Selfhosted backend for LoRaWAN based Location Tracker that support multiple location providers like GNSS, Gateway-Triangulation, WiFi-Triangulation and BLE-Triangulation. We suggest to use The Things Network (TTN) as middleware for relaying the LoRaWAN payload.

Setup

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 22.11.0
Maria DB >= 11.6.2
Webserver like nginx

Database

Change name of database and credentials as you like!

Create new database: CREATE DATABASE dev_locationhub;
Create new user for database: GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON dev_locationhub.* TO 'dbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '1234';
Import tables: /usr/bin/mariadb -u dbuser -p1234 dev_locationhub < server/sql/tables.sql

Configuration

Copy the .env.template to .env and configure as you like.
Use a strong token/secret for the webhook.
Add your Wigle API token to translate MAC addresses to coordinates
Use systemd to start the server.

TTN Integration

Create new Webhook for your application. Set base url to https://your.domain.tld and enable "Uplink message" to api /api/ttn/webhook. Add a addidtional header:

Type: authorization
Value: Bearer your-very-secure-token-from-the-env-file

Add a Location Tracker

We use the SenseCAP T1000-B from seeedstudio because of the fair price and multiple location providers. You can use any LoRaWAN enabled tracker that is able to communicate with TTN and supports the needed fields in the payload data.

Onboard SenseCAP T1000-B

Download and install the App SenseCraft
Skip the user account at startup with Skip in the upper right corner
Select the Tracker T1000
Connect to your SenseCAP T1000-B
In the Settings tab select The Things Network as Platform under LoRa
Copy Device EUI, AppEUI and AppKey
Save LoRa settings
Under Geolocation select Geolocation Strategy as Bluetooth+Wi-Fi+GNSS
Set GNSS Max Scan Time (s) to 120
Save Geolocation settings
Exit App with return arrow to trigger re-init of SenseCAP T1000-B

Register SenseCAP T1000-B

Open your Application in TTN and navigate to End devices
Click Register end device in the upper right corner
Set input method to Enter end device specifics manually

Frequency plan: Europe 863-870 MHz (SF9 for RX2 - recommended)
LoRaWAN version: LoRaWAN Specification 1.0.4
Regional Parameters version: RP002 Regional Parameters 1.0.3

Place as JoinEUI the AppEUI
Place the DevEUI
Place the AppKey
Set a name for end device
Click Register end device
Check if new end device joins the TTN
Place the Uplink Payload Formatter as Custom Javascript formatter for new end device

Testing

Testing Webhook

To test the webhook use the python script ttn-webhook-dummy.py to send prerecorded TTN Uplinks.
To test the script you can use while true; do echo -e "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Type: text/plain\r\n\r\nSuccess"; nc -l -p 8080 -q 1; done

Emulating Wigle API

To emulate the Wigle API use the python script wigle-dummy.py to translate MAC addresses to coordinates.