This guide will walk through the end-to-end deployment of a LoRaWAN® network. LoRa® uses an RF modulation technique that allows long-range, low powered wireless communication. LoRaWAN is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol. This guide aims to provide you with all the information you need to build a network using the LoRaWAN protocol, including hardware and software requirements and step-by-step instructions for building the different network elements.

Welcome to the Semtech LoRa® Developer Portal Systems Integrator Series, “How to Quickly Deploy Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions on the Helium LoRaWAN® Network”. This hands-on guide explains how Internet of Things (IoT) systems integrators can quickly deploy LoRaWAN® network solutions on the rapidly growing Helium IoT network.

After completing this set of tutorials, you will have a basic understanding of how the Helium network functions, how to on-board LoRaWAN devices, how to create a simple dashboard for monitoring, and how to use LoRaWAN and the Helium network for asset tracking applications.

Devices used in this tutorial are all off-the-shelf and readily available.

In the first section, you will learn about the Helium network and how it works with LoRaWAN devices and the IoT.  In the two part on-boarding section, you will learn how to add devices to the Helium network, and how to create an IoT dashboard to deploy commercially viable solutions.  In the final section, you will use the Helium network to create a simple asset tracking application using off-the-shelf components.


This is a hands-on guide for anyone interested in creating a LoRaWAN® solution at home or in a local building, using affordable and readily-available components.  By the end of the this guide, you will be able to use LoRaWAN to effectively set up and monitor your targeted environment with a set of IoT off-the-shelf components.  And while you will focus on an on-premise deployment for this lab, the technologies and paradigms you will use can also be deployed in the Cloud.

This lab will touch on concepts of the LoRaWAN standard very lightly, as the main aim is to get you to a real working system in a practical way without too many deep dives. There are many complementary articles if you want to learn more, and the best place to dig deeper is of course the Academy for LoRaWAN