pLNetworks PLM150 LoRaWAN Module User Guide

June 6, 2024
pLNetworks

pLNetworks PLM150 LoRaWAN Module

Copyright © 2018 PLNetworks
The information contained herein is the property of PLNetworks and is provided without liability of errors, omissions, and mistakes. No part may be reproduced or copied without written permission or contract.

Revision History

Who Version Date Comment
Beom Kang 1.0 05 18, 2021 Initial release

Introduction

Overview

PLNetworks PLM150 is a Sub-GHz band based wireless communication module for IoT and provides low power, long range wireless connectivity using the LoRa RF transceivers from ST. PLM150 can be interconnected with the CPU (MCU) of the host system through the UART Serial Interface and provides an optimized text command/response interface. With this interface, the host system can configure PLM150 and transmit/receive wireless data.

PLM150 implemented the LoRaWAN protocol for the wireless data transmission, enabling low power, long range two way communications.

The host can transmit commands to PLM150 for the configuration using UART interface. When PLM150 receives the commands, it applies to the configuration setting and sends the result to the host.

Features

  • LoRaTM Radio Transceiver
  • Ultra Low Power & High Performance Microcontroller
  • 6LoWPAN, IPv6, UDP, CoAP, RPL(Cluster tree) (Scheduled)
  • LoRaWAN Spec 1.0.2 Class A/C
  • AES-128 encryption/decryption
  • Interface: I2C, GPIO, UART, ADC
  • Frequency: 902.9~927.3MHz, Data Rate: 0.3kbps~5kbps
  • Range: 15km(LoRa – LOS, 10dBm, 900MHz)
  • Operation Temperature: -20~60 oC

Host Interface

PLM150 connects to the Host, transmit and receive its Commands and Responses over UART using the ASCII interface. The baud rate can be changed for the Console and other external device interfaces.

[ Table 1 UART Configuration ]

Parameter Value
Baudrate 115200
Data bits 8bit
Parity bits None
Stop bits 1bit
Flow control None
GPIO Interface

Various functions can be implemented through GPIO interface in PLM150. Currently, serial enable / disable function is implemented through GPIO 3.

[ Table 2 PIN Description ]

No PIN Name Description


1

| ****


GPIO3

| Control UART1 Serial Rx Enable through GPIO 3 (HIGH : Enable, LOW : Disable)

ex) When AT command is used, GPIO 3 pin is set to HIGH and GPIO3 pin is set to LOW for low

power after AT command use.

Command Interface

PLM150 sends/receives Commands and Responses to the host in AT mode through UART. AT mode is to set the configuration and control the connection by issuing the standard AT commands via a serial interface. PLM150 operates in AT mode after the initial booting. Users can issue the AT commands to receive the current setting values and send the values for the configuration setting. Some of the configuration (value) changes may require to reboot the system, which can be done by issuing the “AT+RSET” command.

AT Commands

Commands Type

All of the AT command lines must start with ‘AT’ prefix and be terminated with

. It supports the command syntax in Table 2. The default setting for the AT commands supports ECHO, and the user can issue “AT+ECHO=0” to stop ECHO. “AT” and are case sensitive for the upper (Capital) and lower characters.

[ Table 3 Command Type ]

Start Command End
AT (0x0d)

The AT command supports Search and Configuration features. The Search AT commands start with “+” followed by the 4 digit string and the Configuration commands contains command values after the Search commands.

[ Table 4 Search & Configuration AT Command]

Search Configuration
+ +=

The following table describes the response message format from the host when Search and Configuration AT commands are issued.

[ Table 5 AT Response Type ]

Start Response Message End
(0x0d, 0x0a) (0x0d, 0x0a)

The response message informs the current configuration values and the updated values after the configuration changes by AT commands. If any fail occurs during the AT command execution, “FAIL” message will be sent as the response message.

System Command

System AT commands executes the PLM150 system configuration.

[ Table 6 System Command ]

Command Function Description
+HELP Help List the AT Commands that PLM150 supports.
+SHOW Show Return the current configuration setting values.
+RSET PLM150 reset Reboot PLM150. Rebooting will take 2 to 3

seconds after issuing the command.



+SLEP

+SLEP=

| ****


Sleep Mode

| Put the system to low-power (Sleep) mode for the specified number of seconds.

Note: AT commands via Console, data sending and receiving will not be executed during the specified

sleep time.

