TTN decoder for soil moisture

Hi everyone :smiley:

I'm currently working on a code where I'm receiving sensor data in the form of "FF A0" as a payload in TTN. I'm struggling to decode this payload back into its original value, which should represent soil moisture readings. Here's the full code I'm using in Arduino:

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 2015 Thomas Telkamp and Matthijs Kooijman
 * Copyright (c) 2018 Terry Moore, MCCI
 *
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to anyone
 * obtaining a copy of this document and accompanying files,
 * to do whatever they want with them without any restriction,
 * including, but not limited to, copying, modification and redistribution.
 * NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS PROVIDED.
 *
 * This example sends a valid LoRaWAN packet with payload "Hello,
 * world!", using frequency and encryption settings matching those of
 * the The Things Network. It's pre-configured for the Adafruit
 * Feather M0 LoRa.
 *
 * This uses OTAA (Over-the-air activation), where where a DevEUI and
 * application key is configured, which are used in an over-the-air
 * activation procedure where a DevAddr and session keys are
 * assigned/generated for use with all further communication.
 *
 * Note: LoRaWAN per sub-band duty-cycle limitation is enforced (1% in
 * g1, 0.1% in g2), but not the TTN fair usage policy (which is probably
 * violated by this sketch when left running for longer)!

 * To use this sketch, first register your application and device with
 * the things network, to set or generate an AppEUI, DevEUI and AppKey.
 * Multiple devices can use the same AppEUI, but each device has its own
 * DevEUI and AppKey.
 *
 * Do not forget to define the radio type correctly in
 * arduino-lmic/project_config/lmic_project_config.h or from your BOARDS.txt.
 *
 *******************************************************************************/

#include <lmic.h>
#include <hal/hal.h>
#include <SPI.h>


// This EUI must be in little-endian format, so least-significant-byte
// first. When copying an EUI from ttnctl output, this means to reverse
// the bytes. For TTN issued EUIs the last bytes should be 0xD5, 0xB3,
// 0x70.
static const u1_t PROGMEM APPEUI[8]= { 0x55, 0x66, 0x55, 0x44, 0x44, 0x11, 0x33, 0x22 };
void os_getArtEui (u1_t* buf) { memcpy_P(buf, APPEUI, 8);}

// This should also be in little endian format, see above.
static const u1_t PROGMEM DEVEUI[8]= { 0x68, 0x22, 0x00, 0xD8, 0x7E, 0xD5, 0xB3, 0x70 };
void os_getDevEui (u1_t* buf) { memcpy_P(buf, DEVEUI, 8);}

// This key should be in big endian format (or, since it is not really a
// number but a block of memory, endianness does not really apply). In
// practice, a key taken from the TTN console can be copied as-is.
static const u1_t PROGMEM APPKEY[16] = { 0x07, 0xF2, 0x45, 0xE6, 0x10, 0x28, 0xCC, 0x90, 0x78, 0x4D, 0xA3, 0xEA, 0x4A, 0x35, 0xA0, 0x92 };
void os_getDevKey (u1_t* buf) {  memcpy_P(buf, APPKEY, 16);}

static uint8_t mydata[] = "Hello, world!";
static osjob_t sendjob;

// Schedule TX every this many seconds (might become longer due to duty
// cycle limitations).
const unsigned TX_INTERVAL = 10;

// Pin mapping
//# error "Unknown target"
const lmic_pinmap lmic_pins = {
    .nss = 10, 
    .rxtx = LMIC_UNUSED_PIN,
    .rst = 9,
    .dio = {3,4,5}, 
    .rxtx_rx_active = 0,
    .rssi_cal = 0,              // LBT cal for in dB
    .spi_freq = 1000000
};

int sensor_pin = A0;
int output_value;


