State channel updates to improve network performance was released to resolve a choke point caused by the exponential growth of Hotspots providing coverage. In addition, Flows has become popular to quickly send device data over The People’s Network and this release includes a number of usability updates.
Features and fixes
- Warnings and additional animations to convey status are included on nodes in the Flows Workspace
hold_timeadded to Debug Mode- hold_time provides useful information for Console users to identify if a Hotspot was holding on to a packet (in milliseconds).- Allow select/unselect all to claim Hotspots on Coverage feature
- Provide ability to input wallet address in Hotspot search field.
- Coverage feature includes Debug Mode for visibility into events transferred by Hotspot
- Many link_adr_req down link messages and slow joins #437
State Channels update
As mentioned in previous updates network performance has suffered due to choke points and the team has been busy re-architecting state channels to allow Console to continue to scale with network growth.
Specifically, the state channels server used to funnel to a single point for all incoming data. As the network and usage grew, this approach was not sustainable as it created a choking point in the system. The re-architected state channels will now operate with one worker being dedicated per state channel itself (can run up to 25 state channels concurrently). This will spread out the load and will drastically improve performance and reliability for join, uplink and downlink deliveries.
Open source users
-
New users should use the latest master version.
-
Existing users are highly recommended to quickly update Console/Router to the newest version which includes the latest blockchain core update to ensure smooth operations.
Check the readme for upgrading instructions here.
Additional technical documentation here.
Upcoming
The team’s focus in the coming weeks (usual disclaimers apply):
- Roaming services
- Configuration profiles: provide users with a streamlined way to configure, save, and apply settings to a device or group of devices (via labels)
- Horizontal scaling
- Expand Console APIs
- Light Hotspot support
- Packet purchaser: integrate with ChirpStack LoRaWAN Network Server