Senix Outdoor Receiver

Back to: Hardware Installation and Maintenance

Materials and Equipment

• Multitech MultiConnect Conduit IP67 Base Station
  • GNSS Antenna
  • LoRa Antenna
  • Ethernet Cable
  • POE Injector
    • Max draw of 25 watts
• Multitech MultiConnect eCell
  • Power Adapter (draws 12 wats)
  • Antenna (2)
  • Ethernet Cable
  • T-Mobile SIM

Network Configuration

Multitech MultiConnect Conduit IP67 Base Station’s (outdoor receiver) are the receivers used to communicate with the transmitters over the LoRa network. These are outdoor receivers that are meant to withstand the elements. They operate using power over ethernet, but can be configured to operate over the cell network with the addition of a cellular bridge. The outdoor receivers use a low power radio transmission protocol know as LoRa to communicate with the transmitters within range. The outdoor receivers relay data to the Floodzilla cloud servers via the internet via a hardwired ethernet cable. The Floodzilla configuration uses a cellular bridge to provide internet access.

Network diagram:

• Outdoor receiver
  • ethernet cable
• POE (power over ethernet) injector - provides power to the receiver via the ethernet cable that also provides internet.
  • ethernet cable
• Cellular bridge

Configuring the Outdoor Receiver

The outdoor receivers should come from Senix DHCP enabled and ready to join the network. Before deploying in the field, it must be connected to the LoRa-SVPA network on frequency subband 3. You can do this in the office. Before proceeding with configuring the outdoor receiver, you will need to have a Senix transmitter/sensor already set up in the office to be able to test the outdoor receiver.  The transmitter/sensor must be powered up (either by using the USB cord, or 3 D-cell batteries). See the previous section on setting up the Senix transmitter/sensors.

After the cellular bridge has been configured, remove the ethernet cable from the computer and plug it into the POE injector that comes with the outdoor receiver. IMPORTANT: Be sure it is plugged into the port labeled “DATA IN”. DO NOT plug the POE injector into and electrical outlet yet.  Be sure the other end of the ethernet cable is still plugged into the cellular bridge and that it is powered up.

Next, mount the LoRa antenna and the GNSS antenna to the specified connection locations on the outdoor receiver. Plug the second ethernet cable into the port on the outdoor receiver and be sure the weatherproof cap is reattached correctly, and hand tightened. Plug the other end of the same ethernet cable into the port on the POE injector that says “DATA, PWR OUT”. Finally, plug the POE injector into an electrical outlet. This should always be the last step. The LED on the POE injector should illuminate green. If the light is orange, the receiver is not connected to the internet - check your connections and be sure cables are plugged into the appropriate ports.

In order to connect the receiver to the Floodzilla network, the receiver itself must be told where to post data. Open a browser and navigate to the configuration screen at http://[assigned_IP_address]:8080/config. At the bottom of the page there will be a section labelled "HTTP Post". Fill it in as follows:

As the text at the bottom of the dialog says, if at any point we need to disable this receiver from sending data to Floodzilla, just remove the “Host” entry.

Field Installation and Testing

Choosing a Mounting Location

The outdoor receivers should be mounted where there is the best possible line of sight to the nearby transmitters. Nearby transmitters should be within 3 miles of the outdoor receivers, with good line of sight between antennas. Ideal locations are places along the valley wall, barn roofs, and other high points within the valley. Locations must have a reliable power source, but do not need an internet connection because we will connect the outdoor receivers over the cellular network using the cellular bridge. They should be mounted away from any large metal object. If the roof the outdoor receivers is being mounted on is metal, be sure to mount the outdoor receivers at least 8 ft above this to limit the amount of RSSI interference.

Existing Receiver Locations

See LoRa Receivers list

Troubleshooting

What to do if…

1.      The Multitech MultiConnect eCell Internet LED is solid green and NOT flashing.

There is an active 4G connection, but no transfer of data via cellular. This is a cell provider issue.

Call T-Mobile tech support (800) 937-8997 and check to be sure all accounts are active and phone numbers and SIM IDs associated with each number is correct. This may require going out to the receiver site, unplugging all devices, and resetting everything. The key is to be sure the internet LED on the eCell begins intermittently flashing before leaving.

2.      The Multitech MultiConnect eCell Ethernet LED (on the side of the device) is solid green and NOT flashing.

Problems with transmitters missing readings:

The default "TX Retry Limit" is set to 2 for all sensors, and the TX Fault Counts are sometimes very high. He recommends increasing the TX Retry Limit to a larger count, maybe 10, which might make it successful all the time. This means that it could try transmitting data up to 10 times before giving up. He said that usually the smaller (absolute) the RSSI, the less transmission trouble is expected... but it could be in a noisy RF area too. He said they always use the same LoRa subband and you won't know how quiet or busy that particular subband is ahead of time. There might be a quiet one among the 7 sub-bands to choose from. If we decide to switch to a different sub-band (for whatever reason) It takes changing all transmitters and all receivers though because they all must use the same one. For now, he recommends changing the TX retry limit to 10 to see if that improves the reliability of the data transmission.

See Also

• Senix Indoor Receiver
• Senix Transmitters and Sensors
• MultiTech Cellular Bridge