Wirnet™ iStation installation recommendations

Installation of a LoRaWAN gateway shall be carefully prepared in advance to anticipate the future coverage area, QoS and make sure that all needed equipment’s are listed and are available the D-day but also to be sure that the installation is conformed to the Kerlink recommendations : Gateways installation recommendations.

If you are using an external antenna bigger than 35cm (the 3dBi antenna should be less than 35cm), it’s mandatory to connect a coaxial cable between the iStation and the external antenna.

Kerlink found disparity in the length of the pins of the accessories that could be connected to the Wirnet™ iStation. If these pins are too long, they can mechanically permanently damage the Wirnet iStation connector internal mechanical switch that selects the internal or external antenna, thus potentially generating performance issues and preventing the later use of the internal antenna.

If you want to connect accessories (like external antenna or surge protector)
and ensure the full performance and flexibility of your product, we thus strongly
recommend the use of an adapter for the connector.
Please read the installation guideline document : doc_guidelines_for_the_wirnet_istation_version_2023_-v0.2.pdf

Antenna

Antenna with cavity filter

Antenna with surge protection

In order to optimize gateway performances and protection, please refer to application notes in documentation section of resources.

Here are the key factors of a good installation (it does not prevent you from reading the “installation and maintenance manual”), plus a few additional recommendations:

• For external LoRa antenna link, RF coaxial surge protection is recommended.
• Surge protection must be positioned as close as possible to the gateway.
• A good earthing of the whole installation is required.
• Used ground connection cables must be as short as possible (<30cm, 4sq.mm).
• Using of a lightning rod on the top of the mast is strongly recommended.
• It is recommended to regroup all ground connections toward the mast at one point (at least mounting bracket + surge protections). This point must be as close as possible to the product.
• Recommended shielding Ethernet cable is category 6A, STP or SSTP.
• Before any product installation, a full spectrum analysis should be done on the field with a spectrum analyser. A backup of each measurement is strongly recommended in case further analysis is required.
• Photos of the full installation are also recommended to memorize antennas co-locations and check if the installation is properly done.