Create multicast groups and add devices to the group - AWS IoT Wireless
PrerequisitesCreate multicast groups (console)Create multicast groups (CLI)Next steps

Create multicast groups and add devices to the group

You can create multicast groups by using the console or the CLI. If you're creating your multicast group for the first time, we recommend that you use the console to add your multicast group. When you want to manage your multicast group and add or remove devices from your group, you can use the CLI.

After exchanging signaling with the end devices you added, AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN establishes the shared keys with the end devices and sets up the parameters for the data transfer.

Prerequisites

Before you can create multicast groups and add devices to the group:

  • Prepare your devices for multicast and FUOTA setup by specifying the FUOTA configuration parameters GenAppKey and FPorts. For more information, see Prepare devices for multicast and FUOTA configuration.

  • Check whether the devices support class B or class C modes of operation. Depending on the device class that your device supports, choose a device profile that has one or both Supports Class B or Supports Class C modes enabled. For information about device profiles, see Add profiles to AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN.

    At the start of the multicast session, a class B or class C distribution window is used to send downlink messages to the devices in your group.

Create multicast groups by using the console

To create multicast groups by using the console, go to the Multicast groups page of the AWS IoT console and choose Create multicast group.

  1. Create a multicast group

    To create your multicast group, specify the multicast properties and tags for your group.

    1. Specify multicast properties

      To specify multicast properties, enter the following information for your multicast group.

      • Name: Enter a unique name for your multicast group. The name must contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores. It can't contain spaces.

      • Description: You can provide an optional description for your multicast group. The description length can be up to 2,048 characters.

    2. Tags for multicast group

      You can optionally provide any key-value pairs as Tags for your multicast group. To continue creating your multicast group, choose Next.

  2. Add devices to a multicast group

    You can add individual devices or a group of devices to your multicast group. To add devices:

    1. Specify RFRegion

      Specify the RFRegion or frequency band for your multicast group. The RFRegion for your multicast group must match the RFRegion of devices that you add to the multicast group. For more information about the RFRegion, see Consider selection of LoRa frequency bands for your gateways and device connection.

    2. Select a multicast device class

      Choose whether you want devices in the multicast group to switch to a class B or class C mode at the start of the multicast session. A class B session can receive downlink messages at regular downlink slots and a class C session can receive downlink messages at anytime.

    3. Choose your devices to add to the group

      Choose whether you want to add devices individually or in bulk to the multicast group.

      • To add devices individually, enter the wireless device ID of each device that you want to add to your group.

      • To add devices in bulk, you can filter the devices you want to add by device profile or tags. For device profile, you can add devices with a profile that supports class B, class C, or both device classes.

    4. (Optional) Choose participating gateways

      Optionally, you can choose the gateways that you want to use for receiving the downlink message and the transmission interval between them. For more information, see Choose participating gateways to receive multicast downlink messages.

    5. To create your multicast group, choose Create.

      The multicast group details and the devices you added appear in the group. For information about the status of the multicast group and your devices and for troubleshooting any issues, see Monitor and troubleshoot your multicast groups.

After creating a multicast group, you can choose Action to edit, delete, or add devices to the multicast group. After you've added the devices, you can schedule a session for the downlink payload to be sent to the devices in your group.

Create multicast groups by using the API

To create multicast groups and add devices to the group by using the API:

  1. Create a multicast group

    To create your multicast group, use the CreateMulticastGroup API operation or the create-multicast-group CLI command. You can provide an input.json file as input to the create-multicast-group command.

    Note

    When creating a multicast group, you can optionally specify the gateways that you want to use for receiving the multicast downlink message using the ParticipatingGateways parameter. For more information, see Choose participating gateways to receive multicast downlink messages.

    aws iotwireless create-multicast-group \
    --cli-input-json file://input.json

    where:

    Contents of input.json

    {   
   "Description": "Multicast group to send downlink payload and perform FUOTA.",
   "LoRaWAN": { 
      "DlClass": "ClassB",
      "RfRegion": "US915"
   },
   "Name": "MC_group_FUOTA"  
}

    After you create your multicast group, you can use the following API operations or CLI commands to update, delete, or get information about your multicast groups.

  2. Add devices to a multicast group

    You can add devices to your multicast group individually or in bulk.

    • To add devices in bulk to your multicast group, use the StartBulkAssociateWirelessDeviceWithMulticastGroup API operation or the start-bulk-associate-wireless-device-with-multicast-group CLI command. To filter the devices you want to associate in bulk to your multicast group, provide a query string. The following shows how you can add a group of devices that has a device profile with the specified ID linked to it.

      aws iotwireless start-bulk-associate-wireless-device-with-multicast-group \
    --id "12abd34e-5f67-89c2-9293-593b1bd862e0" \
    --cli-input-json file://input.json

      where:

      Contents of input.json

      {
     "QueryString": "DeviceProfileName: MyWirelessDevice AND DeviceProfileId: d6d8ef8e-7045-496d-b3f4-ebcaa1d564bf",
     "Tags": [
        {
            "Key": "Multicast",
            "Value": "ClassB"
        }
    ]
}

      Here, multicast-groups/d6d8ef8e-7045-496d-b3f4-ebcaa1d564bf/bulk is the URL that's used to associate devices with the group.

    • To add devices individually to your multicast group, use the AssociateWirelessDeviceWithMulticastGroup API operation or the associate-wireless-device-with-multicast-group CLI. Provide the wireless device ID for each device you want to add to your group.

      aws iotwireless associate-wireless-device-with-multicast-group \
    --id "12abd34e-5f67-89c2-9293-593b1bd862e0" \
    --wireless-device-id "ab0c23d3-b001-45ef-6a01-2bc3de4f5333"

    After you create your multicast group, you can use the following API operations or CLI commands to get information about your multicast group or to disassociate devices.

Next steps

After you've created a multicast group and added devices, you can continue adding devices and monitor the status of the multicast group and your devices. If your devices have been added successfully to the group, you can configure and schedule a downlink message to be sent to the devices. Before you can send a downlink message, your devices' status must be Multicast setup ready. After you schedule a downlink message, the status changes to Session attempting. For more information, see Schedule a downlink message for your multicast group.

If you want to update the firmware of the devices in the multicast group, you can perform Firmware Updates Over-The-Air (FUOTA) with AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN. For more information, see Firmware update over-the-air (FUOTA) for AWS IoT Core for LoRaWAN.

If your devices weren't added or if you see an error in the multicast group or device statuses, you can hover over the error to get more information and resolve it. If you still see an error, for information about how to troubleshoot and resolve the issue, see Monitor and troubleshoot your multicast groups.