Generic LoRaWAN® documentation

Here you can find the generic LoRaWAN® documentation👇

📄 You can view the PDF above or download it here .

This document describes the properties and adjustable parameters specific to the LoRaWAN® wireless protocol across all sensors.

Join behavior of the LoRaWAN® sensors

Before telemetry data can be transmitted via LoRaWAN®, the device must first establish a connection with the network. To achieve this, the device repeatedly sends join requests until a join accept is successfully received.

To balance energy consumption and join speed, the transmission intervals between join requests increase over time. In parallel, the data rate is varied — starting with a higher data rate (lower spreading factor) and gradually decreasing to a lower data rate (higher spreading factor). This behavior strictly follows the specifications and recommendations of the LoRa Alliance®.

Sentinum sensors implement this behavior using join bursts, where the spacing between bursts increases over time.

Join bursts

A join burst consists of up to six join requests with decreasing data rate (DR5 → DR0) or increasing spreading factor (SF7 → SF12). The intervals between the individual join requests increase quadratically in order to comply with the duty-cycle restrictions defined by the LoRa Alliance®.

Duty-cycle limits for join requests

Time window	Duty cycle
< 1 hour	1 %
< 11 hours	0.1 %
> 11 hours	0.01 %

This means that in the first phase (< 1 hour), the same total transmission budget is available as in the second phase (< 11 hours), even though the allowed transmission time is ten times shorter. To make optimal use of this budget, Sentinum sensors start with short intervals between join bursts, which become longer as time progresses.

Phases of the join process

Phase 1: 2 bursts with short intervals (burst length approx. 10 minutes)
Phase 2: 2 additional bursts with longer intervals (burst length approx. 100 minutes)
Phase 3: 1 burst per day with very long intervals (burst length up to 16 hours)

EUIs and keys

All Sentinum LoRaWAN® sensors are supplied with the following identifiers:

DEVEUI
APPEUI
APPKEY
Product number

The 8-byte DEVEUI is a unique identifier selected from the Sentinum OUI block FC84A, which is assigned exclusively to Sentinum sensors.

The 8-byte APPEUI is also assigned from Sentinum’s own number range. Each product line shares the same APPEUI, enabling clear identification of the product series within the Sentinum product portfolio.

The 16-byte APPKEY is a cryptographic key generated individually and randomly for each device. It is used for secure authentication and encryption during the LoRaWAN® join procedure.

Each product also has a unique product number (for example APOQXXXX, FEBRXXXX), which is permanently associated with a specific DEVEUI and APPKEY.

These three keys (DEVEUI, APPEUI, APPKEY) are always included in the delivery package of each LoRaWAN® sensor and are also provided securely via the cloud. The APPEUI can be viewed when reading the device using the Sentinum LinQs app.

This documentation applies to all sensors with a module key of 0x22XX or 0x2211.

The downlinks of the LORA modules are all executed on port 4 and commands to be executed (EXEC) on port 5. These are marked with "(EXEC)" after the respective resource.

LoRa – module overview

Module	Module key	Group	Group ID	Description
LoRa	0x2211	Network resources	0x00	DEVEUI of the device (read only)
LoRa	0x2211	Transmission settings	0x01	Transmission settings such as adaptive data rate (ADR), confirmed uplinks, etc.
LoRa	0x2211	Rejoin settings	0x02	Settings for network testing and automatic reconnection in case of connection loss.
LoRa	0x2211	GNSS group	0x03	Settings and timings for localization options (for sensors with tracking feature)
Supervisor	0x3211	System	0x00	Reset or restart device

Tables for cross-product modules can be found in the Generic NFC and Downlink documentation.

For more information on configuring sensor communication, refer to the respective generic LoRaWAN® or Mioty® documentation, depending on the version.

The current settings for a parameter can be queried by not sending a configuration value with the downlink.

Example:
To read the current setting of the ADR parameter, the following downlink can be used:

11 22 11 01 02

This downlink queries the current ADR value without changing it.
The downlink must be sent to port 6. The sensor responds here on port 3

LoRa – group network resources (0x00)

Resources	Resource ID	Key (NFC/BLE)	Min	Max	Factory setting	Unit	Module key
DEVEUI	0x00	dev_eui	16	16	16		22XX
READONLY Parameter: DEVEUI of the sensor. This parameter cannot be read via downlink.

