Firefly

Contents

Overview

Firefly is DIGIMONDO’s LoRaWAN network server (LNS): it connects LoRaWAN gateways and end devices, handles joins and downlinks, and delivers payload data to downstream systems. Security, scalability, and performance are central design goals. Firefly uses the LoRaWAN standard defined by the LoRa Alliance. LoRaWAN gateways can be onboarded using the Semtech Basic Station packet forwarder or the Semtech UDP packet forwarder; see the linked documentation and project pages for details. Connecting LoRaWAN Gateways covers gateway onboarding in Firefly and niotix. Sensors from different vendors can be onboarded as long as they operate in a LoRaWAN-compliant way. The software is available as a hosted SaaS deployment or as an on-premises installation.

In niotix, Firefly appears as the LoRaWAN System under Connected systems and is integrated via the Firefly connector and the LoRaWAN System menu entry. For productive niotix setups:

  • Device and data integration primarily runs through the Firefly connector.
  • The technical integration uses REST for management actions and MQTT subscriptions for incoming packet data.
  • Firefly remains the leading system for LoRaWAN-specific tasks such as joins, downlink scheduling, gateway connectivity, and regional frequency plans.

For configuration in niotix, access to the account, an API key at Firefly organization level, and appropriate permissions in Firefly are required; if uplinks are delivered via subscription, the MQTT URL from the connector configuration is required as well.

In niotix setups, Firefly sinks or webhooks are usually not the standard integration path. niotix uses the Firefly connector with REST and MQTT instead.

Access & Navigation

Two access paths matter in niotix:

  1. Connected systems → LoRaWAN System
    Opens the configured Firefly instance.
  2. Integrations → Connectors
    Used to manage the Firefly connector in niotix.

In addition, IoT Data Hub → Gateway Mgmt is relevant when gateways are monitored in niotix or linked with Firefly data.

Chapter Structure

The following subpages describe Firefly from the perspective of productive niotix operation: