LoRaWAN Glossary¶

Check up into this Glossary for any therms you didn't know!

ABP: Activation by Personalization¶

Sometimes, end-devices have to be activated by personalization. Activation by personalization directly links an end-device to a specific network by-passing the join request.

Activating an end-device by personalization means that the DevAddr and the two session keys (NwkSKey and AppSKey) are directly stored into the end-device instead of the DevEUI, AppEUI and the AppKey.

The end-device is equipped with the required informations for participating at the LoRa Network. Each device should have a unique set of NwkSKey and AppSKey. Compromising the keys of one device, it shouldn‘t compromise the security of the communications among other devices.

AppEUI: Application identifier¶

The AppEUI is a global application ID, 16 characters long, in IEEE EUI64 address space that identifies the application provider (i.e. owner) of the end-device. The AppEUI is stored into the end-device before the execution of the activation procedure. ResIOT administration panel can automatically generate AppEUI values.

AppKey: Application Key¶

The AppKey is an AES-128 application key specific for the end-device which is assigned by the application owner to the end-device. It is derived from an application-specific root key, exclusively known by the application provider. Whenever an end-device joins a network via *over-the-air activation*, the AppKey is used to derive the specific session keys (NwkSKey and AppSKeyfor) that end-device has to encrypt and verify into the network communication and application data.

AppSKey: Application session key¶

The AppSKey is an application session key specific for the end-device. It is used by both the network server and the end-device to encrypt and decrypt the payload field of specific application data messages. It is also used to calculate and verify transmitted and received data.

DevAddr: End-device address¶

The DevAddr consists of 32 bits which identifies the end-device within the current network. Its format is the following:

Bit# [31..25] [24..0]
DevAddr bits NwkID NwkAddr

The most important 7 bits are used as network identifier (NwkID) for separating addresses geographically, in order to avoid data loss during the net roaming. The least significant 25 bits, the network address (NwkAddr) of the end-device, can be assigned by the network manager.

DevEUI : End-device identifier¶

DevEUI is a global end-device ID in IEEE EUI64 address space that uniquely identifies the end-device.

Gateway MAC Address¶

The Gateway MAC address is a 48 bit code (i.e. 03:12:12:24:24:24) assigned by manufacturer to the network device.

Gateway Name¶

The Gateway Name is a unique alphanumeric value that identify your gateway in ResIOT administration panel.

The Gateway Name isn't used for comunication protocol, but only for ResIOT internal gateway management.

ResIOT administration panel generate a default Gateway Name that can be edited by user.

NwkSKey: Network session key¶

The NwkSKey is a network session key specific for the end-device. It is used by both the network server and the end-device to calculate and verify the MIC (message integrity code) of all data messages ensuring data integrity.

It is also used to encrypt and decrypt the payload field of a MAC-only data messages.

OTAA: Over-the-Air Activation¶

For the 'over-the-air activation' end-devices must follow a join procedure before participating in data exchanges with the network server. An end-device has to go through a new join procedure every time it has lost the session context informations. The join procedure requires the end-device to be personalized with the following information before its starts the join procedure:

a globally unique end-device identifier (DevEUI);
the application identifier (AppEUI);
an AES-128 key (AppKey).