TCR FAQ

The newest documentation is always here.

This documentation website is the only place where you can find up-to-date technical information about our products.

We will update this content regularly to improve information and to make things simpler. So we ask you to read this information first.

• If you purchased the product from a Reseller or as Part of a Project please contact your Reseller or Project Partner first.
• If you purchased the product directly from Parametric use our Support Inquiry Form to contact us.
• Book a Premium Remote Support Session

At Parametric, customers are supported directly by a small team of engineers.

Support is provided alongside the actual engineering activities. This can take a little longer. The answers are usually target-oriented. For this reason, we cannot offer telephone support without prior appointment.

There is a Premium Remote Support offer.
You can book a support session directly in the calendar of the support team. An engineer will contact you at the requested time to solve your issues remotely. This service can be paid conveniently with Paypal or Credit Cards.

This service is limited to products and services provided by Parametric. If there are problems with third-party products, services or software (including problems with Windows), we can help isolate them. There is no guarantee that every problem will be solved. In some cases an analysis or repair in our service center may be necessary.

• 15 Min Premium Remote Support (English)
• 15 Min Premium Remote Support (Deutsch)

Integration partners (Integrators) add functionality or services to a Parametric sensor and then resell it as an integrated part of a complete "turnkey" solution.

We do select our partners carefully as our support staff is limited. Therefore, we must assume a certain basic technical knowledge on the part of the integration partner.

You can apply for becoming an integrator for one or multiple LPWAN product families.

Benefits
Becoming an integrator will give you the opportunity of:

• getting access to our newest product developments
• having access to marketing material including hires images of our products
• having access to technical information and training
• having access to our project protection program (be the first and only to offer for a tender)
• creating white labeled devices (your name and contact is on the device)
• having integrator prices

Techs only
Integrators are carefully selected to represent our products and services. A qualification process ensures that our partners have the necessary technical skills to integrate, deploy and support Parametric devices.

Therefore, we must insist on the following minimum requirements:

1. Technical background with at least one employee with a university technical education (please name person and degree) and a technical understanding of HF and radar technology.
2. Company has implemented at least 3 projects with LPWAN technology (please describe)
3. You are able to support your customers during deployment, installation and operation (1st level support). Parametric will not be able to support your customers.

Prerequisite for starting the application
If your company meets the above minimum requirements, the next steps are as follows.

1. Order a device to get familiar with a particular product.
2. Once you are 100% convinced of the product and see the opportunity to integrate it profitably, move on.

Application process
1. Send us an email to sales@parametric.ch with the following information:

• copy of business registration so we can check your company status
• 3 project examples
• name of technical skilled person

2. Finally we will send you the Parametric Integration Partners Agreement to sign. This contract includes a non disclosure agreement (NDA) and regulates all topics and contains product family and discount levels.

3. Welcome as a partner! We are happy to go with you. Your success is our success.

Customers who have purchased the devices directly from us can report problems or questions in the ticket system. For this purpose, the customer number is required. This can be found on the following documents:

• Quotation
• Shipping Note
• Invoices

The number always starts with a C, e.g. C9876

Parametric GmbH’s own products can be returned at the customer’s expense within 14 days of receipt. Excluded from the right of return are components specially ordered or manufactured for the customer (delivery items), equipment customised to the customer’s requirements, as well as software licences and 3services. In order to ensure smooth processing of returns, Parametric GmbH must be contacted in advance. For this purpose, we recommend that you submit an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorisation) request online. Parametric GmbH will provide the customer with a return address and RMA number. This address must be used for the return shipment. The return must be made within a maximum of 10 days from the date of delivery of the RMA address and the customs declaration “Return” or “Retoure”.

Parametric Analytics GmbH
RMA ____ (fill in the RMA Number we give you)
Lerchenfeldstrasse 3
9014 St. Gallen
Switzerland

Customs declaraion: “Return” or “Retoure”

Returns with full credit are possible for

• Parametric’s own product range
• Unopened original packaging
• Return registered on time
• Return within the time limit

Return with 10% deduction is possible for

• Own products from the standard range
• Opened but still original packaging
• Unit is unused and shows no signs of use
• All available accessories
• Return registered in time
• Returned in time

The return of used equipment is subject to inspection by our returns department and cannot be guaranteed. The amount of the credit will be determined after inspection by our returns department on the basis of the condition of the goods and will be notified to the customer in writing and will not exceed 80% of the purchase price. The customer may appeal the decision within 10 days and request that the goods be returned at his own expense.

The LoRaWAN® specification is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWAN) networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect low energy devices to the internet in regional, national or global networks, and targets key Internet of Things (IoT) requirements such as bi-directional communication, end-to-end security, mobility and localization services. Read more...

This is a connected device (sensor). The LoRaWAN® connection is used to transmit data to a server at regular intervals having a real time coverage of the traffic situation.

No.

There are professional LoRaWAN® Networks Providers with fully managed offerings including support. Ask Google to find such a provider in your area.

It is possible to run private LoRaWAN® networks including own LNS and Gateways. Although we do not recommend it and won't be able to support it. If there is no professional provider in your area this might be the only option to operate TCR traffic counters.

Take following advice based on our experiences:

• Use only quality LoRaWAN Gateways from famous manufacturers such as Tektelic or Kerlink.
• Use Loriot Free Community Public Server to get started. Later you can switch to Professional Offering. Loriot.io is good software. We did not see major issues so far.
• Use ThingPark®. ThingPark® Enterprise is an IoT connectivity management solution allowing to deploy a dedicated and fully controlled LoRaWAN® network for a fast use case enablement.

