Just a quick update on a few design choices made.

Voltage Regulators

I have decided to go for a linear voltage regulator in the design for the reduced noise. While the theoretical maximum waste is 14W Of heat an estimated 5W is more realistic. 

The chip chosen also isn't the cheapest and I could have possibly got away with one at half the cost, however this one can handle up to 2A and is a bigger package allowing for better heat dissipation. It also has built in over current, thermal and over voltage protection.

SBC Choice

I am planning on using the NanoPi Duo and have ordered one. This will be ideal for this project as like the Onion Omega it has a built in ethernet phy and like most other SBCs is a full linux OS. Specced with a Quad Core H2+ and 512MB Of Ram is ideal for a packet forwarder and should be able to run the newer kersing variation of the packet forwarder which supports the TTN Gateway Connector Protocol. (https://github.com/kersing/packet_forwarder)

Software Choice

As mentioned I plan to use the kersing forwarder however am not sure on how I will be configuring it.

The current options are:

• Installer Bash Script - Installs and configures it all for you
• Armbian Image - Pre built SD card image with all unneeded packages removed and all required ones and gateway software installed and ready for use.
• Docker / Container - If I'm correct a docker image would be a mix between the two. However I haven't had much experience in it.