RAK Wireless Introduces DIY Cellular LoRa Gateways, Raspberry Pi & 96Boards Compatible LoRa Modules

RAK Wireless already has a decent offering of LoRa gateways and modules, but the company has been working on two new LoRa gateways, one Enterprise grade model – RAK7249 gateway – based on fully custom hardware, and the other – Pilot Gateway Pro RAK7243 – features a Raspberry Pi 3B+ board with Cellular & GPS connectivity on top of a LoRa radio. RAK Wireless will also introduce three RAK2245/RAK2248 LoRa concentrator modules that can easily be used with boards following Raspberry Pi, or 96Boards IoT edition form factors.

RAK7249 DIY Enterprise LoRa Gateway

Specifications:

• Main Board
  • WiFi Module – RAK634 Module
    • SoC – Mediatek MT7628N MIPS processor @ up to 580 MHz
    • System Memory – 128MB DDR2 RAM
    • Storage – 16MB SPI flash
    • Connectivity – WiFi: 2×2 MIMO 802.11b/n/n
  • mPCIe LoRa concentrator card
    • Semtech SX1301 based
    • Standard version with 8 channel Gateway and also support Max.16 channel Gateway.
    • Tx Power is up to 27dBm and Rx sensitivity is down
      to -142dBm.
    • Support classes A, B & C, and all zones
  • 4G Cellular – Quectel EG95 for CAT4 cellular network.
  • GNSS – L70 GPS Module
  • Ethernet – Power-over-Ethernet (PoE): 100M base-T Ethernet
    with IEEE802.3af/at standard PoE.
• Enclosure
  • IP67 waterproof white color.
  • Interface – 5x N-Type connectors for antennas, 1x PoE
    port, and 1 reserve port.
  • Dimensions – 220mm x 220mm x 104mm (2mm wall thickness).
  • Weight with cable – Around 2kg
  • Supports up to 70~100 mm diameter pole mount
• Backup Battery
  • 5,000mAh/12V Lithium battery good for now than 5 hours under typical operation.
  • Battery-powered real-time clock.

The gateway ships with a mounting kit, an Ethernet cable, a PoE injector, and four antennas for WiFi, GPS, LoRa, and 4G LTE.

With the various options, we end up with 8 different models of gateways, and you can multiply this by three since 433 MHz, 868 MHz, and 915 MHz versions will be provided.

Pilot Gateway Pro RAK7243

Specifications:

• SBC – Raspberry Pi 3B+ running Linux
• LoRa Module – RAK2245 LoRa Concentrator Module with a heat sink (more details below)
• Cellular
  • RAK2013 Cellular Module (optional Quectel BG96, EG91 or EG95)
  • Cellular Standard and Bands
    • With BG96: NB-IOT/ CAT-M Cat M1/Cat NB1:
      • LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B8/B12/B13/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28
      • LTE TDD: B39 (For Cat M1 Only)
      • EGPRS: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
    • With EG91 – LTE CAT 1
    • With EG95 – LTE CAT 4
    • Variant for Europe
      • LTE FDD: B1/B3/B7/B8/B20/B28A;
      • WCDMA: B1/B8; GSM: 900/1800MHz
    • Variant for North America
      • LTE FDD: B2/B4/B5/B12/B13; WCDMA: B2/B4/B5
  • GPS Module – Ublox MAX-7Q
  • Interfaces
    • Front – USB power(Pi), HDMI (Pi Display), Audio(Pi), Earphone, MIC,
      Speaker, RESET, PWRKWY button, USB port(Cellular).
    • Left – SMA GPS Antenna, RP-SMA LoRa Antenna, micro SD card, 2x LED for LoRa Tx/Rx, 2x RP-SMA LTE Antenna
    • Right: “Gigabit” Ethernet limited to 300 Mbps, 4x USB Ports
  • Antenna Interface
  • Power Supply – 5V / 2.5A
  • Power Consumption – Depending on the operating mode peak current up to 3500mA
  • Dimensions – 92mm x 68.3mm x 53.5mm
  • Weight – Around 300 grams
  • Temperature Range
    • Operating – Commercial: -20°C ~ +65°C; extended: -40°C ~ +85°C
    • Storage – – 40°C ~ +85°C
  • Relative Humidity – 20%~75% non condensing
  • Compliance – FCC, CE

Despite the wide temperature range available, Pilot Gateway Pro RAK7243 is not designed for outdoor use since the enclosure is not dust or waterproof. That means it’s likely designed for testing and evaluation like their earlier RAK831 Lite Raspberry Pi 3 LoRa gateway, and for actual deployment in the field, the above RAK7249 DIY Enterprise LoRa Gateway should be selected instead.

RAK2245 / RAK2248 LoRa Concentrator Module

The RAK2245 LoRa concentrator module connected to the aforementioned gateway is called RAK2245 Pi Hat and specifically designed Raspberry Pi 3 board, but there are also two other variants: a RAK2245 Stamp Hole Edition pictured below, and RAK2248 that offers the same features for but 96boards IoT edition single board computers instead.

RAK2245 LoRa concentrator module specifications:

• LoRa Module
  • SX1301 base band processor with support for 8 uplink channels, 1 downlink channel
  • Frequency Bands
    • 433.05-434.79MHz,470-510MHz, 863-870MHz, 902-928MHz
    • EU433, CN470, EU868, US915, AS923, AU915, KR920, IN865, AS920
  • LoRaWAN Version – LoRaWAN V1.0.2
  • Range – Urban: 2~4km; suburban: 5~10km; open area: 15km
  • Node Numbers – 500 nodes/km2
  • Transmitting – 27dBm (Max), typical 25 dBm
  • Receiving – -139dBm(Min) @ SF12, BW 125KHz
  • u.FL antenna connector
• GPS Module – Ublox MAX-7Q, u.FL antenna connector
• Host Interfaces – SPI, UART, I2C, GPIOs
• Power Supply – DC 5V ± 5%
• Form Factor – Stamp Edition; metal heat sink
• Power Consumption – TX (Max): 182 mA; RX(All channels): 360mA
• Dimensions – 30.0 x 60.0 x 14.9mm with the heat sink)
• Weight – Around 22 grams
• Temperature Range
  • Operating – Commercial: -20°C ~ +65°C; extended: -40°C ~ +85°C
  • Storage – -40°C ~ +85°C
• Compliance –  FCC, CE

RAK2245 and RAK2248 modules can both be integrated into indoor and outdoors products, and they all have the same features, with the main difference being the form factor.

The company has provided user manuals for the gateways and LoRa concentrator modules, but they have yet to set up product pages, and availability and pricing are currently unknown for this pre-announcement. RAK Wireless will demonstrate the solutions at the TTN conference on January 31 – February 1, 2019.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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