There are already plenty of low power boards with a LoRa radio, but Ronoth offers another option with their tiny LoDev S76S LoRa development board featuring AcSip S76S SiP (system-in-package) with STMicro STM32L073 microcontroller, a Semtech SX1276 LoRa radio, and other components.
While most hobbyist LoRa boards are designed to be programmed with the Arduino IDE, LoDev S76S is instead compatible with Arm Mbed.
LoDev S76S board specifications:
- SiP – AcSip S76S system-in-package with
- STMicro STM32L073 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller @ 48 MHz with 192 kB flash, 20 kB RAM
- Semtech SX1276 chip supporting global 863MHz ~ 928MHz ISM Bands
- RF front-end
- LoRa Connectivity
- Receiver Sensitivity – down to -146 dBm
- TX Power – adjustable up to +20 dBm
- Range – up to 15 km coverage in suburban areas and up to 5 km coverage in urban areas
- SMA antenna connector
- USB – 1x micro USB port for programming and power
- Expansion – 2x 20-pin unpopulated headers with I2C, SPI, UART, GPIO, SWD, Reset and power (3.3V, GND) signals
- Misc – Reset button
- Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port
- Dimensions – 60 mm x 20 mm
The board has been designed to work with Arm Mbed IDE using NUCLEO_L073RZ target, but it could also be programming with any STM32 / Arm Cortex compatible IDE. Arduino programming would be possible in theory through Arduino STM32 port, but there’s no Arduino bootloader for the board, so it would have to be developed.
The board target usual LoRa / LPWAN applications including tracking cattle, monitoring environmental data for farming, asset tracking, utility meters, pest control and so on. Ronoth already implemented the board into example projects including weather sensors and a mailbox notifier.
The company also highlighted the advantages of Acsip S76S SiP compared to other solutions such as in the table below.
LoDev S76S has launched on Crowd Supply with a $4,500 funding target. Pledges start at $35 for LoDev S76S Basic including the board, two headers, and a 2dBi antenna. You’d need your own ST-Link V2 programmer, so if you don’t have one you may consider the LoDev S76S starter kit instead. Other rewards include LoDev Duo Basic with two boards for point-to-point communication ($65), and LoDev Pro weather station with two boards and various sensors (temperature, humidity, light, and soil moisture) for $89. Shipping is free to the US, but adds $6 to $26 to the rest of the world depending on the chosen rewards. Backers should expect their boards to be shipped around May 20 if everything goes according to plans.
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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Interesting they left out the RAK modules that have almost the same hardware, slightly poop firmware but do have regulatory cert for a lot of regions and are in the same price range.
nice, but a bit expensive, you can make a cheaper combo with a STM32F104 and a SX127*
bluepill + lorashield, probably around 5eur total.
I would have prepared the PCB to host a battery holder for SAFT 3.6V LS14500 battery: just some holes