LoRaWAN Cat Tracker

A self-hosted system for tracking cats using LoRaWAN GPS trackers, with automatic zone-based behavior and a Home Assistant dashboard.

                  LoRa (RF)            Semtech UDP
Cat Trackers ──────────────► RAK7268 ──────────────► Packet Multiplexer
(Browan Tabs)                Gateway                   │            │
                                                       ▼            ▼
                                                 Gateway Bridge    TTN
                                                       │
                                                       │ MQTT (raw)
                                                       ▼
                                                  MQTT Broker (Mosquitto, TLS)
                                                       │
                                                       ▼
                                                   ChirpStack
                                                       │
                                                       │ MQTT (parsed JSON)
                                                       ▼
                                                  Home Assistant
                                                       │
                                          ┌────────────┼────────────┐
                                          ▼            ▼            ▼
                                     Map / Dashboard  Zones    Notifications
                                                   Automations

Components

Component	Description	Details
Browan Tabs GPS Tracker	Modified LoRaWAN pet trackers with upgraded battery and custom 3D-printed case	Browan_Tabs.md
LoRaWAN Stack	RAK7268 gateway, packet multiplexer, gateway bridge, and ChirpStack v4 in Docker Compose	LoRaWAN.md
MQTT Broker	Eclipse Mosquitto with TLS client certificate authentication	MQTT.md
Home Assistant	MQTT sensors, device trackers, zone automations, and downlink control	Homeassistant.md

How It Works

1. Trackers — Browan Tabs GPS trackers (with 1600 mAh battery mod) send periodic location updates over LoRaWAN. Update intervals are configurable via downlink commands.

2. Gateway & LoRaWAN — A RAK7268 gateway receives the LoRa packets and forwards them via Semtech UDP to a packet multiplexer, which fans out to ChirpStack (local) and TTN (community seed). ChirpStack handles all LoRaWAN protocol logic and decodes payloads using a custom codec.

3. MQTT — Mosquitto acts as the central message bus. Raw gateway data flows in, decoded device data flows out — all secured with TLS.

4. Home Assistant — Subscribes to decoded MQTT data, exposing each tracker as a location sensor and device tracker. Trackers are mapped to cats via input_select helpers (swappable for battery changes). Zone-based automations adjust tracking intervals and send notifications automatically.

Repository Structure

├── Browan_Tabs.md          # Tracker hardware, battery mod, custom case, ChirpStack config
├── Homeassistant.md        # HA sensors, device trackers, automations
├── LoRaWAN.md              # ChirpStack stack architecture and Docker Compose setup
├── MQTT.md                 # Mosquitto broker configuration
├── LoRaWAN/                # Docker Compose and config files for the LoRaWAN stack
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   ├── chirpstack/
│   ├── gateway-bridge/
│   └── packet-multiplexer/
├── homeassistant/          # HA-related config and screenshots
│   └── encode_tabs_payload.py
└── tacker/                 # Tracker payload codec and hardware photos
    └── decoder.js