2021 International STEM Education Conference (iSTEM-Ed 2021)
November 10-12, 2021, Pattaya, THAILAND
Building LoRaWAN IoT Kits for STEM Education
in Interdisciplinary Training Programs
Hai-Phong Phan Viet-Dung Vo Quang-Huy Nguyen
Faculty of Electrics, Electronics and Faculty of Information Technology Faculty of Architecture
Material Technology Hue University of Sciences Hue University of Sciences
Hue University of Sciences Hue, Vietnam Hue, Vietnam
Hue, Vietnam e-mail:
[email protected] e-mail:
[email protected] e-mail:
[email protected] Huu-Hanh Hoang
Posts and Telecommunications Institute
of Technology
Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract—This paper focuses on building an IoT communication in the IoT system, but also increase the
platform based on LoRaWAN wireless communication connecting distance between IoT devices (nodes,
technology in STEM for higher education. This gateways), but also ensure the reduction of the
LoraWAN-based IoT platform will be used for teaching system's energy consumption to increase the uptime of
and learning STEM interdisciplinary training programs each device. There are several communication
according to current curriculums at Hue University of technologies, especially wireless communication, that
Sciences (HUS). This paper also shows the trend of using have been developed specifically for IoT systems. We
contemporary technologies used in STEM higher can mention several technologies such as Zigbee,
education for the current digital transformation in smart Bluetooth, WIFI, LoRa, NB-IoT. Depending on the
areas. requirements of the IoT system to be designed, we can
choose one or more suitable communication
Keywords—IoT, LoRaWAN, STEM
technologies for our IoT platform.
I. INTRODUCTION In this paper, we focus on building an IoT platform
We are entering the explosive phase of the Fourth based on wireless communication technology, namely
Industrial Revolution (4IR), a revolution with major LoRaWAN. This LoraWAN-based IoT platform will
developments in the fields of physics, digital, and bio- be used for supporting students in learning,
technology. Artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of researching, and developing IoT devices and systems
Things (IoT), and Big Data technology are the core operating on LoRa wireless communication
elements in the 4IR. Among them, the concept of the technology according to current STEM curriculums at
Internet of Things (IoT) was introduced by Kevin Hue University of Sciences (HUS).
Ashton in the late 90s [1]. This IoT concept is used to For these purposes, the paper is structured as follows:
describe a network of physical devices that connect an introduction is presented in Section I. Section II
and exchange data with each other or with other introduces the designing model of an IoT platform that
systems via the Internet. Since then, many new is based on LoRaWAN communication. IoT End Node
telecommunication technologies have been developed design and Gateway implementation will be detailed
to support IoT platforms and systems to become one in Sections III and IV correspondingly. Results and
of the most interesting technology directions today, applications of IoT platform into STEM and
especially low-power and long-range wireless interdisciplinary teaching and learning programs in
communication technologies. HUS. This paper is concluded in Section VI with an
Nowadays, IoT is applied in many different industries outlook for further development of the LoRaWAN IoT
and fields in our lives that are not only in platform projects with broader applications.
manufacturing, industry but also in smart homes,
II. LORAWAN-BASED IOT PLATFORM MODEL
healthcare, etc... IoT is considered a core of agritech
and applied in many areas of agriculture to increase Generally, the model of an IoT system based on
automation, control the vegetative environment, and LoRaWAN will be given as in Figure 1 [4].
maintain product quality post-harvest [1][2]. The
problem is that the IoT system on-demand must be In this system, End Nodes (or End Devices) are sensors
suitable for the purposes of farming methods or actuators… End Nodes will collect the data from the
environment and push them on the network. On the
In order to effectively deploy IoT systems, other hand, End Nodes can get the control commands
communication technology is the backbone for the from users and execute them (such as turn on/off the
development of modern IoT systems. New relays, adjust the motor's speed…).
communication technologies not only ensure smooth
2021 International STEM Education Conference (iSTEM-Ed 2021)
November 10-12, 2021, Pattaya, THAILAND
Students can connect sensors to the kit via the Sensor
Connector module. The I2C and SPI connections are
implemented in this module. For some kinds of analog
sensors, students can connect to the analog pin of the
microcontroller directly.
A Power Amplifier is designed to be able to control
any type of actuator. We use the D4184 MOSFET to
support the control current up to 40A. Therefore,
Figure 1. The proposed IoT system components.
students can connect many kinds of DC motors, step
motors, or servo motors.
