AiPi-UNO-ET485 LoRa Expansion Board — AiPi-LoRaBoard

Preface
 
Remember the AiPi-LRW-TH1 board?
Probably not. It was a small, portable board that used the Ra-08 as the main controller, read data from an AHT3x ​​temperature and humidity sensor, and uploaded data via the LoRa protocol. It also supported the LoRaWAN protocol. Because receiving data from the AiPi-LRW-TH1 required a LoRaWAN gateway, but gateways were too expensive, the AiPi-LoRaBoard was created.
 
 
AiPi-LoRaBoard Introduction
 
The AiPi-LoRaBoard is an expansion board for the AiPi-UNO-ET485 development board, featuring a Ra-08 module and a 1.9-inch MIPI-DBI capacitive touchscreen.
The Ra-08 operates in the 410MHz~525MHz frequency band and is compatible with Ra-01/SC, Ra-02, and other LoRa modules. The default antenna is a 433MHz "Little Pepper" antenna (communication distance was not measured). Replacing with the Ra-08H allows the use of the 803MHz~930MHz frequency band.
The 1.9-inch screen uses a MIPI-DBI interface, has 170*320 pixels, and supports capacitive touch.
 
Default firmware descriptions:
 
There are two default firmware versions:

AiPi-LoRaBoard_v0.0.5.bin 
and AiPi_uno_loraBoard.bin

 
. AiPi-LoRaBoard_v0.0.5.bin is the firmware for the Ra-08, which can be configured in two modes: master and slave. When working in master mode, it acts as a gateway, receiving data from slave devices. When working in slave mode, it can actively send data to the master.
AiPi_uno_loraBoard.bin is the firmware for the AiPi-UNO-ET485, whose main function is to configure the Ra-08 as the master and display slave data on the 1.9-inch screen. It also allows setting the Ra-08's operating frequency band and some LoRa parameters, such as the spreading factor. Therefore, this firmware requires the Ra-08 to run the AiPi-LoRaBoard_v0.0.5.bin firmware to work.
 
AiPi-LoRaBoard is
 
recommended for self-organizing networking by default, acting as a gateway. Therefore, the Ra-08 node also needs to have AiPi-LoRaBoard_v0.0.5.bin flashed. Firmware address: https://docs.ai-thinker.com/aipi-loraboard.
After installing the AiPi-LoRaBoard on the AiPi-UNO-ET485 and powering it on, the AiPi-LoRaBoard's LoRa will operate with the following parameters:
 

Frequency (Freq): 470000000
Spreading Factor (SF): 7
Bandwidth (BW): 0
Checksum (CRC): 1

 
The default interface displays data monitoring, showing the data from the AiPi-LRW-TH1 by default.
 
 
Swiping left will take you to the configuration page, where you can configure the main LoRa parameters.
 
 
LoRa Node Usage Instructions :
 
To enable the AiPi-LoRaBoard to receive and display data, you need to burn the AiPi-LoRaBoard_v0.0.5.bin file and configure it in slave mode. After successful burning,
use a serial port assistant to send AT commands (baud rate 115200): AT+MODE=1.
After configuration, the AiPi-LRW-TH1 will automatically send temperature and humidity data to the host.
 
For further
usage information regarding Ra-08, please refer to: Ra-08 Transparent Transmission Firmware Application
Discussion Group. Please contact the forum administrator: IoT Developer Community – Anxinke Forum.
 
Important Note: The BOM in this document is not the final BOM; please apply for it in the discussion group if needed.