Building a LoRaWAN Weather Station: Complete DIY Tutorial with Dragino

Why LoRaWAN for Weather Monitoring?

LoRaWAN is ideal for remote weather stations: ultra-low power, range up to 15km, and no WiFi or cellular required. Perfect for farms, vineyards, forests, and remote locations.

Required Hardware

Weather Sensors

Rain Gauge

A tipping bucket rain gauge counts tips as rain fills the bucket. Each tip = 0.2mm rainfall. Connect to digital input with interrupt.

volatile int tipCount = 0;

void IRAM_ATTR rainTip() {
 tipCount++;
}

void setup() {
 pinMode(RAIN_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP);
 attachInterrupt(RAIN_PIN, rainTip, FALLING);
}

float getRainfall() {
 float mm = tipCount * 0.2;
 tipCount = 0;
 return mm;
}

Anemometer (Wind Speed)

Cup anemometers output pulses as they spin. Count pulses over time to calculate wind speed.

// Wind speed calculation
// Calibration: pulses per second → m/s
float getWindSpeed() {
 unsigned long pulses = countPulses(1000); // 1 second
 float mps = pulses * CALIBRATION_FACTOR;
 float kmh = mps * 3.6;
 return kmh;
}

Temperature & Humidity

LoRaWAN Payload Format

Encode sensor data efficiently for LoRaWAN's limited bandwidth:

// Compact payload format (10 bytes)
byte payload[10];

// Temperature: -40 to 85°C in 0.1°C steps (2 bytes)
int16_t temp = (temperature + 40) * 10;
payload[0] = temp >> 8;
payload[1] = temp & 0xFF;

// Humidity: 0-100% (1 byte)
payload[2] = humidity;

// Rain: 0-255mm (1 byte)
payload[3] = min(rainfall, 255);

// Wind: 0-255 km/h (1 byte)
payload[4] = min(windSpeed, 255);

// Battery: 0-3.6V mapped to 0-255 (1 byte)
payload[5] = (battery / 3.6) * 255;

Data Visualization