About Firmware Updates Over the Air (FUOTA)

FUOTA is a LoRaWAN standard for distributing firmware updates to deployed devices, using unicast or multicast. Its main benefit is updating many devices at the same time, efficiently and securely, without visiting them on site.

FUOTA support in The Things Stack

The Things Stack contains the fundamental building blocks for FUOTA, such as multicast groups and Class C downlinks, and FUOTA support is in an early adoption phase. A native FUOTA server is planned for The Things Stack. Until then, firmware distribution is handled by an external FUOTA application server that uses these building blocks.

Benefits of FUOTA

  • Remote updates: Fix bugs and add features without physical access to devices.

  • Efficient delivery: Multicast sends one update to many devices at once.

  • Incremental updates: Send only the changes when devices support it, saving airtime and battery.

  • Built on LoRaWAN standards: Uses the LoRa Alliance FUOTA process.