We do not recommend using community operated LoRaWAN® networks for professional applications. (Would you like to fly to mars with a RaspberryPI controlled rocket!?)

Why we do not recommend it?

• There is nobody you can contact except "the community".
• Coverage of community networks is not guaranteed. Gateways can be switched on or off at any time changing the whole coverage map.
• Usually these networks are based on very limited hardware.
• Limited knowledge on building wireless networks including the selection of suitable locations and antenna optimization.

Technically yes, but we do not recommended it.

The Things Network (TTN) is the free community network, that’s mainly operated by TTI on best effort.

There is a Fair Use Policy which limits the uplink airtime to 30 seconds per day (24 hours) per node and the downlink messages to 10 messages per day (24 hours) per node.

You may get support from volunteers, at the TTN forum but they cannot access the network servers to analyze or fix anything.

Due to TTN is very limited we do not recommend using it together with our products because it restricts the functional potential.

We have a public repository where you can download a payload decoder code examples as a starting point to write your own decoder.

TCR devices transfer counter data in regular intervals.

Depending on the LoRaWAN region, it may not be possible to transmit as often as desired. A reasonable value is 10min. This means that 6 messages are sent per hour. You can use this Airtime Calculator to find the limitations in your region. Use payload size=10.

TTN is very limited due to the fair use policy. Max. 20msg/24hour (Payload size = 10) in the EUR868 region.

Please refer to our article on How to choose the right solar kit.

For the initial configuration we recommend using the PPX Setup Tool.

Alternatively, the command line interface CLI can also be used. For large deployments, it would even be worthwhile to write a few Python scripts using the CLI to configure the devices automatically.

When the devices are rolled out, the settings can be changed remotely via LoRaWAN® Downlinks.

Go to the TCR User Manual to read and understand all settings that can be changed via PPX Tool.

You find the LoRaWAN® Keys Slip on the inside of the box. This slip is printed out during the production of the device and contains device-specific data.

Starting with TCR Firmware V2.2 you can lock the settings with a PIN code. See the CLI Documentation for details.

This has to do with the fact that the fallback category is set to this specific category. Then you cannot switch off the category. So firstly go an change your fallback category. The categories are pure filters. The measurement determines speed, direction and an object length estimate. If the values "get stuck" in one of the activated filters, the corresponding counter is increased.

The TCR traffic counters distinguish between 2 directions and must be placed to the side of the object movement.

• RTL means from right-to-left
• LTR means from left-to-right

RTL = objects which come from the right and disappear to the left. The left LED will pulse once in this case. LTR = objects which come from the left and disappear to the right. The right LED will pulse once in this case.

The directional indications are meant from the viewer's perspective towards the LEDs located under the service lid. Never the "view of the device" towards the road.

Check the following:

Distance to object
LS-Devices: The sensor must be placed at least 50cm away from the target.
HS-Devices: The sensor must be placed at least 3m away from the target.

Avoid obstacles in FOV
Make sure there are no obstacles such as walls, street signs, shrubberies, trees in the field of view. When placed beside water the device might detect the waves.

Lateral to movement
TCR are side radars that detect motion from both directions simultaneously. The movement should be linear. Therefore place the sensor parallel to the movements direction and keep away from curves, crossings, driveways.

This can happen when there is a thunderstorm or even animals that only appear at night.

Voltage measurement is limited to 0-6.6V when using the external DC input, even if you apply 12V DC. This is a known issue on all hardware revisions (00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05) and will be fixed in the next release.

This limitation does not affect solar powered units as the voltage measurement is managed by the charger chip.

RSSI and SNR must be considered to evaluate the radio link quality. You can find these levels somewhere on your LoRaWAN Network Server.

• RSSI is the received signal strength
• SNR is the signal noise rate and give indication on the ambient noise level

• Radio link can be considered has GOOD when RSSI > -115dB and SNR > -7dB
• Radio link is BAD (range limit) when RSSI <= -120 dB or SNR <= -13dB

Between this 2 cases

If RSSI is good (> -115dB) but SNR bad (<= -13dB)

It means that the environment of the gateway is very noisy. SNR must be checked during many days to be sure that the radio link is enough stable to receive all messages.

If RSSI is bad ( <=-120dB) but SNR good (> -7dB)

It means that device is probably far away from the gateway.

Step 2: Check LoRaWAN Keys

Check if you entered the right keys by using PPX.

Step 3: Check LoRaWAN Connectivity Settings

TCR uses the following network parameters by default:

• LoRaWAN® 1.0.3
• Class A
• OTAA
• Confirmed Uplinks
• ADR On
• LinkChecks enabled

These settings need to mach the settings on your LNS

Step 4: Check Link Quality

If your see Join Requests in your LNS but device still does not join you may have one of the following issues:

• The device is located in a very noisy area and not receiving ACK messages from the gateway. Try to displace the device or increase TX power on the gateway
• Check Signal Quality of ACK by using the LoRaWAN Status View in PPX
• Use devices with external antennas such as TCR-SLE or TCR-SLE
• Displace the gateway

Step 1: Check LoRaWAN Region Setting

Please check the LoRaWAN Region of your device. Connect your device via an USB Cable and open PPX. You should find the LoRaWAN Region String in the device type e.g. TCR-DLE/LS/EU868

See Users Manual for a description on how to change the LoRaWAN Region.