DRAGINO LDDS20 LoRaWAN Ultrasonic Liquid Level Sensor User Manual

LoRaWAN Liquid Level Sensor User Manual
Document Version: 1.1.1
Image Version: v1.0

Introduction

1.1 What is LoRaWAN Ultrasonic liquid level sensor

The Dragino LDDS20 is a LoRaWAN Ultrasonic liquid level sensor for the Internet of Things solution. It uses a non-contact method to measure the height of liquid in a  container without opening the container and sending the value via LoRaWAN network to IoT Server
The LDDS20 sensor is installed directly below the container to detect the height of the liquid level. The user doesn’t need to open a hole in the container to be tested. The none-contact measurement makes the measurement safety, easier and possible for some strict situations.
LDDS20 uses ultrasonic sensing technology for distance measurement. LDDS20 is of high accuracy to measure various liquids such as: toxic substances, strong acids, strong alkalis, and various pure liquids in high-temperature and high- pressure airtight containers.
The LoRa wireless technology used in LDDS20 allows devices to send data and reach extremely long ranges at low data rates. It provides an ultra-long range spread spectrum
communication and high interference immunity whilst minimizing current consumption.
LDDS20 is powered by an 8500mA Li-SOCI2 battery; It is designed for long-term use up to 10 years.
Each LDDS20 pre-loads with a set of unique keys for LoRaWAN registrations, register these keys to the local LoRaWAN server and it will auto-connect if there is network coverage, after power on.
Actually lifetime depends on network coverage and uplink interval and other factors

LDDS20 in a LoRaWAN Network

1.2 Features

• LoRaWAN 1.0.3 Class A
• Ultra-low power consumption
• Liquid Level Measurement by Ultrasonic technology
• Measure through the container, No need to contact Liquid.
• Valid level range 20mm – 2000mm
•  Accuracy: ±(5mm+S*0.5%) (S: Measure Value)
•  Cable Length : 25cm
• Bands: CN470/EU433/KR920/US915/EU868/AS923/AU915/IN865
• AT Commands to change parameters
• Uplink on periodically
•  Downlink to change configure
•  IP66 Waterproof Enclosure
• 8500mAh Battery for long term use

1.3 Suitable Container & Liquid 

• Solid Wall containers such as steel, iron, glass, ceramics, non-foaming plastics, etc.

• The container shape is regular, and the surface is smooth.

• Container Thickness:
  ✓ Pure metal material. 2~8mm, best is 3~5mm
  ✓ Pure non metal material: <10 mm

• Pure liquid without irregular deposition.

1.4 Mechanical

1.5 Install LDDS20
Step 1: Choose the installation point.

LDDS20 MUST be installed on the container’s bottom middle position.

Step 2: Polish the installation point. For Metal Surface with paint, it is important to polish the surface, first use crude sandpaper to polish the paint level, then use exquisite sandpaper to polish the metal level to make it shine & smooth.
No polish is needed if the container is a shiny metal surface without paint or a non-metal container.![DRAGINO LDDS20 LoRaWAN Ultrasonic Liquid Level Sensor

• container](https://manuals.plus/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DRAGINO-LDDS20 -LoRaWAN-Ultrasonic-Liquid-Level-Sensor-container-527x550.png)

Step3: Test the installation point.
Power on LDDS75, check if the blue LED is on, If the blue LED is on, means the sensor works. Then put ultrasonic coupling paste on the sensor and put it tightly on the installation point.
It is necessary to put the coupling paste between the sensor and the container, otherwise, LDDS20 won’t detect the liquid level.

After pasting the LDDS20 well, power on LDDS20. In the first 30 seconds of booting, the device will check the status of the sensor, and the BLUE LED will show the status as below. After 30 seconds, BLUE LED will be off to save battery life.

LED Status:

• Onboard LED: When power on the device, the onboard LED will fast blink 4 times which means detecting the sensor well.
• BLUE LED always ON: The sensor is powered on but doesn’t detect liquid. There is a problem with the installation point.
• BLUE LED slowly blinking: Sensor detects Liquid Level, The installation point is good. LDDS20 will enter into low power mode at 30 seconds after a system reset or power on, Blue LED will be off after that.

