PyGo Wearable Devices Create LoRa Mesh Networks (Crowdfunding)

Pygo Lora Mesh Network

Pycom has made some interesting IoT boards running MicroPython in the past starting with WiFi capable WiPy in 2015, and followed by various others supporting various wireless standard including Bluetooth, LoRa, Sigfox, and NB-IoT with LoPy and Fipy. The company launched all their boards via crowdfunding campaigns, and they are now back on Kickstarter for their PyGo plug-n-play wearable devices creating PyMesh networks with up to 12km range between nodes, and managed using Pylife mobile app. Typical use cases include basic connectivity (e.g. messaging) in remote areas without cellular access,  and assets / pets / kids location tracking, There are two version of PyGo: PyGo1 with mesh networking only, and PyGo2 that adds cellular network access. Pygo hardware specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32 dual core WiFi 4 + BLE SoC System Memory – 64 Mbit (8MB) RAM Storage – 8MB flash Display – 128×36 OLED display Connectivity PyMesh up […]

Arduino PRO Gateway for LoRa Features Raspberry Pi 3 Board

Arduino Pro Gateway for LoRa

Arduino has just introduced the Arduino PRO Gateway for LoRa based on Raspberry Pi 3 development board, a LoRa gateway mPCIe module, and a metal enclosure. The strange thing about this product is that it does not feature any Arduino MCU, so why did Arduino design it? That’s because it works as a LoRa gateway for their Arduino MKR WAN 1300 IoT nodes. The gateway is sold as a kit with a LoRa gateway Embit EMB-LR1301-mPCIe card with SX1301 baseband chipset, an adapter for Raspberry Pi, an aluminum enclosure, a Raspberry Pi 3 model B+, a 5V power supply, an Ethernet cable, and an external antenna. Specifications for the LoRa part of the gateway: Chipset – Semtech SX1301 Modulation – LoRa Spread Spectrum, FSK, GFSK 868MHz (EU) / 915MHz (US) Number of Channels – 8 LoRa Channels Operating Frequency – 868MHz (EU) / 915MHz (US) Frequency Range – 860MHz to 1020MHz Operating […]

ModBerry M2000 Industrial Computer Features UP Squared Apollo Lake Board

Modberry M2000

TECHBASE has been providing DIN rail mountable Arm and x86 based Modberry industrial computers / IoT gateways for several years. The company has now upgraded ModBerry M1000 model with an Intel Cherry Trail UP board to ModBerry M2000 computer featuring AAEON UP Squared board powered by either an Intel Celeron N3350 dual core processor, or Pentium N4200 quad core processor, both part of Intel’s Apollo Lake family. ModBerry M2000 specifications: SoC (one or other other) Intel Celeron N3350 dual core processor @ 1.10 / 2.40 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 500; 6W TDP Intel Pentium N4200 quad core processor @ 1.10 / 2.50 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 505; 6W TDP System Memory – 2, 4, or 8GB RAM Storage – 16, 32, 64, or 128GB eMMC flash, SATA connector and M.2 SATA socket Video Output – 1x HDMI Connectivity – 2x Gigabit Ethernet, with optional LTE/3G, WiFi, ZigBee, LoRa, […]

Pi Supply IoT LoRa Boards are made for Raspberry Pi & BBC Micro:bit Boards (Crowdfunding)

Pi Supply LoRa Gateway HAT

We’ve already covered plenty of LoRa boards or solutions designed for nodes or gateways such as TTGO T-Beam ESP32 + LoRa board, RAK Wireless RAK811 GPS Lora tracker board, MatchX Matchbox LoRa gateway, and many others,, but Pi Supply offers yet more options with LoRa node and gateway add-on boards designed to work with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and BBC Micro:bit boards. Pi Supply LoRa Gateway HAT for Raspberry Pi The IoT LoRa Gateway HAT is based on RAK Wireless RAK833 mPCIe LoRa gateway concentrator module and connects to Raspberry Pi 3 B/B+ board via the 40-pin header. There are two hardware version using 868 MHz or 915 MHz frequencies, but as we’ve seen in previous reviews those are configurable for other frequencies such as AS923 or IN865. Pi Supply IoT LoRa Node pHAT for Raspberry Pi LoRa Node pHAT is designed for node specifically, and with a smaller form factor […]

n-fuse LoRaWAN Concentrator mini PCIe Card Comes with either SX1301 or SX1308 Chip

