This is all about a new LoRaWAN Sensor from the Chinese hardware manufacturer Dragino.
Dragino builds all kinds of hardware. Among them are inexpensive, but high quality, mostly battery-powered LoRaWAN sensors, just like their latest, the door and window sensor LDS01 (no, not LSD).
What it does is simple. Using a magnet, it detects the opening and closing of a door, window, fridge, furniture, whatever. But there is something magical about it. And it’s not just the very low price point.
Not only does is report the current status (open / close) it also counts:
- How often it was opened
- How long it was kept open
This information can be used to build awesome statistics.
Gladly Datacake has a template for the LDS01 that lets you use the full potential without the need for any programming. If you already set up a LoRaWAN Gateway and Network Server like TheThingsNetwork or Loriot you will get it up and running in under ten minutes.
Here's how you get started
If you haven’t already done the first thing you do is registering for free on the Datacake platform. Simply head over to:
https://app.datacake.de/signup
Now you need to create a new device. In the fleet overview click on “Add Device” and select “LoRaWAN”.
You will see a list of available devices. In that list, you’ll find the LDS01. Select it by clicking on it.
In the next step, you are required to select the LoRaWAN Network Server.
If you haven’t set up an LNS yet but do have an active TTN Gateway in your area you can also select the “Datacake TTN”.
In this way, you won’t need to set up an application on TTN. Datacake does this for you. If your LDS01 is already integrated into an application on one of the supported LNS you only need to provide the DevEUI.
No Payload Decoder Required
One advantage of using a Datacake Template is that Datacake does the nasty payload decoding. You don’t need to worry about writing code or setting this up on your LNS.
In the screenshot above you can see the Payload-Decoder Section in unfolded state. Every LoRaWAN device, which has been created with a corresponding template, has a prebuilt payload decoder as starting point. If desired, you can adapt this decoder yourself or leave it like this.
