Channel planning was distributed over LoRaWANStack and LoRaMac previously.
We now centralize it by allocating the service to its own class.
Thus making the workflow consistent, i.e.,
Request for channel plan = Application->Interface->stack->Mac->ChannelPlan
Major change apart from adding the channel plan subsystem are the API changes
in LoRaMac class.
As a part of MAC layer breakdown into independent subsystems, we have
introduced a class for MIB service.
Major changes from the baseline are:
- making OpenRxWindow() public in LoRaMac.cpp
- Moving various data structures to central protocol data structure
MAC layer will services will be broken down into independent
subsystems. This is the first of those efforts. We have introduced
LoRaMacMlme class that handles everything related to MLME subsystem or
subservice. To accomodate subsystems we have grouped all protocol level
variables into one big data structure. A pointer to that data structure
will be passed around the subsystems in order to regulate the entire
system.
LoRaMac::Send() and LoRaMac::SetTxContWave*() APIs are made public as
they are needed to be accessed by the subsystems.
Ticker objects embeded in TimerEvent_t data structure were getting constructed
even for the non LORAWAN builds. And that's what was bloating the builds.
We now lazy initialize them using Mbed-OS utility clas SingletonPtr.
A central data structure has been created that carries all the protocol level
variables for the Mac layer. This is important as we are going to break down
MAC services into subsystems and we will pass around common data using that data structure.
Time handler class had a c style callback attached to it which
had been hampering us to be fully object oriented.
That particular callback is changed to Mbed Callback which is attatched
to a specific object hence allowing us to be fully object oriented.
LoRaWANTimer is now called as LoRaWANTimeHandler class as this class handles both
current time and timer functionalities.
Some refactoring on how LoRa objects are created was needed:
- LoRaWANTimeHandler object is created by LoRaWANStack and shares with LoRaMac and PHY.
- LoRaPHY object is now member of LoRaWANStack class instead of static variable in source file.
MAC layer is now a class rather than being a blob.
In addition to that Mac commands are now being handled in
a seperate subsystem (a class of its own). In future we
will do the same with othe sublayers of MAC like MLME, MCPS etc.
The drive behind this exercise is to make MAC and supporting layers
into an object oriented system.
Major bug fixes include:
- last join time inclusion in band parameters
- disabling rx2 window if we missed the slot already
- MLME uplink schdule hook
- nbRep according to spec
- maintaining datarate after successful joining
- suppressing MLME requests if MAC is in TX_DELAYED state
- Uplink dwell time verification
Some missing features are implemented. Details are as follows.
Support for LinkCheckRequet:
An application API is added, add_link_check_request() to delegate a
request for Link Check Request MAC command.
* Application provides a callback function that needs to be called on reception of
link check response.
* Mac command is piggybacked with data frames.
This API makes the sticky MAC command stick with the application payloads until/unless
the application un-sticks the said mac command using remove_link_check_request() API.
Handling fPending bit:
If in the Downlink, we get the fPending bit set in fctrl octet,
we attempt to send an empty message back to Network Server to
open additional Receive windows. This operation is independent
of the application. An RX_DONE event is queued bedore generating
the said empty message. Specification does not mention what can be the
type of that empty message. We have decided it to be of CONFIRMED
type as it gives us an added benefit of retries if the corresponding
RX slots are missed.
Radio event callbacks as Mbed callbacks:
radio_events_t structure has been carrying C-style callbacks which was
inherited from the legacy code. These callbacks has now been changed to
Mbed Callbacks that makes sure that we can be object oriented from now
on.
All compliance test related codes are now inside LORAWAN_COMPLIANCE_TEST
build flag. This will reduce memory usage in when compliance test codes
are not needed.
TxNextPacketTimer callback was being used for testing only (compliance testing to be precise).
Now there are independent methods and direct calls to automatic timers for the
compliance testing so there is no particular need for this timer anymore.
Application should be able to add some optional callbacks if it needs to.
Ofcourse there is a penalty of 8-12 bytes per callback, but there can be
certain needs of the application that needs to be met for example setting
up a link check request etc.
We have introduced a structure that contains callbacks for the application use.
- 'events' callback is mandatory, user must assign it. Because this callback brings
state changes for the application. We cannot segregate this into individual handlers
because of RAM penalty.
- Other calbacks (none of them are implemented yet are optional).
Example of using the API is provided with doxygen
The EventQueue thread in LoRaMac.cpp is disbanded and the LoRaWAN
protocol is redesigned to store a pointer for an application
provided EventQueue. It means that now the stack runs in the
same thread as application. Application provided EventQueue is used
to defer ISRs from radio driver and timer callbacks as well as the
application events are queued to the same event loop.
The actual mac algorithms are being used as it is in the reference
implementation.
We introduce an internal class that starts a thread and constructs an event queue
to handle deffered calls from interrupt context for RTOS. The code base is
compatible with Mbed-OS 2 as well.
GetPhyEventHandlers() API provides mac callback funtions for PHY layer,
which are in turn delegated to radio driver from the PHY layer.
LoRaMacInitialization() is augmented with LoRaPHY parameter which let's
the MAC layer know which particular PHY layer is in use.
LoRaMacSetTxTimer() and LoRaMacStopTxTimer() are used when duty cycle is
off for testing purpose or to support custom application timers.
If the duty cycle is off, mac and phy layer work togather to figure
out the next possible transmission time.
LoRaMacCrypto APIs are provided which provide seemless integration of
mbedTLS into mac layer for cryptography. User application is supposed to
provide proper mbedTLS configuration file.
All other APIs are retained as it is.
Hasnain Virk
Kimmo Vaisanen