Gateway and controller patterns — Demory farm (~120 acres)¶
Purpose: Operator patterns for aggregating long-range field sensors on a ~120-acre rural parcel where one tower may not see all edges. Pairs with Farm sensor architecture — Demory farm site and entity pages for roles (not SKUs).
Sources: Demory farm sensor layer — official and operator-grade source cluster (ChirpStack captures, LoRaWAN spec).
Pattern A — LoRaWAN star to private NS (ChirpStack-class)¶
| Element | Role |
|---|---|
| Gateway(s) | RF → network server; diversity reduces SPOF when terrain creates ridge/valley shadowing |
| Network server | Join, ADR, application payload routing |
| MQTT / HTTP integration | Egress to broker at controller |
When: Certified LoRaWAN sensors dominate; you accept star topology and explicit gateway planning.
Risk: Gateway impaired → silence from covered devices unless overlapping gateways or relocation.
Pattern B — Meshtastic mesh + bridge to MQTT¶
| Element | Role |
|---|---|
| Mesh nodes | R repeaters + S leaves; multi-hop without single-tower omniscience |
| Bridge / G | MQTT to broker; policy for default radio vs MQTT (0-hop) behavior |
When: Sparse telemetry and coverage holes; ops accept firmware cadence.
Risk: Mesh partition; not a substitute for welfare rounds.
Pattern C — HaLow (802.11ah) IP segment¶
| Element | Role |
|---|---|
| AP / CPE | Sub-GHz IP to sensor or bridge device |
| Controller | Same LAN policies as 802.11—patch, segment |
When: Higher throughput or IP-native devices; budget power vs LoRa sleep.
Controller placement (farm vs Claxton)¶
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Controller at Demory (broker + store) | Low latency; WAN optional for local truth | Hands-on when LAN broken requires site visit |
| Split SoR (authoritative at farm, read replica at Claxton) | Remote visibility | Sync complexity; staleness rules |
Starlink only bridges WAN—not field RF.