Semtech, a leader in LoRa and RF technology, is continuing its support for the LoRa ecosystem with the launch of a LoRa Smart Home transceiver called the LLCC68. The device is designed for deploying existing and new LPWAN technologies for smart homes, community, and consumer applications. The LoRa Smart Home (LLCC68) is like every other sub-GHz LoRa RF transceiver but mostly targeted to indoor and medium outdoor applications. The device is hardware compatible with the SX126x series like the: SX1261, SX1262, and SX1268. The LLCC68 transceiver is optimized for battery-powered applications with multi-year life expectancy. It consumes as little as 600nA of sleep current, 4.6 mA of active receive current and can transmit at +22 dBm thanks to highly efficient integrated power amplifiers. According to SemTech, The new LoRa® Smart Home device offers a unique opportunity to accelerate the consumer adoption of smart home connected solutions. As an end-to-end solution, […]
STMicro STM32WL is the World’s First LoRa SoC
There is no denying that the Internet of Things is going to disrupt a lot of markets and it’s already happening to some extent. The question being asked is: “What IoT connectivity technology will lead this disruption era?”. One major technology in this connectivity race is LoRa. LoRa’s long-range, low-power, small footprint, simplicity, and the amazing community backing it, have allowed it to find its way into various applications while gaining for the top LPWAN IoT connectivity technology. STMicroelectronics, one of the biggest semiconductor manufacturer, also believes in the potential of LoRa with the launch of STM32WL, making it the World’s first die-integrated LoRa System-on-Chip. Traditional LoRa embedded platforms usually involve the need for a separate MCU chip and different LoRa transceiver chips either coupled together in one single package or separately. This undoubtedly adds extra design complexity, size, and even cost. STMicro hopes to address this with their STM32WL SoC. […]
STMicroelectronics Introduces Affordable LoRa Development Packs For All User Types
STMicroelectronics has recently announced the launch of a new set of LoRa Development packs, which are not only affordable, but they are aiming to a large pool of users from big organizations, small companies, hackers, engineers, students, and hobbyists. The ready-to-use development packs are aimed for applications bent on leveraging LoRa ’s long-range, low-power wireless IoT connectivity for tracking, positioning, metering, and many related applications. STMicroelectronics is releasing the P-NUCLEO-LRWAN2 pack and P-NUCLEO-LRWAN3 pack. Both packs provide a complete LoRaWAN development kit, and they include gateways, end-nodes, and ST tools, which are all based on the STM32 Nucleo evaluation boards. The LoRa gateway on both packs is based on the STM32 Nucleo-144 development board, NUCLEO-F746ZG. The STM32 Nucleo-144 development board with STM32F746ZG MCU supports Arduino, ST Zio, and Morpho connectivity. The Gateway header pins are exposed out to facilitate more development, and they support interfacing with LoRaWAN network-server providers LORIOT, Actility, myDevices Cayenne for LoRa […]
RAKWireless RAK4260 is a Tiny LoRAWAN Module based on Microchip SAMR34 LoRa SiP
Rakwireless has just announced a new module part of their LPWAN family: RAK4260 LoRaWAN module based on Microchip ATSAMR34J18B LoRa SiP and at just 15x15x1.2 mm, one of the smallest LoRaWAN modules in the market. The new module is cheaper than the company’s earlier RAK811 module and consumes less power at just 790 nA in sleep mode. The company also provides a RAK4260 evaluation board with easy access to GPIOs and serial interfaces. RAK4260 LoRaWAN Module Specifications: SiP – Microchip ATSAMR34J18 SiP with SAM L21 Arm Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz, up to 40 KB RAM, up to 256 KB Flash LoRa Connectivity Frequency Range – 862 to 1020 MHz High level of accuracy and stability (32MHz TXCO) Max Tx Power: 20dBm; Max Sensitivity: -148dBm; Rx Current: 17mA (typical) Compliant with LoRaWan 1.0.2 Expansion – Castellated holes with I2C, SPI, ADC, UART, GPIOs Power Consumption Low RX current of […]
