Device Registration

Before a device can communicate via The Things Network you need to register it with an application.

To use the default Over The Air Activation (OTAA) you will need to register your device with its Device EUI. See the documentation of your device for instructions, as for example that of The Things Uno.

1. Log in and open the Console.

2. If you don’t have an application yet, you need to create one. For more information on how to do this have a look a the Applications section.

3. Open the application to which you wish to add a device and click register device.

   • For Device ID, choose a - for this application - unique ID of lower case, alphanumeric characters and nonconsecutive - and _.

   • For Device EUI, copy-paste the one you retrieved from your device.

     If you plan to switch to ABP anyway, click the button have one generated for you.

   • Leave the App Key to be generated.
   • For App EUI, select the generated EUI from the list.

   

4. Click Register to finish.

   You will be redirected to the newly registered device where you can find the generated App Key needed to activate the device.

Personalize device for ABP

Normally, you’d use Over The Air Activation (OTAA) to negotiate session keys for further communication. You have the option to personalize a device, which means you will generate or assign session keys manually and use hard code them on the device.

In production, you’ll want to use OTAA. This is more reliable because the activation will be confirmed and more secure because the session keys will be negotiated with every activation. ABP is useful for workshops because you don’t have to wait for a downlink window to become available to confirm the activation.

1. In the Console, go to the device you’d like to personalize.
2. From the top right menu, select Settings.

3. For Activation method, click ABP.

   • Leave the Network Session Key and App Session Key to be generated for you or click customize it if you’d like to set them yourself.

   

4. Click Save to finish.

   You will be redirected back to the device, where you will find the Device Address and session keys needed to activate the device.