+GEUI| Serial number| Return PLM150 Serial Number(EUI). Read-only


+BATT

| ****

Power Voltage

| Returns the Voltage value of input power. If a

battery is used, the battery power level value will be returned.


+CBAR

+CBAR=

| ****

Console Baudrate

| Configure UART baud rate to the host.  Supporting baud rate: 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600,

115200

: 115200

+UBAR

+UBAR=

| ****


User UART Baudrate

| Configure UART baud rate for a sensor interface (in the event of connecting any sensors).

Supporting baud rate: 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600,

115200

: 9600

+ECHO

+ECHO=1 or 0

| Console Echo

mode

| Console UART Echo mode

(1: enable, 0:disable)

| | : Enable
---|---|---
+DEFL| Default

Configuration

| Reset the system to the factory setting

(applied after rebooting the system).

+UREL

+UREL=1 or 0

| ****

UART Relay

| Return the data inputted to UART0 to the console (UART1) (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Disable

+RXDP

+RXDP=1 or 0

| RX Display| Set the received data format (1: HEX, 0: ASCII)

: ASCII

LoRa RF Command

In the case of LoRaWAN, using the ADR function networks server changes the frequency and LoRa setting value according to the channel environment. However, in order to fix the RF setting directly without using the ADR function, set it through the following command.

[ Table 7 LoRa RF Command ]

Command Function Description


+FREQ

+FREQ=

| ****


RF Frequency

| Configure RF channel (0~7).

As the channel number increases, Starting 923.2MHz, the center frequency increases by 0.2 MHz.

: 923.2MHz

+SPFA

+SPFA=

| ****


Spreading Factor

| Set the value of LoRa Spreading Factor (7~12)

Higher value will result lower data rate but Long distance

: SF10

| | ex) Channel bandwidth 125kHz case
---|---|---
| SF| Data Rate| Rx sensitivity|
7| 5.4kbps| -125
8| 3.1kbps| -128
9| 1.7kbps| -131
10| 0.9kbps| -134
11| 0.5kbps| -136
12| 0.3kbps| -137


+CORA

+CORA=

| ****


Coding Rate

| Set the Coding Rate used for the data sending (1~4)

1: 4/5, 2:4/6, 3:4/7, 4:4/8

: 4/5

+BWTH

+BWTH=

| Channel Bandwidth| Set the Channel bandwidth (0~2) 1: 125kHz, 2: 250kHz, 3:500kHz

: 125KHz






+OPWR

+OPWR=,

| ****







Output Power

| Set the Tx Power

–      Channel : Total 8 Channels (0~7)

–      MaxEIRP : 10 dBm ex) AT+OPWR=0,0

: 0(MaxEIRP)

| Tx Power| Configuration

(EIRP)

|
0| MaxEIRP
1| MaxEIRP – 2dBm
2| MaxEIRP – 4dBm
3| MaxEIRP – 6dBm
4| MaxEIRP – 8dBm
5| MaxEIRP – 10dBm
| | | 6| MaxEIRP – 12dBm|
---|---|---|---|---|---
7| MaxEIRP – 14dBm
+FFRE

+FFRE=1 or 0

| Frequency Force| Whether or not to use default Frequecy (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Disable

+FSPF

+FSPF=1 or 0

| ****


SF Force

| Whether or not to use default LoRa setting (Spreading Factor, Bandwidth ,Coding Rate) (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Disable

+FOPW

+FOPW=1 or 0

| ****

Pa Force

| Whether or not to use default Power setting (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Disable

+FDRT

+FDRT=1 or 0

| ****

Retry Force

| Whether or not to use default Retry setting (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Disable

LoRaWAN Command

[ Table 8 LoRaWAN Command ]

Command Function Description

+AEUI

+AEUI=

| Application EUI| Set the application EUI (8byte hexa)
+APKE

+APKE=

| Application Key| Set the application Key (16byte hexa)
+NSKE

+NSKE=

| Network session

Key

| Set the network session Key (16byte hexa)
+ASKE

+ASKE=

| Application

session Key

| Set application session Key (16byte hexa)
---|---|---
+DADR

+DADR=

| Device address| Set device address (4byte hexa)
+LTYP

+LTYP=1 or 0

| ****

LoRa packet type

| Set the LoRa packet type

(0: Unconfirmed, 1: Confirmed)

: Confirmed

+LPRT

+LPRT=

| ****

LoRaWAN FPort

| Set the LoRaWAN FPort (0 ~ 255)

: 172

+CLAS

+CLAS=

| ****


LoRaWAN Class

| Set the LoRaWAN Class (0: A, 1: B, 2: C)

