IoT Network Connectors

What are IoT Network Connectors?

Network connectors are software components used by thingsHub to establish connections to private or public IoT networks. Uplinks from devices will be received using these connectors, as well as downlinks are sent to devices using these connectors. See the page Connectivity for a more in-depth explanation of the underlying concepts.

What IoT Network Connectors are available?

Comparison of supported features per IoT Network Connector

Support Matrix
	Kerlink Wanesy Management Center	Loriot Network Server	The Things Network	Small Private Network
Network provider / network server vendor	Kerlink (www.kerlink.com)	Loriot (www.loriot.io)	The Things Industries (www.thethingsindustries.com)	Kerlink (www.kerlink.com)
Radio technology	LoRaWAN	LoRaWAN	LoRaWAN	LoRaWAN
Connector identifier	`kerlink`	`loriot`	`ttn`	`spn`
Connector version	3.11 (built-in)	3.11 (built-in)	3.11 (built-in)	3.11 (built-in)
Detailed documentation	Kerlink Wanesy Management Center	Loriot Network Server	The Things Network	Kerlink SPN - Small Private LoRaWAN Network


	Kerlink Wanesy Management Center	Loriot Network Server	The Things Network	Small Private Network
Receiving uplinks	✅	✅	✅	✅
Device auto activation	✅	✅	✅	✅
Extended reception data (RSS, SNR, ...)	✅	✅	✅	✅
Sending downlinks	✅	✅	✅	✅
Device Registration	✅	✅	✅	✅

Receiving uplinks

Receiving uplinks is the core functionality of any Network Connector. Uplinks are small binary-encoded messages sent by devices. Different IoT connectivity providers send uplinks in different ways, e.g. via Websockets, HTTP push, or via MQTT. Network Connectors provide a unified interface for receiving uplinks, independently of the transport technology used the connectivity provider.

Device auto activation

If a Network Connector supports auto-activation, and when a auto-activation is enabled for such a Network Connection, then devices will be auto-activated. This means, when an uplink arrives in the thingsHub for which the device is not yet activated, this happens immediately and the uplink is accepted and forwarded.

Extended reception data

A single uplink, as transmitted by an IoT device over a radio connection, can be picked up by multiple receivers (gateways in LoRa terminology). For each such reception, one can measure different values for parameters like signal-to-noise ration (SNR) or the received signal strenght indication (RSSI). A Network Connector which provides extended reception data, is able to receive this data from the network and make it available in the Dashboarding.

Sending downlinks

Downlinks are messages sent back to the IoT device. Downlinks are frequently used for device configuration, but can just as well be used to trigger an actuator which is attached to the device. A Network Connector which allows sending downlinks provides functionality to sending a downlink over a network to the device. Note that, depending on the network protocol, this downlink may be received with considerable delay.

Device Registration

Device Registration allows easy registration (aka provisioning) of devices on the network using the thingsHub.