Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Agromon smart agriculture wireless transmitter connects ModBus RS485 sensors to WiFi, LoRaWAN, Sigfox, or NB-IoT

Agromon smart agriculture wireless transmitter connects ModBus RS485 sensors to WiFi, LoRaWAN, Sigfox, or NB-IoT

Agromon ESP32 smart farming transmitter

The Internet of Things has many applications including smart agriculture . A few months ago, I talked to a local shrimp farm owner who used Arduino and ESP8266 boards to monitor water and activate pumps only when needed to get shrimps healthy and save on his electricity bill. He built his own solutions, but there are also companies offering easy-to-use smart farming solutions such as Malaysia-based Wondernica’s Agromon “interface wireless transmitter” designed specifically for smart agriculture applications. Agromon has two variants with support for 2 sensors (WR-AGRO-2S) or 3 sensors (WR-AGRO-3S) that share the following specifications: Connectivity – WiFi, Sigfox (RCZ 2/4), LoRaWAN, NB-IoT Sensor Interface – Modbus RS485 (analog input / 4-20mA / 12V-14V output) Power Supply – 12V DC (tolerance up to 14V); supports batteries, solar power, or power adapter Power Consumption – Sleep Mode: 3 mW Dimensions – 130 x 90 x 40mm Ingress Protection – IP67 Agromon transmitter is powered by an an ESP32-WROOM-32 WiFi (and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on IoTSDR Linux Board Targets the Development of IoT Gateways with Standard or Custom IoT Protocols (Crowdfunding)

IoTSDR Linux Board Targets the Development of IoT Gateways with Standard or Custom IoT Protocols (Crowdfunding)

iotSDR board

Xilinx Zynq-7010/-7020 powered iotSDR board by EmbedINN enables the development of IoT gateways with support for LoRa, SigFox, WeightLess, Bluetooth, BLE, 802.15.4, ZigBee, as well as custom IoT protocols. The board also supports GPS, Galileo, Beidou, and GLONASS navigation systems thanks to a Maxim Integrated MAX2769 GNSS chip. iotSDR key hardware features and specifications: SoC (one or the other) Xilinx Zynq-Z7010 (XC7Z010-1CLG400C) dual-core Arm Cortex-A9 processor with 256 kb on-chip memory, FPGA fabric with 28,000 logic cells, 17,600 LUTs, 2.1 Mb block RAM, 80 DSP slices Xilinx Zynq-Z7020 (XC7Z020-1CLG400C) dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with 256 kb on-chip memory, FPGA fabric with 85,000 logic cells, 53,200 LUTs, 4.9 Mb block RAM, 220 DSP slices System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage 128 Mbit QSPI flash memory for firmware Microchip AT24MAC602 SPI EEPROM for RF transceiver MCU firmware and data Radios “IoT” Radios RF Transceivers – 2x Microchip/Atmel AT86RF215 European band – 863-870 MHz / 870-876 MHz / 915-921 MHz Chinese band […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on UnaMKR Sigfox Monarch Development Kit Follows Arduino MKR Form Factor

UnaMKR Sigfox Monarch Development Kit Follows Arduino MKR Form Factor

unamkr sigfox monarch

Unabiz is an IoT network operator with offices in Singapore and Taiwan. The company offers Sigfox networks in the region, and last year unveiled UnaMKR, a Sigfox Monarch development kit compatible with the tiny Arduino MKR boards. We’ve already written about Sigfox LPWAN standard several times, but what is Sigfox Monarch exactly? Answer direct from Sigfox website: The Monarch feature makes IoT devices aware of the local radio configuration (RC) to use. A single device can thus lawfully communicate on the Sigfox network even when moving between countries with different radio regulations. That means a Sigfox Monarch compliant end-point can work legally anywhere in the world switching to 868 MHz, 902 MHz, and 920 MHz frequencies automatically depending on the country of operation. This is useful for asset tracking across countries and continents. Back to the board itself, with UnaMKR specifications: Platform – Arduino or STMicro Connectivity Lite-On WSG309S Sigfox Monarch + Bluetooth 5.0 LE Module Antennas – Sigfox: ½ […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Sigfox Targets Worldwide Coverage with Satellite Launch