In our platform, End Node will be designed as a A prototype of the End Node kit is shown in Figure 3.
development kit so the student can attach any type of
sensors and also actuators. With this End Node kit,
students can learn about the embedded system as a part
of IoT. This dev-kit is designed as an open system so
students can build up an embedded system adapt to the
requirements from projects easily.
LoRaWAN Gateways are the bridge between Lora
End Nodes and the Network. End Nodes use low
power networks like LoRaWAN to connect to the
Gateway, while the Gateway uses high bandwidth
Figure 3. The 3D model and the prototype of the End Node kit.
networks like WiFi, Ethernet, or Cellular to connect to
the Network. To receive information from the End
IV. IMPLEMENTING LORAWAN GATEWAY
Nodes, gateways are equipped with a LoRa
concentrator and can, in essence, be considered as a Typically, large-scale LoRa systems run on multiple
router of sorts. gateways. The maximum number of sensors or devices
per gateway depends on several factors such as data
All gateways within reach of an end node will receive
rate and packet size but can reach hundreds or even
the device’s messages and forward them to the
thousands per single gateway.
network. The network will deduplicate the messages
and select the best gateway to forward any messages A gateway is typically a physical box or enclosure
queued for downlink. containing application hardware and software that
perform the essential tasks of connecting End Nodes
III. DESIGNING END NODE KIT to the cloud.
The End Node kit is designed based on Arduino to A. How do gateways work?
reuse the libraries of this platform. The ATMega328
microcontroller is used to ensure the performance of Gateways are routers equipped with a LoRa
the system and the hardware resources for large concentrator, allowing them to receive LoRa packets.
projects. We can usually find two kinds of gateways:
For the LoRa connection, we use the SX1278 LoRa - Gateways running on minimal firmware, making
module from Semtech to have a good distance them low-cost and easy to use, running only the
connection while keeping the power consumption low. packet forwarding software.
The block diagram of this End Node kit is shown in - Gateways running an operating system, for which
Figure 2. the packet forwarding software is run as a
background program. This gives more liberty to
the gateway administrator to manage their
gateway and to install their own software
Figure 2. Block diagram of the End Node kit.
The kit also has a USB to UART converter (using
CH340) to provide a simple method for students to
program or debug the source code. Figure 4. The LoRa Gateway with Raspberry Pi.
2021 International STEM Education Conference (iSTEM-Ed 2021)
November 10-12, 2021, Pattaya, THAILAND
We designed a single LoRa Gateway using an The End Node kit will connect to the Gateways and
embedded computer Raspberry Pi 4B together with send some testing data to the Cloud Network Server.
Raspberry Pi SX127X GPS HAT (is based on the In this case, we use the service of The Things Network
SX1276/SX1278 transceiver) to receive information to test the signal strength of the connection. The signal
from the End Nodes and use RPI's inbuilt operating strength can be shown on the TTN-Mapper software as
system (Debian Linux) to design service software that in Figure 6.
forwards received data to the network (Figure 4).
From the testing results, we can see that the signal
B. Cloud Network Server - Application Server strength is strong and stable in an area with a 500
meters radius around the gateway.
At Cloud Network Server, we design services software
running in the background to receive incoming data V. APPLICATIONS IN STEM TEACHING AND
from the LoRa Gateway (This is data received from LEARNING
sensors at IoT devices/End Nodes) by UDP Datagram
packets, analytic and store them into the database A. IoT Course in Information Technology
system to serve for mining and analysis from The design of lab lessons to teach IoT experiments for
Application Servers (Figure 5). university students is used according to the level of
complexity which ranges from easy to difficult and
Project-based learning (PBL) approach. To effectively
implement projects engaging students’ interest and
motivating them to explore for a deeper understanding
of the given requirements (Student-centered learning -
SCL). PBL typically involves following steps:
1. Project requirements
2. Analyze requirements, design diagrams, and
algorithms
3. Discussion, solutions
Figure 5. The service’s software and application server. 4. Construction, programming, and testing
5. Write results report
The service's software uses the UDP (User Datagram We have designed three projects as following and
Protocol) protocol to receive data as quickly as depicted in Figure 7:
possible from the LoRa Gateway and store them in the
database.
We use NoSQL databases specifically MongoDB for
storage, due to the nature of NoSQL that optimizes for
large volumes of data, low latency, and especially does
not need data consistency.
Application Servers will access the database, process,
and analyze functions to provide services related to the
information received and return the processed results
to the end-user.
Figure 7. Suggested knowledge in information technology lectures
The goal of project 1: Collect data from sensors such
as humidity sensor, CO2, .. and program
communication with LoRaWAN network to send the
received data to Gateway.
