eLICHENS LoRaWAN CO2 Wireless Multi Room Sensor User Manual

eLICHENS LoRaWAN CO2 Wireless Multi Room Sensor

Introduction

Aura-CO2 is a five+ year battery-operated connected CO2 monitor measuring in real time carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, pressure and relative humidity. Data is displayed on a large e-Paper screen and on the online dashboard when Aura-CO2 is connected to the Lora WAN network. End users can customize sound & visual alarms through the eLichens Aura smartphone application. Aura-CO2 is including the 20+ years lifetime eLichens Foxberry CO2 gas sensor, the cutting-edge dual-channel NDIR (Non-dispersive Infrared) gas sensors integrated in a small and compact form factor, based on eLichens’ patented technology including the proprietary IR micro-source, patented optical design and advanced signal processing algorithms. Using the auto- calibrated Foxberry gas sensor ultra-low power mode, Aura-CO2 reaches more than 5 years on battery without recharging, maintenance or calibration.

Studies showed that there is a relationship between the ambient CO2 level and the need for air renewal. The CO2 level is linked to the number of people in a room. The higher the level, the greater the risk of transmission of pathogens and viruses such as coronavirus. Aura-CO2 alerts users when the CO2 level is too high. By optimally adjusting the ventilation and air conditioning system, the user can ensure good indoor air quality at all times and prevent the transmission of pathogens. This reduces the risk of infection by diseases such as COVID-19.

Features

Product:

• CO2, ambient temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure sensors.
• paper screen for a clear display of relevant information.
• Configurable visual and audible CO2 level alarms.
• Lora WAN & Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity.
• Compact size, wall mounted and battery powered for an easy installation.
• Maintenance free.
• More than 5 years run time without changing batteries.
• Aura CO2 can be installed on the wall and can be secured with the anti-theft mounting base or freestanding on a table/desk.

Ecosystem:

• Easy configuration with our iOS and Android mobile application and BLE.
• Unlimited cloud storage, accessible through API and dashboards.
• Web and mobile data visualization applications.

Applications

• Indoor air quality monitoring for schools, offices, homes, stores, …
• Air purification control
• Demand control ventilation
• HVAC management

When the CO2 concentration alert level is exceeded, colors on the e-paper screen are reversed to warn you.

 Specifications

Operating conditions

Environment| Indoor
Temperature range| 0-50°C
Humidity range (1)| 0-85%RH
Lifetime| >10 years

Non-condensing

Power supply

Battery type| 2 x 3.6V AA Lithium Batteries
Battery Lifetime (2)| >5 years

Contact eLichens for replacement batteries.

Mechanical

Dimensions| 92 x 60 x 30 mm3
Mounting options| Wall-mounted (anti-theft system option) Stands on a flat surface table
Screen dimensions| 73mm (2.9’’)
CO 2 Sensor

Technology| eLichens Proprietary patented low-power NDIR
Measurement Range| 400 – 5000ppm
Absolute Accuracy| ±30ppm ±3% of reading
Output Resolution| 10 ppm

Aura is equipped with Foxberry CO2 gas sensor, the eLichens best in class ultra-low power NDIR sensor, already used by key players in HVAC, safety and industrial markets. Foxberry sensors are designed to accurately monitor Air Quality over time with ZERO drift through its innovative self-calibration system.

Temperature Sensor

Absolute Accuracy| ±0.5°C at 25°C and ±1.0°C in the full range
Output Resolution| 0.1°C
Humidity sensor

Absolute Accuracy| ±3% RH
Output Resolution| 1% RH
Pressure sensor

Absolute Accuracy| ±1 hPa
Output Resolution| 1 hPa
LoRaWAN

Protocol version (3)| LoRaWAN 1.0.2
Device class| A
Features| OTAA, ADR, Adaptative Channel Setup

Regions

| US (902-928 MHz)

EU (863-870 MHz)

AS (923 MHz)

Report interval (4)| Upload 4 measures every hour = one measure every

15 minutes

Payload| Status, CO2, Temperature, Humidity, Pressure,

Battery

• Disable by default. Activation via the app.
• User can modify Lora WAN uplink rate from 5 minutes to 60 minutes. If AURA is disconnected from LoRaWAN network, it will keep one measure every 15 minutes for 3 weeks.

With the LoRaWAN network, Aura is connected anywhere to the cloud, NO WIFI is required.