Semtech SX1302 LoRa Transceiver to Deliver Cheaper, More Efficient Gateways
After our interview with Rak Wireless CEO, we received a comment inquiring about the availability of SX1302 gateways. Semtech so far had two LoRa transceivers for gateways namely SX1301 and SX1308, but I had never heard about a third one. Semtech SX1302 is brand new, the latest generation of baseband LoRa chip for gateways that is said to reduce current consumption in order to simplify the thermal design of gateways, as well as the BoM (bill of materials) costs), while being capable of handling a higher amount of traffic. Semtech SX1302 LoRa Transceiver Key features: Up to -141 dBm sensitivity with SX1250 Tx/Rx front-end 125 kHz LoRa reception with: 8 x 8 channels LoRa packet detectors 8 x SF5-SF12 LoRa demodulators 8 x SF5-SF10 LoRa demodulators 125 /250 / 500 kHz LoRa demodulator (G)FSK demodulator Direct interface to Semtech transceivers SX1255, SX1257 and SX1250 SPI host interface Single 32 MHz […]
Dragino LHT65 is a $30 LoRaWAN Temperature & Humidity Sensor
If you’d like to monitor temperature and/or humidity in remote locations, one way is to get a LoRaWAN gateway, and setup a few LoRaWAN nodes connected to your own temperature & humidity sensors, and add a battery and enclosure. But if you’d like to save some time, and get a turnkey solution, Dragino LHT65 LoRaWAN temperature & humidity sensor may be an option. The sensor comes with an internal SHT20 sensor, and as well as an external DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensor. Features & specifications: LoRa Connectivity Frequency Bands – CN470, EU433, KR920, US915, EU868, AS923, AU915 LoRaWAN Class A protocol Sensors Sensirion SHT20 (internal) Temperature – Range: -40 ~ 125 °C; 0.1°C resoultion; +/-0.3°C accuracy; long term drift < 0.02 °C/yr Relative Humidity – Range: 0 to 100%; resolution: 0.04%; accuracy +/-0.3%; DS18B20 (external) – Range: -55 °C~ 125 °C; resolution: 0.0625 °C; +/-0.5°C accuracy from -10°C to +85°C; +/-2°C […]
LPWAN Market Update – An Interview with RAK Wireless CEO
CNX Software interviews Ken Yu, RAK Wireless’ founder & CEO, to learn more about the company and the current & future state of the LPWAN (Low Power WAN) market especially with regards to NB-IoT and LoRaWAN. CNXSoft: We’ve already covered several products from RAK Wireless on CNX Software, starting with WiFi IoT boards several years ago, and more recently LPWAN products based on NB-IoT or LoRa. But for readers who may not be familiar with RAK Wireless yet, could you provide a short description of what the company does? Ken Yu: RAKwireless was founded in 2014. The core founder team consists of professionals coming from established leaders in the Networking industry as Qualcomm, H3C, etc. Because our engineers have more than 10 years of experience designing Wi-Fi solutions, this was the core of our business in the beginning. RAKwireless is working towards a vision of a connected world and In […]
Olimex Launches NB-IoT DevKit Based on Quectel BC66 Module for 19 Euros
There are three LPWAN standards currently dominating the space LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and Sigfox. In a recent presentation, Olimex explains NB-IoT (aka LTE Cat NB1) offers several advantages over LoRaWAN and Sigfox which include: Higher speeds of up to 25.5 kbps (UL/DL) Single GSM base station can handle up to 100 000 NB-IoT nodes Single GSM base station can cover up to 10-100km range in rural environments, and 1 to 10km in urban settings Lasts up to 10 years on a Lithium 3V battery if less than 200 bytes are sent per day The main disadvantage they listed was operator dependence, as you rely on the operator for coverage, and anything related to connectivity. In Bulgaria in particular, they found out it was not easy to get an NB-IoT SIM card activated, and the operator may shut you off without notice. For reference here in Thailand, last time I checked I […]