IoT Gateway for Raspberry Pi | JemRF Documentation

This page explains how to install and operate the IoT Gateway

IoT Gateway Models

The IoT Gateway is a 10 Pin device that connects to the top 10 pins of the GPIO Bus for both the Orange Pi Zero 2 and Raspberry Pis’.

Note: All IoT Gateway models can fit on any Raspberry Pi Model.

Note: Follow this link to use an Orange Pi Zero 2.

Note: Follow this link to install the USB IOT Gateway on Windows PC

The picture below show how the gateway fits on to the Raspberry Pi.

Warning: Make sure you fit the gateway the right way around and and perfectly aligned with the pins of the Raspberry Pi as shown in the above pictures. You could damage the gateway if fitted incorrectly.

Installation steps

Power off the Raspberry Pi
Carefully align the header as shown in Figure 1 and push the gateway all the way down onto the Raspberry Pi GPIO header.
In order to remove the gateway from the raspberry Pi power off the Raspberry Pi and then hold the Raspberry Pi firmly with one hand and gently wiggle the Gateway loose with your other hand. Wiggling it from side to side is easier than pulling it directly upwards.
The gateway receiver uses the Raspberry Pi serial port in order to communicate.

Important: Follow this link to configure the Raspberry Pi serial port

Testing the Gateway

Note: If you have not installed the utilities, refer the Utilities

Open up a Raspberry Pi terminal window and test connectivity to the Gateway.

cd rf_tools

python rf_config.py 01 HELLO

SENT : 01HELLO
RECEIVED : 01HELLO----

As shown above the rf_config.py tool sent the command a01HELLO and it received a response a01HELLO—. That means it is working.

If the tool was unable to communicate with the gateway then you would see two failed attempts to send the HELLO command as shown here:

python rf_config.py 01 HELLO
SENT : 01HELLO
SENT : 01HELLO

Another good test to perform is to validate that the Gateway radio is functioning correctly. You can do this by powering up a sensor and watching for the sensor STARTED messages.

python serial_mon.py

Now startup the sensor...

Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--

With Release 7.6 and higher there is now the option to report the RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indicator). This provides inside into how good the signal is from the sensor to the gateway.

With Version 7.6 all IOT gateways will come with RSSI enabled.
To Disable RSSI:
- python rf_config.py 01 RSSIOFF
To Enable RSSI:
- python rf_config.py 01 RSSION

RSSI Enabled messages will follow the first message received from a sensor:

python serial_mon.py

Now startup the sensor...

Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 RSSI-60.0
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--
Thu Feb 27 15:02:51 2020 95 STARTED--

Note: If you have a wireless switch do not open/close the switch during the first 5 seconds as this will cause the device to start sending messages and cancel the startup sequence and prevent the device from entering sleep mode.

Note: Ideally put the sensors more than 5 feet away from the receiver when testing otherwise you may see message corruption or incomplete messages. These devices are tuned to transmit at a high DB in order to penetrate walls and for long distance line of sight so we have found when a sensor is very close to the receiver (e.g. 1-2 feet) then we see incomplete messages.