets forwarding feature is enabled then the gateway will act as a slave (even though other gateways are registered). Make sure to disable it.

In the Multi-gateways menu under the manage gateways section, slave gateways can be added. Two methods are available from the web interface.

• Adding a single gateway: fill the gateway IDs and click the add button.
• Adding multiple gateways with a file:
  • It must have a .csv extension.
  • It must contain the gateway IDs, one by line (16 digits hexadecimal value in upper case).
  • Once it has been uploaded, it is parsed: the unregistered gateways are added.
  • If a gateway ID is wrong or a something else happens, it is logged.

In the Multi-gateways menu under the Gateways section, all the currently registered gateways are displayed along with their statistics.
The statistics can be downloaded in .csv format. The status field indicates if a gateway has been seen at least once. If the connection to a gateway is lost its status field is not updated.
The master gateway will always have the IP 127.0.0.1.
The gateways can be removed from this section.