LoRaWAN-Concentrator-Card-mPCIe

Most gateways are based on Semtech SX1301 chip, but the company unveiled a SX1308 chip for picocell gateways back in 2016 that’s supposed to be cheaper and used indoors. Designs have been slow to come to market, but a few have been launched recently including n-fuse LRWCCx-MPCIE LoRaWAN concentrator mini PCIe card  that comes with either SX1301 or SX1308 chip, and is compatible with Semtech’s Pico Gateway design. n-fuse LRWCCx-MPCIE key features & specifications: LoRa Connectivity SX1301/ SX1308 digital base band processor with dual SX1257 Tx/Rx front-ends Output power level up to 23 dBm u.FL connector (50 Ω impedance) for external antenna 868 MHz model Frequency Range – 863 to 870 MHz Sensitivity – Up to -124 dBm at SF7 (BW 125 KHz), up to -138 dBm at SF12 (BW 125 KHz) 915 MHz model Frequency Range – 915 to 928 MHz Sensitivity – Up to -125 dBm at SF7 […]

How to Make a Cheap Single Channel Gateway with an ESP32 LoRa Board

ESP32 to ESP32 LoRa Communication

Actual LoRaWAN gateways based on Semtech SX1301 concentrator  can be pretty expensive,  and even if you take a LoRa gateway design based on Raspberry Pi for indoor placement or experimentation, price is still around $200. A much cheaper way (~$70)  is to use a single channel LoRa gateway, which as the name implies only support one channel, which limits the number of nodes, and forces you to set the nodes at the same frequency as your gateway. Those are not really suitable for commercial offerings, but if you manage your own gateway and nodes that should be usable. If you only plan to implement a network with a dozen nodes or so, you could even use much cheap ESP32 LoRa board like the ESP32 LoRa 1-Channel Gateway sold on Sparkfun for $29.95. Hardware specifications: Connectivity WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 LE via ESP32-WROOM-32 module with integrated PCB antenna LoRa @ 868 […]

Embedded Linux Conference Europe & OpenIoT Summit Europe 2018 Schedule

Embedded Linux Conference OpenIOT Summit Europe 2018

The Embedded Linux Conference & OpenIoT Summit 2018 took place in March of this year in the US, but the European version of the events are now planned to take place on October 21-24 in Edinburg, UK, and the schedule has already been released. So let’s make a virtual schedule to find out more about some of interesting subjects that are covered at the conferences. The conference and summit really only officially start on Monday 22, but there are a few talks on Sunday afternoon too. Sunday, October 21 13:30 – 15:15 – Tutorial: Introduction to Quantum Computing Using Qiskit – Ali Javadi-Abhari, IBM Qiskit is a comprehensive open-source tool for quantum computation. From simple demonstrations of quantum mechanical effects to complicated algorithms for solving problems in AI and chemistry, Qiskit allows users to build and run programs on quantum computers of today. Qiskit is built with modularity and extensibility […]

$50 Fish32 Seed “Education” ESP32 Board Comes with Plenty of I/Os, Sensors, and Connectivity Options

ESP32 Fish32 Seed Board

Sometimes I feel the word “Education” is sometimes thrown around for marketing purpose, and AnalogLamb Fish32 Seed board for “ESP32 Community Education Board” feels that way to me as so far, I could not see any tutorials or other teaching/ learning resources for the board. Having said that I can see why it could be potentially used for education: the sheer number of features, sensors, and connectivity options should allow students to learn to program my different components around ESP32. It’s just at this stage it may not be such an easy platform to learn on. Fish32 Seed board specifications: Supported ESP32 Modules – ESP32-WROVER, ALB32-WROVER, ESP32-WROOM-32 Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 via ESP32 10/100M Ethernet (RJ45) via WIZnet W5500 chip with support for up to 8 independent sockets LoRa via SX1278 chip (433 MHz) Sensors NXP MPU-9250 with 3-axis MEMS gyroscope, 3-axis MEMS accelerometer, 3-axis MEMS magnetometer […]