Note 2:
Ultrasonic coupling paste is subjected in most shipping ways. So the default package doesn’t include it and the user needs to purchase locally.
Step4: Install use Epoxy ab glue. Prepare Epoxy AB glue. Put Epoxy AB glue in the sensor and press it hard on the container installation point. Reset LDDS20 and see if the BLUE LED is slowly blinking.

Note1:
Epoxy AB glue needs 3~ 5 minutes to be stable attached. we can use other glue material to keep it in position.
Note 2:
Epoxy AB glue is subjected in most shipping ways. So the default package doesn’t include it and the user needs to purchase locally.

1.6 Applications

• Smart liquid control solution.
• Smart liquefied gas solution.

1.7 Precautions

• At room temperature, containers of different materials, such as steel, glass, iron, ceramics, non-foamed plastics, and other dense materials have different detection blind areas and detection limit heights.
• For containers of the same material at room temperature, the detection blind zone and detection limit height are also different for the thickness of the container.
• When the detected liquid level exceeds the effective detection value of the sensor, and the liquid level of the liquid to be measured shakes or tilts, the detected liquid height is unstable.

Configure LDDS20 to connect to the LoRaWAN network

2.1 How it works

The LDDS20 is configured as LoRaWAN OTAA Class A mode by default. It has OTAA keys to join the LoRaWAN network. To connect a LoRaWAN network, you need to input the OTAA keys in the LoRaWAN IoT server and power on the LDDS20. If there is coverage of the LoRaWAN network, it will automatically join the network via OTAA and start to send the sensor value In case you can’t set the OTAA keys in the LoRaWAN OTAA server, and you have to use the keys from the server, you can use AT Commands to set the keys in the LDDS20.

2.2 Quick guide to connect to LoRaWAN server (OTAA)
Following is an example of how to join the TTN LoRaWAN Network. Below is the network structure; we use the LG308 as a LoRaWAN gateway in this example.

LDDS20 in a LoRaWAN Network

The LG308 is already set to connect to the TTN network, so what we need to do now is configure the TTN server.

Step 1: Create a device in TTN with the OTAA keys from LDDS20. Each LDDS20 is shipped with a sticker with the default device keys, user can find this sticker in the box. it looks like below.

For OTAA registration, we need to set APP EUI/ APP KEY/ DEV EUI. Some servers might not need to set APP EUI.
Enter these keys in the LoRaWAN Server portal. Below is TTN screenshot:

Add APP EUI in the application

Add APP KEY and DEV EUI

Step 2: Power on LDDS20
Put a Jumper on JP2 to power on the device. ( The switch must be set in FLASH position).
Step 3: The LDDS20 will auto-join to the TTN network. After join success, it will start to upload messages to TTN and you can see the messages in the panel.

2.3 Uplink Payload
LDDS20 will uplink payload via LoRaWAN with below payload format: Uplink payload includes in total 5 bytes.
2.3.1 Battery Info
Check the battery voltage for LDDS20.
Ex1: 0x0B45 = 2885mV
Ex2: 0x0B49 = 2889mV
2.3.2 Liquid height
Get the distance. Flat object range 20mm – 2000mm.
For example, if the data you get from the register is 0x06 0x05, the distance between the
sensor and the measured object is
0605(H) = 1541 (D) = 1541 mm.
If the sensor value is 0x0000, it means the system doesn’t detect ultrasonic sensors.
If the sensor value is lower than 0x0014 (20mm), the sensor value will be invalid.
2.3.3 Decode payload in The Things Network
While using the TTN network, you can add the payload format to decode the payload.

The payload decoder function for TTN is here: LDDS20 TTN Payload Decoder:

http://www.dragino.com/downloads/index.php?dir=LoRa_End_Node/LDDS20/Payload_Decoder/

2.4 Downlink Payload
By default, LDDS20 prints the downlink payload to the console port.

Examples
Set TDC
If the payload=0100003C, it means set the END Node’s TDC to 0x00003C=60(S), while type code is 01.
Payload: 01 00 00 1E TDC=30S
Payload: 01 00 00 3C TDC=60S
Reset
If payload = 0x04FF, it will reset the LDDS20
CFM
Downlink Payload: 05000001, Set AT+CFM=1 or 05000000 , set AT+CFM=0

2.5 Show Data in Mydevices IoT Server
My devices provide a human-friendly interface to show the sensor data, once we have data in TTN, we can use My devices to connect to TTN and see the data in My devices. Below are the steps:
Step 1: Be sure that your device is programmed and properly connected to the network at this time.
Step 2: To configure the Application to forward data to My devices you will need to add integration. To add the My devices integration, perform the following steps:

Step 3: Create an account or log in to My devices.
Step 4: Search the LDDS75 and add DevEUI.
(Note: LDDS20 use the same payload as LDDS75)
After added, the sensor data arrive TTN, it will also arrive and show in My devices.

