SparkFun LoRa Gateway 1-Channel Hookup Guide
jimblom, 
Liquid Soulder 
LoRaWAN Roadmap
LoRa, LoRaWAN, and the Internet of Things is a very big topic. Before we go and get lost in code let's make sure we know what the end goal is and roughly how we plan to get there.
Let's start with the Internet of Things (IoT). Really all IoT is is the idea that we can add inter-connectivity to a large portion of the things we interact with on a day-to-day basis. For example, if your refrigerator kept track of what was inside and could talk to your cell phone, then when you were at the store you wouldn't be left wondering if you need another case of kombucha to pair with the 6 bags of quinoa chips you just bought. So the Internet of Things is about connectivity.
Connectivity is pretty well-solved in the home with WiFi and Bluetooth, but what if your refrigerator was in the middle of a field without access to the internet? (Okay bad example, but the refrigerator is just a stand-in for your connected device). This is where LoRa comes in. LoRa is "Long Range" radio which was designed for low power consumption and long range transmissions at the expense of bandwidth. This means you can send a little bit of data a long way.
Okay, so now your field refrigerator can send messages a long way -- ideally far enough to reach to the nearest Starbucks - or any other place that has WiFi. Of course nobody at the coffee shop knows about your far-distant fridge (and certainly the WiFi modems won't be listening for messages) so you need something that is dedicated to bridge from LoRa messages to internet traffic - called a "gateway." As long as you have something that can speak both LoRa and "Internet" then you could make your own solution, but there is a easier and better option. This is where LoRaWAN comes in.
LoRaWAN is a public specification for the system that would be at Starbucks listening for messages from the fridge. Two important benefits of LoRaWAN are that your data is encrypted during transmission and that your fridge could get up and walk to the next state over (again - just a metaphor!) and the messages could still be picked up by a gateway that someone else had built. Since the messages are secure that person won't know about your stinky cheese but the message will still get back to you over the internet. Groups like The Things Network organize everyone's efforts to make this possible.
The goal of this guide is to walk through that whole process and get a "Hello World!" message from a remote device, into a gateway, and onto the internet. We will go a little bit out-of-order because it makes things easier. First we will create the gateway, then we will fire up a device to send the data, and finally we will create an internet application to look for the data.
Image courtesy of Jensd. If you want to read more about what LoRa and LoRaWAN are check out this great post on Jensd's I/O Buffer.
Your Device
A "device" is the remote system that is sending (and in some cases receiving) data. We will set up a device to actually send the "Hello World!" message in the section "Turning a Gateway into A Device."
Your Gateway
The name of the ESP LoRa Gateway 1-Channel is a dead giveaway. With all its glorious wireless connectivity it acts as the bridge that speaks both WiFi and LoRa. The section "Single-Channel LoRaWAN Gateway" will cover all the steps you need to make this part.
Your Application
An "application" is the software that you set up to look for and handle the messages that make it to the internet. We will create an application using The Things Network that will be on the lookout for your "Hello World!" message.