Provisioning Concepts

LoRa-based device provisioning is comparable to bank card numbering and security. Bank cards start with a six-digit vendor ID to indicate who allocated the card and who controls the security of the card. Examples include Visa, MasterCard and American Express. The remaining ten digits are a unique number and check digit associated with a specific card. Likewise, LoRa-based devices have a Join Server Unique Identifier (JoinEUI) that indicates who manages the security and authorizes the device. They also have a Device Unique Identifier (DevEUI) that uniquely identifies the device. Together the JoinEUI and DevEUI provide similar information to that which appears on the front of a bank card. Bank cards are also secured with a secret code. Similarly, a LoRa-based device is secured with a secret code. This code is called the AppKey in the LoRaWAN 1.0.x series of specifications, and the NwkKey in the 1.1.x series.

To use a credit card, a machine translates the physical card into a transaction with the credit card processing network. Similarly, a LoRa-based device uses a gateway to communicate with the LoRaWAN network server. The credit card processing network uses the leading six-digit vendor ID to determine which bank to contact to complete the transaction authorization. Similarly, a LoRaWAN network server uses the JoinEUI command to know where to request security keys.