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Your First Deployment

LoRaWAN quickstart for Kilo IoT — register a gateway, set up LNS, add a sensor, build a dashboard, trigger an alarm.

This guide walks you through the simplest LoRaWAN path to getting live data flowing: register a gateway, set up an LNS connector, add a sensor, view its data, build a dashboard, and set up an alarm. Not every Kilo deployment starts with a gateway, but this one does because it covers the LoRaWAN route. Each feature has its own dedicated section later in the documentation — here we're just covering the basics.

What you'll need:

  • A Kilo IoT account

  • A LoRaWAN gateway with its Gateway EUI

  • A LoRaWAN sensor (e.g., a door sensor or temperature sensor) with its Device EUI and AppKey

What you'll have at the end:

  • A gateway online and receiving traffic

  • A connector linking your gateway to the server

  • A device sending telemetry data

  • A dashboard showing live sensor readings

  • An alarm rule monitoring a condition and notifying you by email

Step 1: Register a LoRaWAN gateway

The gateway is the radio receiver that picks up signals from your LoRaWAN sensors and forwards them to the server. You need at least one gateway online before any LoRaWAN device can communicate.

The server supports LoRaWAN gateways that use the Basics Station protocol. Basics Station connects over an encrypted TLS channel — unlike the legacy UDP Packet Forwarder — which is why the setup involves downloading security certificates. Most modern LoRaWAN gateways support Basics Station; check your gateway's specifications before purchasing.

  1. Click Gateways in the left sidebar.

  2. Click the Add gateway button in the top-right corner.

  3. Enter a name for the gateway (e.g., "Warehouse A Gateway").

  4. Select the region (frequency band) that matches your gateway hardware and deployment:

    • Usually this matches the band your gateway was sold or configured for

    • EU868 for most deployments in Europe

    • US915-0 / US915-1 for deployments in the United States, depending on the network plan

    • EU433 only if your gateway hardware is specifically built or configured for 433 MHz

    • Other regions are available in the dropdown (AS923, AU915-0, IN865, KR920, RU864, etc.)

  5. Enter the Gateway EUI — a 16-character identifier typically printed on a label on the gateway hardware.

  6. Click Next.

The Add gateway form with the name, region and Gateway EUI fields

Download certificates and configure your gateway

After submitting the gateway details, the next screen shows:

  1. The LNS address — this is the server URL your gateway needs to connect to. Click the copy icon to copy it to your clipboard.

  2. A Download certs.zip button — click it to download the certificate bundle that authenticates your gateway's connection.

  3. Click Continue.

The gateway setup step showing the LNS address with a copy control and the Download certs.zip button

Now open your gateway's management interface and configure it with:

  • The LNS address you copied

  • The certificates from the downloaded zip file

Depending on the gateway model, this may be a local web interface, a device IP on your network, or a vendor-managed portal. The exact configuration steps depend on your gateway model — refer to the manufacturer's documentation. Once the gateway connects, its status in the Gateways list will change to online. This may take a couple of minutes.

Tip: For initial testing, place the gateway and sensor within the same building. LoRaWAN signal covers 2–5 km in urban environments and up to 15 km in open areas.

Step 2: Set up an LNS connector

Before adding devices, you need a connector. A connector establishes the protocol-level connection that enables the server to accept data from a specific device type.

  1. Click Connectors in the left sidebar.

  2. Click Add connector (or the Add connector button on the empty state).

  3. In the dialog, select LNS from the Connector type dropdown.

  4. Click Add.

The LNS connector is created and appears in your connectors table. No additional configuration is needed — the server handles the LoRaWAN network integration automatically.

The LNS connector page showing connector type, creation date, connected devices and last data received

Step 3: Add your first device

With the gateway online and the connector in place, you can register your first device — creating a Digital Twin that tracks the physical sensor's state, readings, and history.

  1. Click Devices in the left sidebar.

  2. Click the Add device button in the top-right corner.

Create the device profile

The dialog opens in Add mode, showing only the Device info section:

  1. Enter a device name (e.g., "Server Room Door Sensor").

  2. Optionally, upload a device photo by dragging an image or clicking the upload area.

  3. Click Save.

The device profile is created and the form switches to edit mode, with the Device info, Connection, Mapping and Logs tabs all available.