Available services over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

Protocol version| BLE V4.2
Services|

• Activate / Deactivate LoRaWAN provisioning
• Get device informat
• Get / display measures
• Set CO2 alarm threshold
• Enable / Disable audible alarm
• Synchronize date and time
• Set date format
• Set Temperature unit
• Launch a manual calibration procedure
• Upload 21 days of data to eLichens Cloud
• Upgrade Firm ward
• Change LoRaWAN uplinks frequency
• Activate / Deactivate Power Saving Mode
• Restore sensor factory calibration
• Modify LED duration
• Modify LED blinking frequency

With BLE connectivity, Aura communicates directly with any Bluetooth connected device and allows users to access settings. Please note every command sent through BLE connectivity are also available within LoRaWAN downlinks.

Data Storage

On device| 3 weeks, one measure every 15 minutes
e-Paper screen data refreshment

Above alarm threshold| 1 minute
Below alarm threshold| 1 minute
LED On Time

By default| 200 ms
Custom (5)| 0 .. 2000 ms

• Please note change LED On time will impact AURA autonomy

LED Blinking Frequency

By default| 1 minute above alarm threshold

5 minutes below alarm threshold

Custom (5)| 1 .. 120 min

• Please note change LED On time will impact AURA autonomy

Alarm Threshold

By default| 1000 ppm
Custom| 600 .. 2000 ppm

 Aura-CO2 at a glance

Two AA Lithium batteries provide more than 5 years of autonomy to Aura-CO2. The batteries are already installed, a short press on the user button and the device will start. Air quality data will automatically be collected in the room and sent through the LoRaWAN network. Measures are updated every minute on screen. User can press the button to refresh screen displayed measures. One should press user button during around 10 seconds, until hearing two beeps. One short press is enough to turn on the device. Two touches on the user button display the serial number QR code, also in the back cover. Two touches on the user button to go back to the former display. Three touches on user button allow to change between PPM display Mode and Smiley Display mode.

Smiley Mode

Please note in this picture CO2 alarm threshold is set to 1000 ppm- changeable by user .

Power Saving Mode

Power saving mode allows AURA to increase battery lifetime. One can activate/deactivate it within the mobile app. When activated, a “moon” and sleeping icons “ ” appear on screen, display is not refreshed anymore, and LEDs doesn’t blink from 8PM to 6AM and the whole Sunday (customizable). Data are still being recorded and LoRaWAN uplinks sent.

Configuration

Configuration of the product can be performed thanks to a mobile application available on Android and iOS. The links are hereafter, or it can be found by using the keywords “eLichens aura”.

Note: Smartphone Bluetooth must be ON.

User manual – LoRaWAN CO2 sensor

• To use the mobile application, an account needs to be created, or an existing eLichens account can be used.
• When choosing a password, the following rules have to be followed:
• At least 8 characters
• At least 1 lower case letter [a-z]
• At least 1 upper case letter [A-Z]
• At least 1 number [0-9]
• At least 1 special character [$@$!%*#?&,;]
• The account can be created directly on eLichens’ Cloud too: https://lab.elichens.com/register/

Station connection is performed through Bluetooth, by selecting “Add a new station” on the “Stations” screen.

After having selected “Add a new station”, Bluetooth needs to be turned ON on the station. To do so, a long press (>3 seconds) on the user button is required. A short beep will be heard, and the Bluetooth icon will be displayed on the station’s screen.

User manual – LoRaWAN CO2 sensor

1.  Station ID will display in the browse menu,
2. Station pairing is performed (it can take up to 10 seconds),
3. The settings page opens, allowing the user to configure the station.

User manual – LoRaWAN CO2 sensor

Station settings

There are several ways to configure AURA CO2 presets. Either user can use existing settings, or he can custom his configuration.

Default Configuration :

• Sleep mode is disabled
• LoRaWAN uplinks frequency is set to 60 minutes
• LEDs are set as follows:
  • Green: blinks 0,1 second every 5 minutes
  • Orange: blinks 0,1 second every 5 minutes
  • Red: blinks 0,1 second every minute
• Alarm threshold is set to 1000 ppm

Applications :

• Air quality monitoring in offices, meeting room, shops, homes ….