LoRa – group transmission settings (0x01)

Resources	Resource ID	Key (NFC/BLE)	Min	Max	Factory setting	Unit	Module key
Confirmed	0x00	conf	0	3	0		22XX
Indicates whether the sensor is operating in confirmed mode: • 0: confirmed off = unconfirmed • 1: confirmed INFO messages (status uplinks) ⇒ currently not available • 2: alarm uplinks confirmed • 3: everything confirmed
Confirmed retries	0x01	retry	1	5	3		22XX
Maximum number of retries in "CONFIRMED" mode.
ADR	0x02	adr	0	1	1	dr	22XX
ADR on/off: • 0: ADR off • 1: ADR on
Data rate	0x04	drmax	0	5	0	dr	22XX
Fixed data rate (SF) used when ADR is disabled.
Activate downlink response	0x05	dresp	0	1	0		22XX
Specifies whether a downlink outside the "CONFIRMED" range is acknowledged. When enabled, the downlink triggers an uplink. • 0: off • 1: on

LoRa – group rejoin settings (0x02)

Resources	Resource ID	Key (NFC/BLE)	Min	Max	Factory setting	Unit	Module key
Rejoin strategy	0x00	rejstr	0	2	0		22XX
Re-entry strategy: • 0: never rejoin • 1: all x transfers → link check • 2: all x transfers → confirmed uplink
Connection check all	0x01	chkev	1	48	4		22XX
Determines the number x (for rejstr) after which a connection check is performed. Depending on rejstr, the check is: • a link check (rejstr = 1) • a confirmed uplink (rejstr = 2)
Error until rejoin	0x02	rejaft	0	5	4	dr	22XX
Specifies after how many failed checks the sensor should perform a rejoin.

LoRa – gnss group (0x03)

Resources	Resource ID	Key (NFC/BLE)	Min	Max	Factory setting	Unit	Module key
GNSS mode	0x00	lmode	0	4	0		22XX
Specifies the order of localization technologies: • 0: off • 1: GNSS scan • 2: WIFI SSIC scan • 3: GNSS scan followed by WIFI SSID scan • 4: WIFI SSID scan followed by GNSS scan
GNSS update period	0x01	gper	1	43200	1440	min	22XX
Update period for device localization in hours.
Almanac data download	0x02	gnssal	0	1	0		22XX
ALMANAC data is downloaded (increases power consumption but localization is faster and more accurate): • 0: no data is being downloaded • 1: ALMANAC data is downloaded
GNSS in mobile applications	0x03	gnssmb	0	1	0		22XX
Localization methods are optimized depending on the application: • 0: optimized for static objects • 1: optimized for moving objects
Execute scan (EXEC)	0x04
Start scan. Example downlink on port 5: `11 2211 03 04`

Supervisor – group system settings (0x00)

Resources	Resource ID	Key (NFC/BLE)	Min	Max	Unit	Module key
Reboot (EXEC)	0x00	reboot	0	43200	s	32XX
Reboot the device — settings are retained. After the resource ID, 2 bytes must be added to the command. These specify the time after which the reboot will be performed. • Time is specified in seconds • May be 0 • Must always be specified as 2 bytes (e.g. 00 00) • Minimum: 0 • Maximum: 43200
Reset (EXEC)	0x01	reset	0	43200	s	32XX
Reset the device — settings are reset. After the resource ID, 2 bytes must be added to the command. These specify the time after which the reset will be performed. • Time is specified in seconds • May be 0 • Must always be specified as 2 bytes (e.g. 00 00) • Minimum: 0 • Maximum: 43200

Example: Reboot the device after 0 seconds:

Port 5:

11 3211 00 00 00 00

If the 2 bytes are not appended, the downlink will fail!

Example downlinks

Resource	Description	Downlink
Reboot	Reboot the device after 10 seconds. Settings are retained.	`11 3211 00 00 00 0A`
Perform scan	Perform GNSS scan.	`11 2211 03 04`
Confirmed	All uplinks should be executed as confirmed uplink.	`11 2211 01 00 00 00 00 03`
ADR	Disable ADR.	`11 2211 01 02 00 00 00`

Specifications subject to change without notice. All information provided without guarantee.

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