void onEvent (ev_t ev) {
    Serial.print(os_getTime());
    Serial.print(": ");
    switch(ev) {
        case EV_SCAN_TIMEOUT:
            Serial.println(F("EV_SCAN_TIMEOUT"));
            break;
        case EV_BEACON_FOUND:
            Serial.println(F("EV_BEACON_FOUND"));
            break;
        case EV_BEACON_MISSED:
            Serial.println(F("EV_BEACON_MISSED"));
            break;
        case EV_BEACON_TRACKED:
            Serial.println(F("EV_BEACON_TRACKED"));
            break;
        case EV_JOINING:
            Serial.println(F("EV_JOINING"));
            break;
        case EV_JOINED:
            Serial.println(F("EV_JOINED"));
            {
              u4_t netid = 0;
              devaddr_t devaddr = 0;
              u1_t nwkKey[16];
              u1_t artKey[16];
              LMIC_getSessionKeys(&netid, &devaddr, nwkKey, artKey);
              Serial.print("netid: ");
              Serial.println(netid, DEC);
              Serial.print("devaddr: ");
              Serial.println(devaddr, HEX);
              Serial.print("artKey: ");
              for (int i=0; i<sizeof(artKey); ++i) {
                if (i != 0)
                  Serial.print("-");
                Serial.print(artKey[i], HEX);
              }
              Serial.println("");
              Serial.print("nwkKey: ");
              for (int i=0; i<sizeof(nwkKey); ++i) {
                      if (i != 0)
                              Serial.print("-");
                      Serial.print(nwkKey[i], HEX);
              }
              Serial.println("");
            }
            // Disable link check validation (automatically enabled
            // during join, but because slow data rates change max TX
      // size, we don't use it in this example.
            LMIC_setLinkCheckMode(0);
            break;
        /*
        || This event is defined but not used in the code. No
        || point in wasting codespace on it.
        ||
        || case EV_RFU1:
        ||     Serial.println(F("EV_RFU1"));
        ||     break;
        */
        case EV_JOIN_FAILED:
            Serial.println(F("EV_JOIN_FAILED"));
            break;
        case EV_REJOIN_FAILED:
            Serial.println(F("EV_REJOIN_FAILED"));
            break;
            break;
        case EV_TXCOMPLETE:
            Serial.println(F("EV_TXCOMPLETE (includes waiting for RX windows)"));
            if (LMIC.txrxFlags & TXRX_ACK)
              Serial.println(F("Received ack"));
            if (LMIC.dataLen) {
              Serial.print(F("Received "));
              Serial.print(LMIC.dataLen);
              Serial.println(F(" bytes of payload"));
              Serial.print("Port: ");
              Serial.println(LMIC.frame[(LMIC.dataBeg-1)]);
              Serial.print("Data: ");
             // char rec_data = (LMIC.frame + LMIC.dataBeg);
              for (int i=0; i< LMIC.dataLen; ++i) {
                if (i != 0)
                  Serial.print(",");
                Serial.print(LMIC.frame[LMIC.dataBeg+i], HEX);
              }
              Serial.println();
            }
            // Schedule next transmission
            os_setTimedCallback(&sendjob, os_getTime()+sec2osticks(TX_INTERVAL), do_send);
            break;
        case EV_LOST_TSYNC:
            Serial.println(F("EV_LOST_TSYNC"));
            break;
        case EV_RESET:
            Serial.println(F("EV_RESET"));
            break;
        case EV_RXCOMPLETE:
            // data received in ping slot
            Serial.println(F("EV_RXCOMPLETE"));
            break;
        case EV_LINK_DEAD:
            Serial.println(F("EV_LINK_DEAD"));
            break;
        case EV_LINK_ALIVE:
            Serial.println(F("EV_LINK_ALIVE"));
            break;
        /*
        || This event is defined but not used in the code. No
        || point in wasting codespace on it.
        ||
        || case EV_SCAN_FOUND:
        ||    Serial.println(F("EV_SCAN_FOUND"));
        ||    break;
        */
        case EV_TXSTART:
            Serial.println(F("EV_TXSTART"));
            break;
        default:
            Serial.print(F("Unknown event: "));
            Serial.println((unsigned) ev);
            break;
    }
}

void do_send(osjob_t* j){
    // Check if there is not a current TX/RX job running
    if (LMIC.opmode & OP_TXRXPEND) {
        Serial.println(F("OP_TXRXPEND, not sending"));
    } else {
        output_value = analogRead(sensor_pin);
        uint16_t output_value1 = map(output_value,693,350,0,100);
        
        byte payload[2];
        payload[0] = highByte(output_value1);
        payload[1] = lowByte(output_value1);
      
        // Prepare upstream data transmission at the next possible time.
        LMIC_setTxData2(3, (xref2u1_t)(payload), sizeof(payload), 0);
        Serial.println(F("Packet queued"));
    }
    // Next TX is scheduled after TX_COMPLETE event.
}

void setup() {
    delay(5000);
    while (! Serial)
        ;
    Serial.begin(9600);
    Serial.println(F("Starting"));

    #ifdef VCC_ENABLE
    // For Pinoccio Scout boards
    pinMode(VCC_ENABLE, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(VCC_ENABLE, HIGH);
    delay(1000);
    #endif

    // LMIC init
    os_init();
    // Reset the MAC state. Session and pending data transfers will be discarded.
    LMIC_reset();
    LMIC_setClockError(MAX_CLOCK_ERROR * 1 / 100);

    LMIC_setLinkCheckMode(0);
    LMIC_setDrTxpow(DR_SF7,14);

    // Start job (sending automatically starts OTAA too)
    do_send(&sendjob);
}

void loop() {
    os_runloop_once();
}

Here's the formatter code I'm using in TTN:


function Decoder(bytes, port) {

  var decoded = {};
  
  // soil moisture

  rawSoilMoisture = bytes[0] + bytes[1] * 256;
  
  decoded.soilMoisture = sflt162f(rawSoilMoisture) * 100;
  
  return decoded;
}

function sflt162f(rawSflt16)
	{
	
	rawSflt16 &= 0xFFFF;

	// special case minus zero:
	if (rawSflt16 == 0x8000)
		return -0.0;

	// extract the sign.
	var sSign = ((rawSflt16 & 0x8000) != 0) ? -1 : 1;
	
	// extract the exponent
	var exp1 = (rawSflt16 >> 11) & 0xF;

	// extract the "mantissa" (the fractional part)
	var mant1 = (rawSflt16 & 0x7FF) / 2048.0;


	var f_unscaled = sSign * mant1 * Math.pow(2, exp1 - 15);

	return f_unscaled;
	}

update: i added this code output_value = analogRead(sensor_pin); output_value = constrain(output_value, 350, 693); and the payload displayed in ttn is:

at the transmitter maybe worth printing the values of payload[] and from them calculating and printing the soil moisture to make sure you have valid data

in the decoder I would use binary operators to convert the bytes back to a 16 bit value, e.g.

decoded.serialNo= (bytes[1]<<8) |  bytes[2];
1 Like

thank you so muchh

helpful TTN document Working with Bytes

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