AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN Launches Two New Features to Manage and Monitor Communications Between Device and Cloud
AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN is a fully managed LoRaWAN Network Server (LNS) of AWS IoT Core that allows customers to connect wireless devices to the AWS cloud using the low-power long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) technology. Now, AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN supports two new features, Downlink Queue Management and Network Analyzer, to help customers manage and monitor communications between devices and the cloud. Downlink Message Management feature allows customers to schedule, delete and even purge downlink messages, and Network Analyzer can be used to monitor the messages and help troubleshoot issues related to uplink or downlink events.
AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN is a fully managed LoRaWAN Network Server (LNS) of AWS IoT Core that allows customers to connect wireless devices to the AWS cloud using the low-power long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) technology. Now, AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN supports two new features, Downlink Queue Management and Network Analyzer, to help customers manage and monitor communications between devices and the cloud. Downlink Message Management feature allows customers to schedule, delete and even purge downlink messages, and Network Analyzer can be used to monitor the messages and help troubleshoot issues related to uplink or downlink events.
The first new feature, Downlink Queue Management (DQM), maintains a queue of downlink messages for devices that are not reachable immediately (i.e. offline) and sends these messages to your devices when they are back online. Downlink messages are messages that you send from AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN to your wireless device. You can schedule and send downlink messages for each device that you have onboarded to AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN. If you've multiple devices for which you want to send a downlink message, you can also use a multicast group. Devices in a multicast group share the same multicast address, which is then distributed to an entire group of recipient devices.
To help with debugging and monitoring the messages, we are also launching Network Analyzer (NA), which reduces the time that it takes to set up a connection and start receiving trace messages, providing you with real-time information for your resources. Enriched with device/gateway metadata, message payload and log information, NA allows domain specialists, such as support technicians and network operators, to easily deploy a LoRaWAN network and debug connectivity errors based on data packets and network KPIs. They can also monitor the network health in real-time, set alerts to notify them of unusual behavior, and take corrective actions to avoid impact on network performances (e.g., monitor power failures, deploy a patch or reboot a device) – all with no code. NA can be used to monitor both LoRaWAN devices and LoRaWAN gateways. For example, you can quickly identify a join error when onboarding one of your LoRaWAN devices. NA saves customers the time and resourcing required to build and maintain custom solutions and improves efficiency by putting tools in the hands of support technicians and operators to resolve emergent issues and optimize network performance.
The Downlink Queue Management and Network Analyzer features are supported in all AWS Regions where AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN is available. To learn more about them, please see AWS IoT for LoRaWAN product page.