Q & A

Can the RadioShuttle protocol also be licensed for other devices?

Currently, Mbed OS or another Arduino based on D21 MCU is required. Allowed modules are RFM95 or Murata (SX1276-based). The license fee is 25 € per device.

Is there also a RadioShuttle protocol for Linux available?

Currently under development.

Can a node send messages to multiple stations?

Yes, there is one receiver device ID per message, multiple messages can be sent simultaneously to different receivers (node or station).

What is the latency of a message?

The latency of a message depends on the bandwidth and the message length. With SF7, 125 kHz bandwidth, and 50 Bytes of data it takes approx. 200 milliseconds until the message has been transmitted, and the receipt confirmed. With 500 kHz bandwidth it takes approx. 50 milliseconds, with fewer data accordingly faster. These values are based on a radio network that is free of interferences.

Is there a unique device ID?

Yes, there is a worldwide unique device ID (32-bit, which corresponds to 4 billion devices). A check of the ID code prevents an incorrect setup of the device ID. The protocol headers are compressed, so that, if possible, less data is transmitted.

How large is the protocol overhead?

12 Bytes per packet, three packets are required for a simple message with confirmation. Without confirmation, two packets à 12 Bytes each are required, plus the message data. Using AES128, the message is padded up to 16 Bytes.

Is the LoRaWAN protocol supported?

Currently, support for a LoRaWAN protocol is not planned for the LongRa board because our RadioShuttle protocol is more efficient, and does not require a concentrator. It works from node to station as well as from node to node (peer to peer) and station to station. Also, there are no limits regarding the used channels and bandwidths.

The RadioShuttle and LoRa concepts differ from eath other; the approach of RadioShuttle is to securely and efficiently share messages between node and station.

However, technically it is possible to port the LoRaWAN protocol to the LongRa board.

Is the RadioShuttle protocol open source?

At the moment it is not. Experienced C++ developers with a good knowledge of network protocol development, who are interested in the refinement of RadioShuttle, are welcome. For security audits of the RadioShuttle software the source code is available for examination on-site (Hannover).