Seeed Studio Expands LoRa-E5 Support with Three Development Boards
All LoRa hardware developers need to take note of these dev kit options.
The recently introduced LoRa-E5 module from Seeed Studio was the first all-in-one module containing a LoRa radio and STM32 microcontroller. Now, the company has introduced three development boards for LoRa IoT devices: the Grove-LoRa-E5, LoRa-E5 Mini, and LoRa-E5 Development Kit. Each one offers slightly different capabilities when developing hardware based on that new module.
Previously Hackster News announced the LoRa-E5 microcontroller module from Seeed. It contains a STMicroelectrics STM32WL and Semtech SX126X radio in a single module. With the three new boards, it expands development options for this ultra-compact "chip."
All three boards feature a Semtech SX126X radio with support for up to 500 kHz bandwidth in LoRa mode. Other supported radio modes include (G)FSK, BPSK, and (G)MSK modulations. Currently, the radio operates at Europen (868 MHz) and North American (915 MHz) bands.
Grove LoRa-E5 (16.90 USD) is a small board with the E5 module, coil antenna, external antenna connection, and Grove connector. Grove is the single-connection ecosystem from Seeed Studio that simplifies connecting microcontrollers, sensors, and radios together. Compared to the other two development boards, there is limited connectivity from the E5 module on this one.
LoRa-E5 Mini (19.90 USD) looks and feels more like a miniature development board. It breaks out all of the LoRa-E5's GPIO pins, which have functions like UART, SPI, I2C, and analog. There is built-in support to communicate with the E5 via AT-commands over UART (serial).
LoRa-E5 Development kit (24.90) is a compact development board that unlocks the LoRa-E5's STM32WL microcontroller's full potential. Adding to the Mini's breakouts, there are header sockets, grove connectors, header pins, an SMA connector for an external antenna, and onboard USB-C.
Just like the LoRa-E5 module, all three of these new boards come with FCC and CE certifications.
We are excited that Seeed Studio is backing up their module with a full-range of boards. Between the three, there is likely one to fit most applications. If not, keep in mind that you can submit a custom PCB with a LoRa-E5 module to Seeed Studio's Fusion PCB assembly service!
For more information on the modules, click the links above to go straight to their respective product pages. If you are not familiar with LoRa or LoRaWAN, check out this excellent primer article from Seeed: "LoRapedia, an Introduction of LoRa and LoRaWAN Technology."