As legacy device retrofitting becomes a dominant IoT demand, integrating wired sensors into LoRaWAN networks remains a major challenge. ThinkLink, combined with EdgeBus (EB), enables flexible protocol abstraction and remote programmability at the edge, allowing RS-485, M-Bus, and analog sensors to be efficiently transformed into LoRaWAN nodes and delivered through a unified platform.
Understanding the Legacy Device Market
In IoT projects, the legacy market refers to both already deployed devices requiring wireless upgrades and a large number of sensors that still rely on wired interfaces. These devices are widely used across energy, water, industrial, and building applications, yet lack flexible connectivity.
LoRaWAN has emerged as a practical LPWAN solution for such scenarios, balancing coverage, power consumption, and deployment cost.
Integration Challenges in Traditional LoRaWAN Projects
Despite its maturity, LoRaWAN projects often present obstacles for small and mid-sized system integrators. Native LoRaWAN sensors remain limited in variety and cost efficiency, while system integration requires configuring network servers, codecs, data bridges, and application platforms.
This complexity significantly increases delivery time and project risk.
The ThinkLink + EB Approach
ThinkLink and EB address these challenges by simplifying the entire integration chain. Through EB’s protocol abstraction, integrators can reuse existing wired sensors instead of replacing them with native LoRaWAN devices.
Template-based configuration on the ThinkLink platform enables rapid deployment from device onboarding to cloud applications within a single framework.
Key Capabilities of EB
EB is an event-driven micro virtual machine optimized for constrained edge devices. Business logic written in TypeScript is compiled into compact binary instructions, typically only a few hundred bytes in size.
It supports remote updates over LoRaWAN and allows complex logic execution under ultra-low-power conditions.
Smart Reporting Instead of Periodic Polling
Beyond protocol compatibility, EB enables change-based reporting. Data is transmitted only when meaningful changes occur, reducing communication frequency and power consumption.
All EB programs can be remotely developed, debugged, and deployed, allowing devices to be installed first and configured later, without on-site intervention.
Redefining LoRaWAN for Legacy Retrofitting
By combining ThinkLink and EB, LoRaWAN becomes more than a transport layer. It evolves into a flexible foundation for protocol adaptation, edge intelligence, and scalable deployment.
This approach offers system integrators a repeatable and cost-effective path for large-scale legacy device upgrades.
ThinkLink Demo: https://thinklink.manthink.cn