Project status: Ruuvi Gateway

Hello,

SDK15.3

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Awesome thanks

Ruuvi Gateway update:

All the comments are welcome. If you’d like to be a beta tester, find instructions on the blog post.

OK sorry going to be honest here. While I understand the practicalities, the antenna for me is an immediate issue.
In certain installations where it can be hidden its likely ideal. Where it is going to be visible it looks like a child’s toy and cloverleaf antenna are notoriously fragile.
Perhaps there are options (rubber dipole, or internal) depending on its intended location ?
OR can the stub be reduced in length and the antenna be covered by a dome, this would retain the performance of the antenna type and improve its appearance and susceptibility to accidental damage

Awesome work.

The gateway is looking great.

It looks like the antenna would be changeable so depending on the client they could then purchase an antenna to suit their needs. Could you confirm that this will be the case?

Will there be a way to flash the nRF52 module? Will it be done via SWDCLK and SWDIO connection or are you planning on DFU functionality?

The antenna is detachable, so it’s possible to use other types of antennas as well.

Yes

Only SWDCLK and SWDIO is planned for now. Adding BLE bootloader just in case wouldn’t be too much of work though :thinking:

How about a plastic cylinder with a top cap as a “hiding” cover.

I was thinking more like a dome similar to a domed cctv camera
However if the antenna is removable/replaceable perhaps not a concern.
I had those antenna as part of a fpv setup for a drone, forever getting broken

I’m using RuuviTags in an industrial (factory) setting, and for me PoE would be the optimal form of connectively/power. If that’s not possible because of the extra cost, what about an unpowered ethernet port?

The concern with wi-fi is it’s unreliability when compared with a hard-wired network connection. With an unpowered ethernet port I would probably use an external PoE splitter/adapter (to 5V) to power the gateway from the existing PoE infrastructure.

Actually, just a few days ago we decided to add one :partying_face:

See #ruuvigateway on slack.ruuvi.com for more info.

Merry Christmas! :santa:

Oh yes! Great decision!! :grin:

I just contacted all the approved beta testers and sharing a part of the email in here to keep everyone posted about the project status:

“After the blog post about Ruuvi Gateway, I have received an enormous amount of messages and interest about the project. And that’s good! We have received some really valuable feedback too.

In the beginning of the project, we were planning to keep everything as simple as possible but without making any compromises with the quality of the antennas. However, soon after the initial pre-launch (the blog post), we decided to reconsider the decision of having only wireless internet connectivity on board. The main reason for this was that WiFi networks are not always reliable enough for business customers and may also cause headaches for some consumer users.

So, we decided to take the gateway to the next level by including an Ethernet connectivity (RJ45 port) :sunglasses:

Unfortunately, this new feature forced me to start designing the PCB pretty much from scratch and this has caused some delay on the PCB prototyping. The design is progressing well and currently we’re aiming to finally start producing the prototype boards right after our Chinese friends are returning from their long New Year’s holidays.

However, even the PCB layout is delayed a bit, it won’t actually have too much impact on the schedule of the end product because firmware work has progressed well. In addition to the basic functionality, Ethernet firmware support is in the making and next week or the week after you will most probably start to see some progress in the repo.

Note that the WiFi gateway firmware (both ESP32 and nRF52 parts) are already functional and can be tested by flashing them on ESP32/nRF52 dev boards. The hotspot web-UI currently looks not pretty and may have some hidden bugs, but that’s why we’re here to test it and make it better.”

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Great update, we walked away using wifi last year and are now only deploying Ethernet based GW’s

Here is the completely redesigned Ruuvi Gateway circuit board with ethernet connectivity:

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Oooh! Pretty.
Trying to think of size, and scaling from the ports, it looks a little bigger than 2 RPis side by side. Is that right? Can you give some dimensions?

The PCB is about 10 x 6cm :nerd_face:

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Nice that ethernet made its way to the gateway. PoE would be a nice improvement for maybe a next revision.
Is there a further roadmap of this project available?

PoE can be supported with an external splitter, we do not have plans of supporting internal PoE at least yet.

Hey everyone! It’s time for a Gateway update.

Lately, we’ve been working with mechanics, firmware, configuration user interface, backend, antenna simulations, custom antenna manufacturing and other tasks that have to be taken care of in prior the mass production. Selected beta testers will get their hardware pieces starting from next week. Everything is moving forward nicely.

Here is the latest mechanics design for your comments:

And the circuit board:

The Gateway will be easy to use and quick to set up, but we’ve also designed the the mechanics (and software) to be hacker friendly. Ruuvi Connector flex cables are supported and a large sized expansion board will fit nicely inside the enclosure. More in-depth info and expansion board template KiCad project(s) will be shared later.

Questions, comments? Yes, please!

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