School Configuration :

• Sleep mode is activated
  • Aura won’t display neither CO2 concentration nor smiley (see Power Saving Mode) every working day from 7 PM to 7 AM, and the whole Saturday and Sunday.
  • LoRaWAN uplinks frequency is set to 60 minutes
  • LEDs are set as follows:
  • Green: blinks 0,2 seconds every 5 minutes
  • Orange: blinks 0,7 seconds every 5 minutes
  • Red: blinks 1 seconds every 5 minutes
• Alarm threshold is set to 1000 ppm

Applications :

• Air quality monitoring in schools, nurseries, kindergarten ….

Monitoring Configuration:

• Sleep mode is disabled
• LoRaWAN uplinks frequency is set to 5 minutes
• LEDs are set as follows:
  • Green: blinks 0,2 seconds every 5 minutes
  • Orange: blinks 0,7 seconds every 5 minutes
  • Red: blinks 1 seconds every minute
• Alarm threshold is set to 1000 ppm

Applications : Demand on control ventilation, building air quality monitoring, air stuffiness diagnostic.

User manual – LoRaWAN CO2 sensor

Advanced Configuration

1. LoRaWAN configuration view :
   • Activate / Deactivate LoRaWAN reporting (1)
   • Get DevEUI
   • Change LoRaWAN uplinks frequency
2. CO2 alarm
   • Configure alarm threshold
   • Activate / deactivate buzzer
3.  CO2 calibration
   • Activate / deactivate and set automatic calibration
   • Trig a manual calibration
   • Restore factory calibration settings
4. Configure hours and days when Aura goes to sleep mode (see §Sleep Mode)
5. Change date and time display format. Change temperature unit
6. LEDs configuration
   • Change LED On (from 0 second to 2 seconds)
   • Change blinking frequency (from 1 minute to 120 minutes)
   • These settings are appliable for every color, red, orange and green
7. Activate / deactivate data recording (activate by default, records up to 21 days of data with one measure every 15 minutes)
8. Device info
   • Get model name
   • Get Serial Number
   • Get Firmware version
   • Get Hardware version
   • Get manufacturer name
   • Get date and day number (1 for Monday, 2 for Tuesday …)

• Activate / Deactivate LoRaWAN reporting is the equivalent to force a LoRaWAN join request.

Sleep mode

1. Start Hour: Hour when Aura will go to sleep mode
2. End Hour: Hour when Aura will go out of sleep mode
3. Start Minute: Minute when Aura goes to sleep mode, following start hour
4. End Minute: Minute when Aura goes out of sleep mode, following end hour.
5. Full Days: Aura goes to sleep mode the whole day, from 0 AM to 11:59 PM.
6.  In this example, station goes to sleep mode:
   • Every day from 8 PM to 6 AM
   • Monday and Tuesday from 0 AM to 11:59 PM

CO2 calibration

Automatic Calibration

Automatic calibration is based on CO2 minimum values measured within a week (by default, configurable by user). It is strongly advised to let the automatic calibration process effective with a one-week frequency.

Manual Calibration

Manual Calibration first need the user to let AURA station close to a fresh air, where CO2 concentration is closed to CO2 Atmosphere baseline concentration, around 400 ppm. Calibration algorithms use the 10 last minutes of measured data. It is advised to:

• Either by placing AURA at outdoor air, during around 30 minutes
• Either by placing AURA closed to an opened window, during around one hour (to be sure CO2 concentration decrease to 400 ppm)
• Either by placing AURA in a room properly ventilated without any human or animal presence, during several hours (to be sure CO2 concentration decreases to 400 ppm)

If these conditions are not met, manual calibration will disturb sensor values.

Once one of the three conditions is met, user can trig manual calibration within the mobile App.

Restore Factory Calibration

User can restore factory calibration settings by touching this button.

Station settings

The main screen is organized as follow:

Navigation between screen can be performed as follow:

User manual – LoRaWAN CO2 sensor

Station Location

It is possible to geolocate AURA station by giving its location within the mobile App. User needs to activate location on his smartphone, then do the following:

AURA CO2 location allows to:

• Find it on a map within web Dashboards and mobile App
• Get an Outdoor Air Quality Index related to the station location

Example :

• Station is located in Grenoble, France
• Outdoor Air Quality index is displayed on app and dashboards.

This Outdoor Air Quality Index is computed with:

• Reference Air Quality Stations around AURA CO2 location
• Modelling data sources, from several models (including Copernicus)
• eLichens’ own outdoor air quality station, delos, located near AURA CO2 location.

