We’ve previously written about a Feather-compatible LoRaWAN board equipped with RAK4260 module based on Microchip R34 LoRa SIP called Penguino Feather.
It appears somebody, namely Electronic Cats based in Mexico, decided to design an almost identical board with BastWAN. Let’s see if there are any differences besides the cheaper price.
- LoRa module – Rak wireless RAK4260 module with:
- SiP – Microchip SAML21 Arm Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz, 32 KB RAM, 256 KB Flash, Semtech SX1276
- 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
- Antenna – SMA
and u.FL (IPEX)antenna connector - I/Os – Feather headers with 20x IO pins including PWN, serial, I2C, SPI, 6x 12-bit ADC, 1x 10-bit DAC
- HW security – ATECC608A crypto authentication chip
- Programming and debugging
10-pin4-pin SWD programming header- Micro USB port for power and debugging
- Misc –
RGB user LED,Battery Charge Status, reset pin and button - Power Supply
- 5V via Micro USB port
- 2-pin header for Li-Po battery, onboard 100mA charging IC
- 3.3V regulator with 500mA peak current
- Dimensions – 50.8 mm x 22.8 mm (Adafruit Feather form factor)
- Weight – 6.9 grams
- OSHWA certifications – MX000015
Both boards are pretty similar, but compared to Penguino board, BastWAN does with only an SMA connector (no u.FL option), lacks an RGB LED, replaces the USB-C port with a Micro USB port, and comes with SWD support is done through four through holes, instead of a 10-pin connector. BastWAN does add a crypto chip (ATECC608A) and somehow does not come with a USB to serial chip (as per the PDF schematics), but still features built-in USB-to-Serial program & debug capability “with no need for an FTDI-like chip”.
The Feather-compatible LoRaWAN board comes preloaded with a UF2 bootloader and appears as a virtual disk drive, so programming is as simple as dragging and dropping the firmware file like with Raspberry Pi Pico. Since the bootloader is BOSSA compatible it can also be used directly within the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE), MakeCode, and others. Just like Penguino board, BastWAN is open-source hardware and certified by OSHWA. You’ll find hardware and software resources on Github.
In my article about Penguino Feather, I actually linked to Arduino instructions for a RAK4260 board from Electronic Cats, so BastWAN may have actually been designed before. It’s just it has just been brought to my attention now. The development board ships with a LoRa antenna, a Micro USB cable, and a set of jumpers for $31.99 on Tindie which compares to $39.95 asked for Penguino Feather.
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.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
Kongduino BastWAN repository
Search · user:Kongduino bastwan (github.com)
Can these mine HNT?
no
The on-board crypto authenticator chip on the BastWAN module is an attractive difference. But I wonder why microchip’s ATECC608A crypto chip was chosen over their ATECC608B chip?[1][3] At first glance the two parts are quite similar, these were the only features I could find supported by the ATECC608B that are not found on the ATECC608A: 1. Secure boot support. 2. While both parts support a Single Wire Interface mode (SWI), only the ATECC608B comes in a 3-lead CONTACT package specifically for the SWI. Both chips have an I2C interface, come pin-compatible packages (8-SOIC seems most popular, 8-UDFN less so), and… Read more »