The goal of project 2: Basic communication with an
Figure 6. Signal strength map of the connection between End Node
embedded computer system - Raspberry Pi, receiving
kit and Gateway. data from the digital signal ports of the RPI device,
transmitting and receiving data through LoRaWAN
To test the operations of this platform, we have already communication, and forwarding data received from
deployed some Gateways at Hue University of IoT Devices/ End Nodes to the cloud network system
Sciences’ Campus. by UDP protocol.
2021 International STEM Education Conference (iSTEM-Ed 2021)
November 10-12, 2021, Pattaya, THAILAND
The goal of project 3: Transmit and receive data from shared with the team, so that they can quickly evaluate
the IoT Gateway via UDP communication, store the and choose the design plan.
received information into the database system, and
program supporting APIs for applications that need to With the above application support, students have a
variety of options in many practical environments
process and analyze data for specific goals.
from indoor and outdoor of the construction site and
B. IoT Course in Electronics many different works to compare. In addition,
students' knowledge for understanding the basic
With two deployed gateways at HUS, students can operating mechanism of smart equipment of the
implement some simple IoT projects to learn about building such as air conditioning system, ventilation
IoT, LoRa wireless technology, embedded systems… fan, heat shock warning between indoor and outdoor
Students can use the End Node kit to measure the spaces. From there, students will have more practical
humidity and temperature in a room by using a DHT11 applications for their designs.
sensor, send the data to Network Server through the A limitation of the test is only 3 out of 5 elements of
LoRa gateways, and display them in a mobile app or the psychrometric chart due to sensor conditions
web app. support, however with the scope of practice and
comparison of different construction characteristics
still ensure the quality of the assessment for the
students.
VI. CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK
This paper presented the design and building of IoT kít
based on LoRaWAN communication network. The
Figure 8. An example Dashboard from a student’s project to kits have been used in teaching and learning in
display the humidity and temperature of a room. interdisciplinary training programs in HUS.
Students also implement a smart agriculture farm in The whole process of building the IoT kits is not only
which the sensors measure soil moisture and send them about technology and engineering but also the
to the server. Users can decide to turn on or off the pedagogic aspect. The SCL and PBL approaches that
water pump through a click on their computer or we applied to this IoT platform design and
implementation through learning projects with the
mobile.
proactive participation of students and lecturers are
C. Application of LoraWan IoT supporting students’ quite effectively and practically proved.
practice in Physical Architecture course One of the most typical interdisciplinary programs in
The practice course using IoT platform for evaluating HUS is civil engineering in which IoT systems will be
the current conditions of assessing the current state of used for designing modern buildings and smart homes.
thermal comfort conditions for the construction. In Mastering the IoT systems and platforms from design
which, humidity, temperature and velocity are three to implementation would be crucial in developing the
factors that affect the human comfort heat. For teaching and learning materials. Our IoT platform
architecture students with traditional teaching methods contains hardware and software components which are
based on hand-held measuring devices and comparing designed and developed by our staff with a wide range
psychrometric charts to experimentally determine a of domain applications such as environmental
comfortable thermal environment in the design. monitoring, smart cities, agriculture, and particularly
However, the disadvantage of this traditional method civil engineering as an important interdisciplinary
is that it is difficult for students to visualize data and training program in HUS.
illustrations over a period of time as well as
experimental space, and it is difficult to measure many ACKNOWLEDGMENT
points to compare the results. different programs. This work has been supported by Hue University
research grants numbered DHH2020-01-172 and
DHH2021-2803 (reg. nr.).
REFERENCES
[1] Kevin Ashton, “That ‘Internet of Things’ Thing”, RFID
Journal, 2009.
[2] Hong Quy Vo, Tri Dinh Nguyen (HUSC), Thi Hong Tran
(NAIST), Xuan Vinh Dang (HUSC), Yasuhiko Nakashima
(NAIST), “An IoT Monitoring Prototype System for Smart Farm
Figure 8. Suggested application of LoraWan IoT supporting Using Zigbee and Raspberry Pi Module”, IEICE, Print edition: ISSN
students’ practice in Physical Architecture course 0913-5685 Online edition: ISSN 2432-6380, 2017.
[3] Bushra Rashid, Mubashir Husain Rehmani, “Applications of
Using this LoRaWAN IoT system, the practice and wireless sensor networks for urban areas: A survey”, Journal of
monitoring work of students is extended easily from a Network and Computer Applications, vol. 60, pp. 192-219, 2016.
distance, the data is streamed, and the results are [4] Semtech Corporation, “LoRa and LoRaWan: A technical
overview”, Semtech, 2019.