User manual – LoRaWAN CO2 sensor

 ICONE Index

Indoor air containment is based on two terms:

• Available space on the room regarding its occupation
• Room air renewal (or room ventilation). Indoor air containment is CO2 measuring.

ICONE index (also called containment index) gives an information on indoor air quality/ It is based on CO2 values measured during working days, from 9 AM to 5 PM, and its value is included between 0 and 5:

ICONE Index Raw Values|

Containment Nature

|

Information

---|---|---

ICONE Index < 0.5

|

Null

|
0 .5< ICONE Index <

1.5

|

Weak

|
1.5 < ICONE Index < 2.5|

Middle

|
2.5 < ICONE Index < 3.5|

High

|

3.5 < ICONE Index < 4.5

|

Very High

| Warning message for the building manager:

Please ensure the room meets the expected utilization rate.

If the room is equipped with a ventilation system, it is advisable to involve a specialist for an installation check-up.

ICONE >= 4.5

|

Extreme

| Warning message for the building manager:

Please ensure the room meets the expected utilization rate.

If the room is equipped with a ventilation system, it is advisable to involve a specialist for an installation check-up.

__

ICONE Index Raw Values

| __

ICONE Index kept Values

---|---
__

ICONE Index < 0.5

| __

0

__

0 .5< ICONE Index < 1.5

| __

1

__

1.5 < ICONE Index < 2.5

| __

2

__

2.5 < ICONE Index < 3.5

| __

3

__

3.5 < ICONE Index < 4.5

| __

4

__

ICONE >= 4.5

| __

5

 Station Fixation

The station is fixed either with 2 screws or with an optional anti-theft adapter.

Anti-theft Fixation (optional)

Maintenance

No maintenance processes are needed, AURA CO2 station was designed to work more than 10 years without any maintenance or calibration process, except for battery replacement. This replacement must be done by formed employee and batteries must be those specified by supplier. Please contact us for exact references.

LoRaWAN Frames

Uplink Frames

Sent every hour on port 1 without acknowledge.

Sensor information

| CO2

H-

45min

| CO2

H-

30min

| CO2

H-

15min

| CO2

H-

0mim

|

Temperature

|

Humidity

|

Pressure

|

Battery level

---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
1 byte

st

1   bit: alarm

(1=on alarm)

nd

2    bit: detector error

(1=error detected in last hour)

th

3    bit: reserved

4..7: payload version = 2

WARNING: bits are MSB first

| Unit: ppm/10

10 bits * 4 (5 bytes, unsigned)

WARNING: each CO2 value is coded on 10 bits, MSB first.

| Unit: 0.1°C

9 bits unsigned

WARNING:

bits are MSB first

| Unit: %

7 bits unsigned

WARNING

: bits are MSB first

| Unit: hPa

2 bytes unsigned

| Unit: 0.01V (subtracted 1.50V)

1 byte unsigned

Downlink Frames

The product is configurable thanks to downlink frames. All app setups are available with those commands. Those frames are referenced and downloadable following this link. Answer on port 3, without acknowledge.

Web data access

All the collected data can be accessed through a dedicated web interface too, available here: https://lab.elichens.com/ All the connected stations are accessible through the left column. The buttons on the bottom right side of the interface are used to change the history length and a click on “Advanced view” brings the user to an advanced dashboard where data can be exported in a .CSV file.

Can be displayed on multiple Dashboards

Upgrade Firmware

To have the latest Firmware, one should connect a smartphone with AURA app to the concerned station. Then choose “Upgrade” menu:

A warning message pop up on the screen warning about not interrupting update procedure (by disconnecting Bluetooth, rebooting phone, low battery shutting down, closing app …). Once ready, select “Start”.

The upgrade process will go on. Once done, click on the button labelled “Upgrade done”. User shall not interrupt Upgrade Procedure.

Data Update

To update the last 21 days of AURA CO2 data, please connect a smartphone with AURA app to the concerned station. Then choose “Upload data” menu:

A warning message pop up on the screen warning about not interrupting update procedure (by disconnecting Bluetooth, rebooting phone, low battery shutting down, closing app …). Once ready, select “Start”.

For more information, please contact us:

eLichens SA
17 rue Félix Esclangon 38000 Grenoble FRANCE
[email protected]

References

• eLichens - Air Quality Solutions - smart gas sensors and stations
• eLichens
• eLichens

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