Terminology » LoRaWAN Concentrator : Working & Manufacturers

LoRaWAN Concentrator : Working & Manufacturers

lorawan concentrator manufacturers

Introduction : +A LoRaWAN concentrator is the core radio front-end inside a LoRaWAN gateway. It acts as a multi-channel transceiver, capable of listening to multiple LoRa channels and spreading factors simultaneously. It is built around Semtech SX130x series baseband chips or similar ones (if any). The key vendors include Semtech (chipsets), IMST, RAKwireless, Multitech and Kerlink.

Functions & Working

  • It supports 8 or more channels simultaneously.
  • It can decode multiple spreading factors at once (SF7 to SF12).
  • It captures uplinks from end devices and forwards them to the packet forwarder.
  • In the downlink, it sends network instructions to devices which include ACKs, MAC commands, application data etc.
  • It supports frequency filtering to comply with regional ISM bands.
  • It provides precise timing for received packets.

LoRaWAN Concentrator Manufacturers & Modules

ManufacturersPart no./Features
SemtechSX1302, SX1303
IMSTiC880A-SPI based on SX1301 Semtech chipset
RAKwirelessRAK2245 (SX1301, mini PCIe); RAK2287 (SX1302, mini PCIe);RAK5146 (SX1303, mini PCIe or USB)
MultitechMTAC-LORA-868, MTAC-LORA-915 ; Based on SX1301/SX1302 chipsets
KerlinkVarious (e.g., Kerlink iFemtocell 4E) ; Based on SX1302/SX1303

Conclusion: A LoRaWAN concentrator is known as the multi-channel radio heart of a gateway. It enables simultaneous decoding of multiple end device uplinks with different SFs/frequencies. It connects to the host system (packet forwarder) which forwards data to Network Server.