2.6 LED Indicator
The LDDS20 has an internal LED which is to show the status of different states.

•  Blink once when the device powered on.
• The device detects the sensor and flashes 5 times.
•  Solid ON for 5 seconds once the device successfully Joins the network.
• Blink once when the device transmits a packet.

2.7 Firmware Change Log

Firmware download link:
http://www.dragino.com/downloads/index.php?dir=LoRa_End_Node/LSE01/Firmware/

Firmware Upgrade Method:
http://wiki.dragino.com/index.php?title=Firmware_Upgrade_Instruction_for_STM32_base_products#Introduction

2.8 Battery Analysis
2.8.1 Battery Type
The LDDS20 battery is a combination of an 8500mAh Li/SOCI2 Battery and a Super Capacitor.
The battery is a non-rechargeable battery type with a low discharge rate (<2% per year). This type of battery is commonly used in IoT devices such as water meters.

The battery is designed to last for more than 10 years for the LDDS20.
The battery-related documents are as below:

• Battery Dimension,
• Lithium-Thionyl Chloride Battery datasheet
• Lithium-ion Battery-Capacitor datasheet,

2.8.2 Power consumption Analyze

The file DRAGINO_LDDS20-Power-Analyzer.pdf from
http://www.dragino.com/downloads/index.php?dir=LoRa_End_Node/LDDS20/ describes a detailed measurement to analyze the power consumption in different cases. Users can use it for design guidelines for their projects.

2.8.3 Battery Note
The Li-SICO battery is designed for small current / long period applications. It is not good to use a high current, short period transmission method. The recommended minimum period for use of this battery is 5 minutes. If you use a shorter period of time to uplink data, then the battery life may be decreased.
2.8.4 Replace the battery
You can change the battery in the NBSN95. The type of battery is not limited as long as the output is between 3v to 3.6v. On the mainboard, there is a diode (D1) between the battery and the main circuit. If you need to use a battery with less than 3.3v, please remove the D1 and shortcut the two pads of it so there won’t be a voltage drop between the battery and the mainboard. The default battery pack of NBSN95 includes an ER26500 plus supercapacitor. If users can’t find this pack locally, they can find ER26500 or equivalence without the SPC1520 capacitor, which will also work in most cases. The SPC can enlarge the battery life for high-frequency use (update period below 5 minutes)

Using the AT Commands

3.1 Access AT Commands
LDDS20 supports AT Command set in the stock firmware. You can use a USB to TTL adapter to connect to LDDS20 for using AT command, as below.
Or if you have below the board, use the below connection:
In the PC, you need to set the serial baud rate to 9600 to access the serial console for LDDS20. LDDS20 will output system info once power on as below:
Below are the available commands, a more detailed AT Command manual can be found at AT Command Manual:
http://www.dragino.com/downloads/index.php?dir=LoRa_End_Node/LDDS20/

AT+?
AT+
AT+=
AT+=?| : Help on
: Run
: Set the value
: Get the value
---|---

General Commands

AT
AT?
ATZ
AT+TDC| : Attention
: Short Help
: MCU Reset
: Application Data Transmission Interval
---|---

Keys, IDs and EUIs management

AT+APPEUI
AT+APPKEY
AT+APPSKEY
AT+DADDR
AT+DEUI
AT+NWKID
AT+NWKSKEY
AT+CFM
AT+CFS
AT+JOIN
AT+NJM
AT+NJS
AT+RECV
AT+RECVB
AT+SEND
AT+SENB| : Application EUI
: Application Key
: Application Session Key
: Device Address
: Device EUI
: Network ID (You can enter this command change only after successful network connection)
: Network Session Key Joining and sending date on LoRa network
: Confirm Mode
: Confirm Status
: Join LoRa? Network
: LoRa? Network Join Mode
: LoRa? Network Join Status
: Print Last Received Data in Raw Format
:Print Last Received Data in Binary Format
: Send Text Data
: Send Hexadecimal Data
---|---

