iC880A-SPI QuickStart Guide - QuickStart Guide
Open Source Driver on Github
confidential
iC880A-SPI_QuickStartGuide.docx, Wireless Solutions, V0.1
page 9 of 17
configuration. Changes / updates within all relevant software repositories are subject to change
without notice.
2.1
Download of the Open Source Driver
Install a git client on your (embedded) host system: On Debian based systems the git client can
be installed by calling the following command in a terminal emulator / console:
sudo apt-get install git
Create local folder that should contain the local copy of the repository:
mkdir -p ~/LoRa/lora_gateway
Get a copy of the repository:
cd ~/LoRa/lora_gateway
https://github.com/Lora-net/lora_gateway.git
2.2
Preparing the host system (Raspberry Pi)
2.2.1
Preparing the SPI Interface
The github open source driver (in version 3.2 and newer) requires a “native” SPI interface of the
host system to be present. This is by default called “/dev/spidev0.0”. In order to use this
interface, it must be enabled on the Raspberry Pi platform. To enable it the user must call the
following command in a terminal emulator / console of the Raspberry Pi running the Debian
based Rasbian distribution:
sudo raspi-config
A text based menu will appear and the user has to enter the “Advanced Options” sub menu.
Next the entry “SPI” has to be chosen and the following two questions have to be answered with
the “Yes” option. After a reboot of the system the SPI interface is ready to be used.
2.2.2
Preparing the Reset Pin Control
Now that the SPI interface is accessible, the control logic for the reset pin has to be set up.
During the development history of the LoRa driver, the support for GPIO pin control has been
removed from the sources. (Note: the repository is not maintained by IMST.) That means the
user has to take care of it via an additional piece of software. In general there are two
possibilities to control the GPIO pin that is connected to the Reset pin of the iC880A-SPI.