Configure the connection

  1. Click the Connection tab.

  2. Select your connector from the dropdown — it lists your organization's connectors by name and type.

The Connection tab of a device with the connector type dropdown open, listing the organization's connectors by name and type

  1. Under "Use device profile templates", check the box if your device brand and model are in the catalog:

    • Select the Brand (e.g., Dragino, Milesight, Browan).

    • Select the Model — the list filters based on brand.

    • The Profile (band and device class) populates automatically from the template.

  2. If your device is not in the catalog, leave the checkbox unchecked and enter credentials manually:

    • Device EUI — 16 hexadecimal characters, typically printed on the device.

    • AppKey — 32 hexadecimal characters, provided with the device.

  3. Optionally, click the Mapping tab to select sensor templates that define what parameters the device reports.

  4. Click Save.

The device appears in the Devices list. Once it performs a LoRaWAN join through your gateway (which may take a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the device's transmission interval), its data will begin flowing into the server.

Step 4: View your data

Once the device has sent its first reading:

  1. Click a device row on the Devices page in the sidebar.

  2. The device detail page opens. Click the Mapping tab to see sensor data.

  3. The Mapping tab shows the sensor templates attached to the device and their current readings.

The device Mapping tab listing each device data key with its latest value, normalized key, type and data type

You can also view device data through the Dashboards section by adding widgets — which is what we'll do next.

Step 5: Build a dashboard

Dashboards let you combine data from multiple devices onto a single screen.

  1. Click Dashboards in the left sidebar.

  2. Click Add dashboard.

  3. In the modal:

    • Choose an icon for the dashboard (default is a home icon).

    • Enter a name (e.g., "Server Room Monitoring").

    • Optionally select a folder to organize it, or leave it at the top level.

    • Optionally add a description.

  4. Click Save.

Adding a widget

  1. On the new dashboard, click Add widget.

  2. Step 1 — Choose a device: Select the device you want to display data from.

  3. Step 2 — Choose a metric: Select which parameter to show (e.g., door status, temperature, battery). A live preview of the widget appears so you can see how it will look.

  4. Click Choose to add it to the dashboard.

The Add widget dialog listing the available widget types

Repeat to add more widgets for different devices or parameters. You can drag widgets to reposition them and resize them by pulling their edges.

Step 6: Set up an alarm

Now let's have the server notify you when something needs attention — for example, when a door opens.

  1. Click Alarm in the left sidebar.

  2. Click the Add alarm rule button in the top-right corner.

  3. In the alarm rule modal, fill in:

    • Alarm name — A descriptive label (e.g., "Server Room Door Opened").

    • Severity — Choose from Critical, High, Medium, Low, or Info depending on urgency.

    • Theme — The subject line for the notification (e.g., "Door Open Alert").

    • Message body — The message content (e.g., "The server room door has been opened.").

Configure escalation

  1. Under Escalation chain, click Add step to create the first step.

    • Choose who to notify under Notify, and the delivery channel under Via (Email is the default; SMS and Push are also available if configured).

    • Add further steps to define what happens if the alarm isn't acknowledged — for example, notify a second person after a delay.

The Escalation chain section of an alarm definition with an Immediate step, its Notify recipients dropdown and Via channel, and the Add step control

  1. Click Save.

The alarm rule is now active. When the condition is met, an alarm appears in Alarm → Inbox and a notification is sent through the configured channels.

What's next

You now have the basics in place for a LoRaWAN deployment: a gateway providing coverage, a connector linking the network, a device reporting data, a dashboard for visualization, and an alarm rule for monitoring.

From here, you can:

  • Add more devices — Register additional sensors through your LNS connector, set up a Tracker connector for vehicle trackers, or use the MQTT connector for PLCs, energy meters, and any MQTT-capable hardware

  • Build complex automations — Explore the Rules Engine with CEL expressions, decision tables, and multi-device rules

  • Invite team members — Set up Organizations and Access Control for multi-user collaboration

  • Integrate with external systems — Generate API keys for programmatic access

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