RAKwireless Moves to the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 for Its New WisGate Connect IoT Gateway

Featuring a modular design, this "multi-radio gateway" can be many things to many people.

RAKwireless has unveiled a new model in its WisGate family of Internet of Things (IoT) gateways, packing a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and a range of radio options including LoRaWAN, 5G NR, Zigbee, and others: the WisGate Connect.

"WisGate Connect is an industrial-grade hardware platform meant for multi-radio access networks and enterprise IoT applications," RAKwireless' Denitsa Prodanova explains in an announcement brought to our attention by CNX Software. "It is designed with the intention of allowing you to have all the connectivity options in one device, hence the name. Everything you need to do any type of project is there – interfaces, power options, protocol support, you name it. This is how we are making connections between different environments easy."

Inside the passively-cooled housing of the new gateway is a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 system-on-module (SOM), offering up to 8GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC storage depending on model. "RAKwireless has been doing Raspberry Pi based gateways for a few years now. We have sold more LoRaWAN gateways and Hotspots based on the Pi than anyone in the world," RAKwireless' Xose Pérez explains. "Still, it has some limitations: OS [Operating System] running on the SD Card; limited working temperature range; USB not available on the header; PCIe lanes not available anywhere."

The shift to the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 resolves these in what the company is describing as a "multi-radio gateway," which includes the ability to support radios for LoRaWAN on sub-gigahertz and 2.4GHz bands, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi HaLow, Zigbee, 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G New Radio (NR) cellular. On the other side of the coin is support for the company's WisBlock ecosystem, providing two slots capable of accepting WisBlock modules for RS485, CAN bus, LinBUS, analog to digital conversion, and more.

Other features of the board include two MIPI Camera Serial Interface (CSI) headers, one gigabit Ethernet port with optional Power over Ethernet (PoE) support plus a second 2.5-gigabit Ethernet port, the option to include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, three mini-PCI Express (mPCIe) sockets, an M.2 B-key slot, and an on-board real-time clock.

The launch comes nearly four months after RAKwireless announced a partnership with Arduino to launch WisGate Edge Lite 2 and WisGate Edge Pro indoor and outdoor LoRaWAN gateway devices under the company's Arduino Pro brand. "The WisGate Edge Lite 2 and WisGate Edge Pro ensure secure and reliable connectivity for a wide range of professional applications," the Arduino team claimed at the time. "They're suitable for medium-sized to wide area coverage in industrial environments and remote regions."

RAKwireless is making the WisGate Connect available as a bare carrier board or with optional indoor or outdoor enclosures — but despite announcing the device and listing it on its webstore, it has yet to confirm pricing and availability.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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