*Class B is not prepared

: Class A

+ADRE

+ADRE=1 or 0

| ****

LoRaWAN ADR

| Set the LoRaWAN ADR funciont on/off (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Enable

+PUBL

+PUBL=1 or 0

| ****

LoRaWAN Public

| Set the LoRaWAN Public or not (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Enable

+RAKE

+RAKE=1 or 0

| LoRaWAN Real Appkey| Set the LoRaWAN Real Appkey (1: enable, 0: disable)

: Enable

+DPRD

+DPRD=

| LoRaWAN Data Tx Period| Set the LoRaWAN Data Tx Period (0 ~ 2592000)

: 30

+DRTY| LoRaWAN Data| Set the LoRaWAN Data Tx Retry number of times
+DRTY=| Tx Retry| (0 ~ 8)

: 1

---|---|---
+LCHK| LinkCheckReq

Command

| Transfer LinkCheckReq Mac Command to Server

Data Transfer Command

[ Table 9 Data Transfer Command ]

Command Function Description

+DATA=

| ****

Transfer Data

| Transfer input data(string) to Server ex)

AT+DATA=

When data is received, the sender’s Fport and RF signal strength (RSSI) value are transmitted to the host through the console UART together with the received data as follows.

[ Table 10 Receive Data Format ]

Data Recv Format Example
RECV::: RECV:172:-110:hello world!

FCC Compliance Statement

This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

FCC Interference Statement

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to correct the interference by one of the following measures:

  • Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
  • Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
  • Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from which the receiver is connected.
  • Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

FCC Caution
Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate this equipment. This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.
FCC Radiation Exposure Statement
This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. This equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 20 cm between the radiator and your body. This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.

Antenna designs

pLNetworks logopLNetworks PLM150 LoRaWAN Module fig1

Information on test modes and additional testing requirements
a) The modular transmitter has been fully tested by the module grantee on the required number of channels,modulation types and modes, it should not be necessary for the host installer to re-test all the available transmitter modes or settings.It is recommended that the host product manufacturer installing the modular transmitter,perform some investigative measurements to confirm that the resulting composite system does not exceed the spurious emissions limits or band edge limits(e.g.,where a different antenna may be causing additional emissions).
b) The testing should check for emissions that may occur due to the intermixing of emissions with the other transmitter, digital circuitry,or due to physical properties of the host product(enclosure). This investigation is especially important when integrating
multiple modular transmitters where the certification is based on testing each of them in a stand-alone configuration. It is important to note that host product manufactures should not assume that because the modular transmitter is certified that they do not have any responsibility for final product compliance.

Additional testing, Part 15 subpart B disclaimer

The final host/module combination need to be evaluated against the FCC Part 15B criteria for unintentional radiators in order to be properly authorized for operation as a Part 15 digital device.
The host integrator installing this module into their product must ensure that the final composite product complies with the FCC requirements by a technical assessment or evaluation to the FCC rules, including the transmitter operation and should refer to guidance in KDB 996369.
This appliance and its antenna must not be co-located or operation in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.

  • OEM integrators must ensure that its product is electrically identical to the device, FCC ID: 2AUV6-PLM150 reference designs. Any modifications to module reference designs may invalidate regulatory approvals in relation to the product, or may necessitate notifications to the relevant regulatory authorities.
  • OEM integrators are responsible for regression testing to accommodate changes to designs, new antennas, and host and submit for C2PC filings.
  • Colocation with other transmitter modules will be addressed through filings for those co-located transmitters when necessary or that colocation of other transmitters will be according to applicable KDB guidelines including those for RF exposure
  • Appropriate labels must be affixed to the product that complies with applicable regulations in all respects. The regulatory label on the final system must include the statement: “Contains FCC ID: 2AUV6-PLM150”.
    1. The module is limited to OEM installation ONLY.
    2. OEM integrators are responsible for ensuring that the end-user has no manual instructions to remove or install module.
    3. The module is limited to installation in mobile or fixed applications, according to Part 2.1091(b).
    4. Separate approval is required for all other operating configurations, including portable configurations with respect to Part 2.1093 and different antenna configurations.

End Product Labeling

The module is labeled with its own FCC ID. If the FCC ID is not visible when the module is installed inside another device, then the outside of the device into which the module is installed must also display a label referring to the enclosed module. In that case, the final end product must be labeled in a visible area with the following:
“Contains FCC ID: 2AUV6-PLM150”

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