FIBER Lite
FIBER Lite is a Raspberry Pi 5 based variant of FIBER for quickly bringing up and testing LoRaWAN devices — in particular HARDWARIO STICKER and HARDWARIO CHESTER — bench-side, without needing to stand up a separate LoRaWAN network server, database, and visualization stack for every test.
Setting it up is two steps: first Installation (or the Quick Start Guide) — the same core procedure as FIBER, with tabs at the few points where it diverges — then the additional, Lite-only pages further down in this FIBER Lite section of the sidebar (Install Docker, InfluxDB, Grafana, and the Dashboard). You're not done until you've done both. See Introduction and Hardware Description for everything FIBER already covers — general setup, HOST/TARGET terminology, the ChirpStack/Node-RED software it already runs.
What's Different
| FIBER (CM4) | FIBER Lite (Pi 5) | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 | Raspberry Pi 5 |
| Storage | eMMC (on-module, 8/16/32 GB) | microSD card, 32 GB, high-endurance |
| Power | PoE (802.3af) + Li-Ion backup battery | USB-C, no PoE injector, no backup battery |
| RTC | External PCF85063A I2C chip | Native built-in RTC (rtc0) — no overlay needed |
| Enclosure | Custom FIBER enclosure, 175×120×35 mm | DIN-rail enclosure |
| 1-Wire hub, LCD, buzzer | Present | Not present |
| BLE, LTE | Present | Not present (LAN or Wi-Fi only) |
| LoRaWAN concentrator | RAK5146, USB-connected | RAK5146 on a RAK2287 HAT, SPI-connected (not yet verified on real hardware) |
| Software stack | ChirpStack + Node-RED | ChirpStack + Node-RED plus InfluxDB, Grafana, and a branded dashboard — a complete pre-integrated pipeline |
Data Flow
FIBER Lite's additional software stack is real, FIBER-Lite-only content — the full pipeline it adds on top of FIBER's own ChirpStack/Node-RED install:
ChirpStack, Node-RED, InfluxDB, and Grafana all run on the Raspberry Pi 5 itself — no separate servers or cloud services required. A landing page on port 80 links to every service and shows live system stats, so the device is usable without memorizing ports or IP-to-service mappings.
Bill of Materials (FIBER Lite specific)
| Component | Notes |
|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 5 | Main compute unit |
| RAK WisLink RAK5146 | LoRaWAN concentrator card (SX1302), SPI |
| RAK2287 Pi HAT | SPI adapter for RAK5146 → Raspberry Pi 5 GPIO header |
| DIN-rail enclosure | For cabinet/rack mounting |
| microSD card, 32 GB, high-endurance | OS + logs + time-series database (write-heavy workload) |
| Standoffs | Mechanical mounting |