LoRa Network Management

AT+ADR
AT+CLASS
AT+DCS
AT+DR
AT+FCD
AT+FCU
AT+JN1DL
AT+JN2DL
AT+PNM
AT+RX1DL
AT+RX2DL
AT+RX2DR
AT+RX2FQ
AT+TXP| : Adaptive Rate
: LoRa Class(Currently only support class A
: Duty Cycle Setting
: Data Rate (Can Only be Modified after ADR=0)
: Frame Counter Downlink
: Frame Counter Uplink
: Join Accept Delay1
: Join Accept Delay2
: Public Network Mode
: Receive Delay1
: Receive Delay2
: Rx2 Window Data Rate
: Rx2 Window Frequency
: Transmit Power
---|---

Information

AT+RSSI
AT+SNR
AT+VER
AT+FDR
AT+PORT
AT+CHS
AT+CHE| : RSSI of the Last Received Packet
: SNR of the Last Received Packet
: Image Version and Frequency Band
: Factory Data Reset
: Application Port
: Get or Set Frequency (Unit: Hz) for Single Channel Mode
: Get or Set eight channels mode, Only for US915, AU915, CN470
---|---

FAQ

4.1 What is the frequency plan for LDDS20?
LDDS20 uses the same frequency as other Dragino products. Users can see the detail from this link:
http://wiki.dragino.com/index.php?title=End_Device_Frequency_Band#Introduction

4.2 How to change the LoRa Frequency Bands/Region?
You can follow the instructions for how to upgrade the image.
When downloading the images, choose the required image file for download.

Trouble Shooting

5.1 Why I can’t join TTN in US915 / AU915 bands?
It is due to channel mapping. Please see the below link:
http://wiki.dragino.com/index.php?title=LoRaWAN_Communication_Debug#Notice_of_US915.2FCN470.2FAU915_Frequency_band

5.2 AT Command input doesn’t work
In this case, if the user can see the console output but can’t type input to the device. Please check if you already include the ENTER while sending out the command. Some serial tool doesn’t send ENTER while pressing the send key, the user needs to add ENTER in their string.

Order Info

Part Number: LDDS20-XX
XX: The default frequency band

• AS923: LoRaWAN AS923 band
• AU915: LoRaWAN AU915 band
• EU433: LoRaWAN EU433 band
• EU868: LoRaWAN EU868 band
• KR920: LoRaWAN KR920 band
• US915: LoRaWAN US915 band
• IN865: LoRaWAN IN865 band
• CN470: LoRaWAN CN470 band

Packing Info

Package Includes:

• LDDS20 LoRaWAN Liquid Level Sensor x 1

Note:
Ultrasonic coupling paste and Epoxy AB glue are subjected in most shipping ways. So the default package doesn’t include it and the user needs to purchase locally.

Dimension and weight:

• Device Size: cm
• Device Weight: g
• Package Size / pcs : cm
• Weight / pcs : g

Support

● Support is provided Monday to Friday, from 09:00 to 18:00 GMT+8. Due to different timezones, we cannot offer live support. However, your questions will be answered as
soon as possible in the before-mentioned schedule.
● Provide as much information as possible regarding your inquiry (product models, accurately describe your problem and steps to replicate it, etc) and send a mail to

support@dragino.com
LDDS20 LoRaWAN Liquid Level Sensor User Manual

References

• Dragino :: Open Source WiFi, Linux Appliance
• Dragino Download Server ./downloads/datasheet/Battery/ER26500/
• Dragino Download Server ./downloads/LoRa_End_Node/LDDS20/
• Dragino Download Server ./downloads/LoRa_End_Node/LSE01/
• Dragino Download Server ./downloads/LoRa_End_Node/LSE01/Firmware/
• Dragino Download Server ./downloads/LoRa_End_Node/LSE01/Payload_Decoder/
• LG308 Indoor LoRaWAN Gateway
• The Things Network
• The Things Network

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