Dragino RS485-LN Brings LoRaWAN Connectivity to RS485 Sensors

RS485 sensor nodes are often used in smart agriculture, environment monitoring, or factory & building automation and work up to 1.2 km when using AWG 18 cables. If you already have such nodes but need to extend the distance, or would like to reduce the need for long cables, you could make use of Dragino RS485-LN RS485 to LoRaWAN converter which will work up to 10+ kilometers depending on conditions.

Dragino RS485-LN key features & specifications:

MCU – STMicro STM32L072CZT6 Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller MCU @ 32 MHz with 192 KB Flash, 6 KB EEPROM, 20 KB RAM
Connectivity
- LoRaWAN
  - Via SX1276 LoRa transceiver
  - Frequency Range:
    - Band 1 (HF): 862 ~ 1020 MHz
    - Band 2 (LF): 410 ~ 528 MHz
  - Bands – CN470/EU433/KR920/US915/EU868/AS923/AU915/IN86/RU864
  - 168 dB maximum link budget.
  - +20 dBm – 100 mW constant RF output
  - Programmable bit rate up to 300 kbps.
  - High sensitivity: down to -148 dBm.
- RS485 to connect to sensor(s)
Programming – PROG port to upgrade firmware
Power Input – 7~ 24V DC via 6-pin terminal including RS485 A & B signals
Power Consumption (exclude RS485 device):
- Idle – 32mA @ 12V
- 20dB Transmit – 65mA @ 12V
Dimensions – TBD

RS485 LoRaWAN — Example Application with RS485 Alarm and RS485 I/O Board

RS485-LN works in both directions:

Uplink – RS485-LN sends user-defined commands to RS485 devices and get values from the RS485 devices. RS485-LN will process these values and upload the data to the LoRaWAN server.
Downlink – RS485-LN runs in LoRaWAN Class C. When the converter receives commands from the LoRaWAN server, it will forward the commands from to RS485 devices connected to it.

You’ll find documentation on the manufacturer’s product page including a short datasheet, and a more useful user guide which explains the AT commands set, how to connect to the Things Network, and the method for the firmware upgrade.

RS485-LN ships with two DIN rail holders, a LoRa antenna, and a programming cable. It is sold on Seeed Studio for $39 pre-configured with either UE868, KR920, US915 or AU915 bands.

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.