AsiaRF AWH575-MF1 is a WiFi HaLow industrial IoT controller / remote control kit with RS232, RS485, I2C, SPI, UART, and 12-bit ADC interfaces to connect sensors or actuators and designed for long-range, low-power M2M communication.
The board is comprised of an STMicro STM32U5 Cortex-M33 microcontroller to handle I/Os and communicate with an MM6108 WiFi HaLow (802.11ah) module made by AsiaRF. The board takes power from a USB-C port or optionally from a terminal block supporting a wider 9V to 24V DC input.
AsiaRF AWH575-MF1 specifications:
- MCU – STMicro STM32U585CIT6Q
- CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 core @ 160 MHz
- Memory – 786 KB SRAM
- Storage – 2MB Flash
- Wi-Fi HaLow
- AsiaRF 802.11ah module based on Morse Micro MM6108 chipset
- Frequency Range – 902MHz to 928MHz
- Channel bandwidth – 1/2/4/8MHz
- Data Rate – Single-stream max data rate of 10 Mbps
- Transmit Power – 21dBm +/-2dBm @ MCS 0
- Modulation – BPSK/QPSK/16 QAM/64 QAM
- Range up to 1km (line of sight)
- Antenna – Dipole antenna via iPEX connector
- Wireless Security
- AES encryption engine Hardware support for SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512
- WPA3 with protected management frames (PMF) and Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE)
- Interfaces
- 4-pin SPI header
- 4-pin I2C header
- 4-pin serial header with UART1 and UART2
- Terminal Blocks
- RS-485 with 50 bps to 9,600 kbps (9.6 Mbps) baud rate, support for Modbus RTU, Modbus ASCII
- RS-232 up to 921.6 kbps
- 12-bit ADC with up to 2.75 Msps sampling rate; 1.62 to 3.6V VDDA
- Debugging – SWD (serial-wire debug) header and HaLow debug header
- Misc
- Reset button
- LEDs for Power, Wi-Fi HaLowlink, RS-485 Tx/Rx, and RS-232 Rx/Tx
- Power Supply
- 5V DC/2A via USB-C
- 9 to 24V DC (option) via terminal block
- Power Consumption – Up to 10W
- Dimensions – 76 x 60mm
- Weight – 300 grams
Sadly, I could not find any information about the firmware/software. The AWH575-MF1 industrial IoT controller serves as a bridge between sensors/actuators connected over RS-485, RS-232, or other supported interfaces, and a gateway like the AsiaRF MESH ARFHL-AP-MS01 supporting Ethernet, 2.4 GHz WiFi, and 900 MHz WiFi HaLow.
The company says it offers a longer range compared to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices, but does not compare it to other LPWAN solutions based on standards like LoRaWAN or Mioty. While 802.11ah (WiFi HaLow) is supposed to be an IoT protocol, I’ve mostly seen it used with cameras due to its higher bitrate compared to the LPWAN, and I think the AWH575-MF is the first such WiFi HaLow IoT controller I’ve seen so far.
Target applications include industrial automation for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and process control, remote asset monitoring (oil and gas pipeline, energy systems, water treatment facilities), logistics and supply chain, and Smart Agriculture.
AsiaRF sells the AWH575-MF1 controller with a WiFi HaLow antenna and an SMA to IPEX cable for $99 on its website (an enclosure does not seem to be included), and the ARFHL-AP gateway goes for $168.
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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