Understanding Meshlium

Concepts

Meshlium is an IoT gateway that may contain up to 4 different radio interfaces: a WiFi 2.4 GHz (Access Point), a 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM and 2 XBee/RF radios. Meshlium may include Bluetooth, BLE and WiFi radios too for scanning applications. These features along with an aluminum IP67 enclosure allow Meshlium to be placed outdoors.

Meshlium can work as:

  • an RF (XBee) to Ethernet router for Waspmote nodes*.
  • an RF (XBee) to 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM router for Waspmote nodes*.
  • a WiFi Access Point.
  • a WiFi to 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM router.
  • a GPS -- 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM real-time tracker**.
  • a smartphones (detects iPhone and Android devices) and wearables scanner.

(*) More info about Waspmote at: https://development.libelium.com/waspmote/
(**) only for US models; EU, BR or AU models do not have a GPS receiver

All the networking options can be controlled from the Manager System, a web interface which comes with Meshlium. It allows you to control all the interfaces and system options in a secure, easy and quick way.

Meshlium models

There are different Meshlium models depending on the radios integrated:

Meshlium model Ethernet WiFi AP 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM 802.15.4 868/900

WiFi & Bluetooth

scanners

Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP 868 EU * * EU/BR version EU version 868
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP 900 US * * US version World version 900 US
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP 900 BR * * EU/BR version World version 900 BR
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP 900 AU * * AU version World version 900 AU
Meshlium 4G AP 868 EU * * EU/BR version 868
Meshlium 4G AP 900 US * * US version 900 US
Meshlium 4G AP 900 BR * * EU/BR version 900 BR
Meshlium 4G AP 900 AU * * AU version 900 AU
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP EU * * EU/BR version EU version
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP US * * US version World version
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP BR * * EU/BR version World version
Meshlium 4G 802.15.4 AP AU * * AU version World version
Meshlium 4G AP Scanner EU/BR * * EU/BR version *
Meshlium 4G AP Scanner US * * US version *
Meshlium 4G AP Scanner AU * * AU version *

Each model with RF modules can have XBee-PRO 802.15.4 and XBee 868LP or XBee-PRO 900HP (depending on the region).

Storage

The size of the Meshlium hard disk is 16 GB. The Operating System and the Manager System take ~ 3 GB. This means the space which can be used to store the data captured and to be used by the applications loaded by the user is:

  • 16 GB - 3 GB = 13 GB

Some of this space (7.2 GB) is assigned to the user partition: "/mnt/user".

The local database files can be found in: "/mnt/user/mysql/MeshliumDB".

Application model by model

Meshlium RF 4G AP Meshlium can take the sensor data which comes from a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) made with Waspmote sensor devices equipped with RF (XBee) radios and send it to the Internet using the Ethernet interface or the 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM interface. Besides, Waspmotes with GPRS, NB-IoT / Cat-M, 4G or WiFi can send sensor info through the access point or through the Internet via HTTP protocol. Users can connect directly to Meshlium using the WiFi interface to control it and access to the sensor data. Users can also connect to Meshlium via WiFi with laptops and smart phones and get access to the Internet (as a common Access Point).

(*)https://development.libelium.com/waspmote/__

FIgure: Meshlium RF 4G AP

Meshlium Scanner 4G AP

It allows to detect Smartphones (iPhone, Android) and in general any device which works with WiFi, Bluetooth or BLE interfaces. The collected data can be sent to the Internet by using the Ethernet interface or the 4G/3G/GPRS/GSM connectivity. Besides, Waspmotes with GPRS, NB-IoT / Cat-M, 4G or WiFi can send sensor info to Meshlium through its WiFi Access Point or through the Internet via HTTP protocol. Users can connect directly to Meshlium using the WiFi Access Point to control it and access to the sensor data. Users can also connect to Meshlium via WiFi with laptops and smart phones and get access to the Internet (as a common Access Point).

Figure: Meshlium Scanner 4G AP