MatchX LoRaWAN Solution Supports up to 65,535 Sensor Nodes per Gateway

MatchX is a startup with offices in Chicago, Shenzhen, and Berlin, that provides a complete LoRaWAN solution with their MatchBox gateway based on SX1301 concentrator and Mediatek MT7628N processor, as well as MatchStick, MatchModule, and MatchCore sensors with up to 65,535 of those connecting to a single  gateway.

MatchBox LoRaWAN/WiFi/GPRS/GPS Gateway

MatchBox specifications:

• Processor – Mediatek MT7628AN MIPS WiSoC @ up to 580 MHz
• System Memory – 128MB DDR2 RAM
• Storage – 16MB FLASH
• Connectivity
  • LoRa – Semtech SX1301 + 2x SX1257@+27dbm  Output Power; 470/868/915Mhz frequency range, -146dBm sensitivity
  • 10/100M Ethernet
  • 802.11n 2×2 WiFi @ 300 MHz
  • Optional GPRS via SIM800H, 85.6 kbps (downlink/uplink) + micro SIM card slot
  • GPS via UBlox Max 7C
  • Antennas – 2x u.FL antennas for WiFi, u.FL or chip antenna for LoRa, GPS and GPRS modules
• USB – 1x USB 2.0 port, 1x USB type C exposing 4 or 6 GPIOs and UART
• Misc – RGB LED, 8x GPIO, on/off switch, reset button
• Power Supply – Passive 24V POE, or  5V/2A via USB-C port
• Power Consumption – 5W on average, 10W max.
• Dimensions – 140 x 78 x 30mm
• Temperature Range – -20°C to 85°C
• Certification: CE, FCC, LoraWAN

The gateway runs OpenWrt or LEDE operating system. The company can receive packets from nodes up to 20km away in ideal conditions (line of sight, good weather…), and the company claims 4 gateways can cover Berlin’s RingBahn, and 17 gateways cover Silicon Valley Area, of course provided there’s not a very large number of nodes, exceeding the capacity of the gateways.

MatchStick & MatchCore LoRa Sensor Nodes

The company has two main products to connect sensors to the gateway with MatchStick and MatchCore sharing most of the same specifications, except the MatchStick is larger, supports many more sensors, and offers longer battery life:

• MCU – Dialog SmartBond DA14680 ARM Cortex M0 micro-controller with 18 Mbit flash, 64 kB OTP memory, 128 kB Data SRAM, 128 kB ROM, and BLE 4.2 support
• Connectivity
  • LoRa – Semtech SX1276 @+20dbm output power; 470/868/915Mhz; -146dBm Sensitivity; LoraWAN V1.0.2, Class A/B/C; on-board antenna
  • Bluetooth 4.2 LE @ +3dBm with on-board antenna
  • SIMCOM SM28L GPS module (MatchStick only)
• Sensors
  • Inertial Sensor – Accelerometer, Magnetometer and Gyroscope
  • MatchStick only, selection of:
    • Air Sensor – CO, CO2, Methane
    • Fire Sensor – Smoke, and IR fire detection
    • Flood Sensor – Water leak detection
    • Movement Sensor – Human movement detection
    • Light Sensor – Gesture, color and ambient light detection
    • Agricultural Sensor – Soil moisture detection
    • Electricity Sensor – Relay control or power consumption
• USB – 1x USB interface with 6 flexible GPIOs, SWD, Reset and power
• Misc – RGB LED, reset & user buttons
• Power Supply – 5V/1A via USB-C connector for charging the battery
• Battery
  • MatchStick – Panasonic 18650 @ 3000mAh good for up to 10 years on a charge
  • MatchBox – CR2032 battery (300 mAh) good for up to 3 years on a charge
• Power Consumption
  • Sleep Power – 30-50 uA
  • BLE Power – TX: 3.4 mA, RX: 3.7mA
  • LoRa Power – TX: 120mA @ 20dBm, RX: 9.9mA
• Dimensions
  • MatchStick – 147 x 32 x 32 mm
  • MatchCore – 52 x 34 x 18 mm
• Temperature Range – -20°C to 85°C
• Certification: CE, FCC, LoraWAN

Both models can be programmed using Dialog DA1468X SDK, a community has been setup, as well as a developer’s blog, but so far I’ve been pretty quite, as the company works on completing development. There’s very little info about MatchModule , which will be a 25x25mm LoRa module that can be integrated into your own project. The only info I’ve got about is in the table below.

The MatchBox gateway should sell for around $299, while MatchStick and MatchCore should go for $28 and $16 respectively, I assume in their minimal configuration, as final price will depend on the choice of sensors.

You may be able to find some more details on Matchx.io website.

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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