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LoRaWAN Sensors

LoRaWAN Sensors

IronFlock supports LoRaWAN sensor networks by running ChirpStack — an open-source LoRaWAN Network Server — as a containerized app on a virtual device. This approach integrates LoRaWAN data into the same data pipeline and dashboards as all your other edge devices.

How It Works

LoRaWAN Sensors → LoRaWAN Gateway → ChirpStack (Virtual Device) → FleetDB → Dashboards

The setup uses three IronFlock capabilities together:

  1. Virtual Device — Provision a virtual device in your project. This is a cloud-hosted compute node that runs the same IronFlock agent as a physical edge device.

  2. ChirpStack App — Install the ChirpStack app on the virtual device. ChirpStack provides the LoRaWAN Network Server, Application Server, and device management UI — all running as Docker containers.

  3. Remote Access — Use IronFlock’s remote access service to expose the ChirpStack network endpoint (UDP) on the virtual device. This gives your LoRaWAN gateway a public endpoint to connect to.

Once connected, LoRaWAN gateways forward sensor data to ChirpStack, which decodes and processes the payloads. ChirpStack then publishes the data to FleetDB — just like any other IronFlock app — where it is stored as time-series telemetry.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create a Virtual Device

In your IronFlock project, provision a new virtual device. This will be the host for your ChirpStack instance.

2. Install ChirpStack

Install the ChirpStack app from the IronFlock app marketplace onto the virtual device. The app includes:

  • ChirpStack Network Server — Handles LoRaWAN protocol (join requests, uplinks, downlinks, MAC commands)
  • ChirpStack Application Server — Device management, payload decoding, integrations
  • ChirpStack Gateway Bridge — Converts gateway protocols to a common format

3. Expose the Gateway Endpoint

Use IronFlock’s Remote Access service to expose the UDP port that LoRaWAN gateways connect to. This creates a secure, publicly reachable endpoint without managing firewalls or static IPs.

Your LoRaWAN gateway’s configuration only needs this endpoint address to start forwarding packets.

4. Register Gateways and Devices

Open the ChirpStack web UI (also accessible via remote access) to:

  • Register your LoRaWAN gateways
  • Create device profiles for your sensor types
  • Add individual sensors by their DevEUI
  • Configure payload decoders (JavaScript codec functions in ChirpStack)

5. Data Flows to FleetDB

Once sensors are registered and transmitting, ChirpStack decodes the payloads and publishes them to FleetDB through the IronFlock message broker. The data appears as time-series entries — temperature, humidity, pressure, soil moisture, or any other sensor reading — alongside telemetry from your physical edge devices.

6. Build Dashboards

Use IronFlock’s dashboard builder to visualize LoRaWAN sensor data. Since the data lives in FleetDB alongside all other device telemetry, you can:

  • Display LoRaWAN sensor readings and edge device data on the same dashboard
  • Set up alarms on sensor thresholds
  • Query sensor data with the AI assistant using natural language
  • Export data via the REST API

Why This Approach

Instead of building LoRaWAN support directly into the platform, IronFlock uses the same app-based architecture that powers everything else:

  • No vendor lock-in — ChirpStack is open-source. You can swap it for any other LoRaWAN Network Server that runs in a Docker container.
  • Full ChirpStack features — You get the complete ChirpStack stack, not a simplified integration. ADR, Class A/B/C, multicast, FUOTA — everything ChirpStack supports.
  • Scales independently — The virtual device running ChirpStack scales independently from your edge devices. Need more capacity? Provision a larger virtual device.
  • Unified data — LoRaWAN data flows into the same FleetDB tables and dashboards as all other telemetry. No separate data silos.

Supported Hardware

Any LoRaWAN gateway that supports the Semtech UDP Packet Forwarder or MQTT-based forwarders works with this setup. Common examples:

  • Dragino gateways (LPS8, DLOS8)
  • RAK Wireless gateways (RAK7268, RAK7289)
  • Kerlink gateways
  • Milesight gateways
  • MultiTech Conduit
  • Any gateway supporting the ChirpStack Gateway Bridge protocol

On the sensor side, any LoRaWAN-compliant sensor works — temperature, humidity, soil moisture, water level, air quality, GPS trackers, smart meters, and more.

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