Sigfox Targets Worldwide Coverage with Satellite Launch

Sigfox Satellite

LPWAN technologies such as NB-IoT, Sigfox, and LoRa deliver low power, long range communication at low bitrate and can be used for asset tracking, environmental monitoring, water & electricity meters, and so on. The line-of-sight range between the closest gateway and nodes is usually 10 to 20 km, and coverage can be expanded by connecting several gateways to form a network. However, this is not workable in all locations worldwide, so Sigfox plans to launch a Sigfox satellite in collaboration with Eutelsat in order to provide coverage in places like large deserts such as the Sahara desert, the two poles, as well as oceans as explained by Franck Siegel, chief operating officer at Sigfox. This will for instance enable tracking and monitoring of oil platforms and vessels. The press release does not explains much except Sigfox and Eutelsat will test the first Satellite in H2 2019 before the commercial launch of the “ELO” constellation in 2020. An article on ConnectedBaltics, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on STMicro Introduces STEVAL-FKI001V1 Dual-Radio Bluetooth/LPWAN IoT Development Kit

STMicro Introduces STEVAL-FKI001V1 Dual-Radio Bluetooth/LPWAN IoT Development Kit

STEVAL-FKI001V1

STMicro has just launched a new development kit – STEVAL-FKI001V1 – that integrates two radios, one at 2.4 GHz for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and another sub-GHz radio for LPWAN IoT standards such as Sigfox. The devkit targets the development of IoT devices such as smart sensors, finders, and trackers for smart-home or smart-building scenarios, asset-tracking, energy-management, smart-farming and industrial monitoring, and control use cases. STEVAL-FKI001V1 devkit key features & specifications: Jorjin WS2118-00 Sigfox & BLE module Embedded BlueNRG-132 Bluetooth LE Arm Cortex-M0 SoC with up to +8 dBm BLE RF output power, receiver sensitivity of -88 dBm Embedded S2-LPQTR ultra-low power sub-1 GHz transceiver tuned for 826-958 MHz frequency bands Up to +16 dBm sub-1GHz RF output power, receiver sensitivity down to -130 dBm Modulation schemes: 2-(G)FSK, 4-(G)FSK, OOK, and ASK Air data rate from 0.1 to 500 kbps Ultra-low power consumption: 7 mA RX, 10 mA TX @ +10 dBm; low duty cycle RX/TX operation mode, automatic acknowledgement, retransmission, and timeout protocol engine BALF-NRG-01D3 50 Ω […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on PyGo Wearable Devices Create LoRa Mesh Networks (Crowdfunding)

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 to 200 devices LoRa including auto-connect to the Things Networks, […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Sigfox Introduces Access Station Micro Sigfox Gateway

Sigfox Introduces Access Station Micro Sigfox Gateway

Sigfox Gateway

There are plenty of long range LPWAN standards for the Internet of Things, but the most common ones include LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and Sigfox. LoRaWAN lead the way in terms of deployments, while NB-IoT and eMTC leverage existing cellular infrastructure but cost a bit more to operate. Sigfox works with $2 modules, but AFAIK so far you had to subscribe to the company network, and if your area was not covered you were out of luck. Sigfox Access Station Micro gateway promises to change the situation, as companies can now add their own Sigfox gateway(s) where coverage is not available, and this could make Sigfox more popular, especially if one or more communities similar to The Things Networks form(s) around it. Sigfox Access Station Micro SMBS-T4 specifications: Radio characteristics: Standard – Sigfox Ultra Narrow Band Protocol for M2M and IoT Max range of operating frequencies – 865 to 928 MHz Max Receiver Sensitivity – -132dBm @ 100bps / -124dBm @ 600bps […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Sens’it Discovery is a Sigfox IoT Solution with 6 Sensors

Sens’it Discovery is a Sigfox IoT Solution with 6 Sensors

Sigfox has just launched Sens’it Discovery, which they describe as a “end-to-end IoT solution, which aims to accelerate the adoption of the IoT (Internet of things) among business and technical professionals”. The solution is comprised for Sens’it 3 device with 6 sensors, sensit.io application, and Sigfox connectivity. Sens’it 3 hardware specifications: MCU – STM32 micro‑controller  Connectivity TI CC1125 radio transceiver Sigfox Ready class 0U Frequencies – 868 to 869.7 MHz, 902 to 908 MHz, or 923.2 MHz (TX) / 922.2 MHz (RX), or 920 to 925 MHz depending on region Transmit Power emission – 14 dBm ERP (RC1), 22 dBm ERP (RC2), 10 dBm ERP (RC3), 22 dBm ERP (RC4) Sensors Thermometer (HTS221) – -40 to 120°C / Accuracy ± 0.5°C Humidity (HTS221) –  0 to 100 / Accuracy ± 3.5% rH (20 to +80% rH) Accelerometer (FXOS8700) –  ±2, 4, 8 g / Accuracy 0.244, 0.488, 0.976 mg Magnetometer (FXOS8700) –  ±1200 μT / Sensitivity 0.1 μT/LSB Light (LTR329) –  […]