LoRaWAN mPCIe module in Mox B or Mox G

MOX hardware MOX HW tweaks
1

Hi all,

when my mox has arrived, I’d like to tinker around with it.
One of the options I’d like to test, is to use the mox as a LoRaWAN Gateway by installing a LoRaWAN mPCIe card (such as https://www.n-fuse.co/devices/LoRaWAN-Concentrator-Card-mini-PCIe.html), and runnning the software for it inside a container.

Currently I wonder if the cards might even work in the mox module and the documentation (https://doc.turris.cz/doc/en/howto/mox/mox-b-pci) just says “standard cards”. LoRaWAN is most likely not a standard application. Where can I find the specification (pin-out) of the mPCIe slot of the mox module?

If I start this project, I’m going to use this thread to document it.

2

Looking in the documentation of the mPCI Card it states that it uses the USB Interface of the mPCI connector. Given that the Semtech SX1301/8 is a USB CDC Device, a serial device should be found by the kernel.

I think, in the worst case you have to load a kernel module with some parameters…

happy hacking… (Still waiting for my MOX …)

3

So my Mox arrived today. Let’s see whats possible.

Edit:
Right now I’ve an issue with my WIFI SDIO-Module, so I cannot use my mPCIE Slot for experiments.

4

Do the B/G modules even provide USB or is it just PCIe? I can’t find anything about USB, so it might not work.

5

I think you are right. I’ve checked with and without the card and compared the output of dmesg and lsusb. The amount of devices did not change.

Without the card

root@turris:~# dmesg | grep USB
[    4.821725] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    4.848241] orion-ehci d005e000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    4.890347] orion-ehci d005e000.usb: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    4.896846] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    5.280342] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using orion-ehci
[    5.481263] hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.814916] xhci-hcd d0058000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    6.838345] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.851382] xhci-hcd d0058000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
[    6.858923] xhci-hcd d0058000.usb: Host supports USB 3.0  SuperSpeed
[    6.874674] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
root@turris:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2422 Standard Microsystems Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
root@turris:~#

With the card:

root@turris:~# dmesg | grep USB
[    4.820937] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    4.847270] orion-ehci d005e000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    4.890415] orion-ehci d005e000.usb: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    4.896914] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    5.270410] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using orion-ehci
[    5.471297] hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.734716] xhci-hcd d0058000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    6.758208] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.771406] xhci-hcd d0058000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
[    6.779039] xhci-hcd d0058000.usb: Host supports USB 3.0  SuperSpeed
[    6.794397] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
root@turris:~# lsusb 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2422 Standard Microsystems Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
root@turris:~#
6

Actually, the pinout for the expansion connector lists USB, so I don’t know anymore: https://doc.turris.cz/doc/en/howto/mox/moxtet

1 Like
7

thanks for pointing me to the pinout. Apparently it has USB 2.0 for mPCIE (B23, B24)

The problem might be something different. There seem to be some LoRaWAN mPCIE Cards which require 5V, and IIRC mPCIE is 3v3.

As my Card ist ripped from an already existing LoRaWAN Gateway (Tabs), and not marked, I’m not quite sure which type of card it is.

Edit:

8

Due to the lack of compatible LoRaWAN Hardware I’m not going to pursue this any further.