New – AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN to Connect, Manage, and Secure LoRaWAN Devices at Scale

Today, I am happy to announce AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN, a new fully-managed feature that allows AWS IoT Core customers to connect and manage wireless devices that use long-range, low-power wide area network (LoRaWAN) connectivity with the AWS Cloud.

Using AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN, customers can now set up a private LoRaWAN network by connecting their own LoRaWAN devices and gateways to the AWS Cloud – without developing or operating a LoRaWAN Network Server (LNS) by themselves. The LNS is required to manage LoRaWAN devices and gateways’ connection to the cloud; gateways serve as a bridge and carry device data to and from the LNS, usually over Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

This allows customers to eliminate the undifferentiated work and operational burden of managing an LNS, and enables them to easily and quickly connect and secure LoRaWAN device fleets at scale.

Combined with the long range and deep in-building coverage provided by LoRa technology, AWS IoT Core now enables customers to accelerate IoT application development using AWS services and acting on the data generated easily from connected LoRaWAN devices.

Customers – mostly enterprises – need to develop IoT applications using devices that transmit data over long range (1-3 miles of urban coverage or up to 10 miles for line-of-sight) or through the walls and floors of buildings, for example for real-time asset tracking at airports, remote temperature monitoring in buildings, or predictive maintenance of industrial equipment. Such applications also require devices to be optimized for low-power consumption, so that batteries can last several years without replacement, thus making the implementation cost-effective. Given the extended coverage of LoRaWAN network, it is attractive to enterprises for these use cases, but setting up LoRaWAN connectivity in a privately managed site requires customers to operate an LNS.

With AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN, you can connect LoRaWAN devices and gateways to the cloud with a few simple steps in the AWS IoT Management Console, thus speeding up the network setup time, and connect off-the-shelf LoRaWAN devices, without any requirement to modify embedded software, for a plug and play experience.

AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN – Getting Started
Getting started with a LoRaWAN network setup is easy. You can find AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN qualified gateways and developer kits from the AWS Partner Device Catalog. AWS qualified gateways and developer kits are pre-tested and come with a step by step guide from the manufacturer on how to connect it with AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN.

With AWS IoT Core console, you can register the gateways by providing a gateway’s unique identifier (provided by the gateway vendor) and selecting a frequency band. For registering devices, you can input device credentials (identifiers and security keys provided by the device vendor) in the console.

Each device has a Device Profile that specifies the device capabilities and boot parameters the LNS requires to set up LoRaWAN radio access service. Using the console, you can select a pre-populated Device Profile or create a new one.

A destination automatically routes messages from LoRaWAN devices to AWS IoT Rules Engine. Once a destination is created, you can use it to map multiple LoRaWAN devices to the same IoT rule. You can write rules using simple SQL queries, to transform and act on the device data, like converting data from proprietary binary to JSON format, raising alerts, or routing it to other AWS services like Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). From the console, you can also query metrics for connected devices and gateways to troubleshoot connectivity issues.

Available Now
AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN is available today in US East (N. Virginia) and Europe (Ireland) Regions. With pay-as-you-go pricing and no monthly commitments, you can connect and scale LoRaWAN device fleets reliably, and build applications with AWS services quickly and efficiently. For more information, see the pricing page.

To get started, buy an AWS qualified LoRaWAN developer kit and and launch Getting Started experience in the AWS Management Console. To learn more, visit the developer guide. Give this a try, and please send us feedback either through your usual AWS Support contacts or the AWS forum for AWS IoT.

Learn all the details about AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN and get started with the new feature today.

— Channy