LoRaWAN™Configuration
Activation of an end-device can be achieved in two ways, either via Over-The-Air
Activation (OTAA) when an end-device is deployed or reset, or via Activation By
Personalization (ABP) in which the two steps of end-device personalization and activation
are done as one step.
Over-the-Air Activation
For over-the-air activation, end-devices must follow a join procedure prior to
participating in data exchanges with the network server.An end-device has to go
through a new join procedure every time it has lost the session context information. The
join procedure requires the end-device to be personalized with the following information
before its starts the join procedure: a globally unique end-device identifier (DevEUI), the
application identifier (AppEUI), and an AES-128 key (AppKey).
Activation by Personalization
Under certain circumstances, end-devices can be activated by personalization.
Activation by personalization directly ties an end-device to a specific network by-passing
the join request join accept procedure.
Activating an end-device by personalization means that the DevAddr and the two
session keys NwkSKey andAppSKey are directly stored into the end-device instead of
the DevEUI, AppEUI and AppKey. The end-device is equipped with the required
information for participating in a specific LoRa network when started. Each device should
have a unique set of NwkSKey and AppSKey. Compromising the keys of one device
shouldn‘t compromise the security of the communications of other devices.
Operation Mode
Bi-directional end-devices (ClassA): End-devices of Class A allow for bi-directional
communications whereby each end-device's uplink transmission is followed by two
short downlink receive windows. The transmission slot scheduled by the end-device
is based on its own communication needs with a small variation based on a random
time basis (ALOHA-type of protocol). This ClassA operation is the lowest power
end-device system for applications that only require downlink
