Semtech Launches LoRa Edge, LoRa Cloud Low-Power GNSS and Wi-Fi Geolocation Platform
A single-chip solution to asset tracking over LoRa/LoRaWAN, LoRa Edge farms off the heavy lifting onto the LoRa Cloud platform.
Wireless specialist Semtech has unveiled a new product line and platform focused on the Internet of Things and offering a combination of LoRa with Wi-Fi and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)-powered location sensing: LoRa Edge and the LoRa Cloud.
Aimed primarily at asset management applications, Semtech's LoRa Edge family is designed to provide low-power, LoRa-connected communications and sensing with a twist: It also offers the ability to ascertain its own location through either Wi-Fi sniffing or GNSS without recourse to external hardware.
"Semtech continually delivers Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that simplify and accelerate the development of LPWAN applications," boasts Pedro Pachuca, director of IoT wireless in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. "LoRa Edge and LoRa Cloud geolocation services enable customers to develop ultra-low power applications for a variety of industries and will expand the mass adoption of LoRa in the IoT ecosystem."
LoRa Edge launches with the LR1110, a single-chip part which combines a 150-2,700MHz radio front-end with GPS and BeiDou scanning support alongside passive Wi-Fi scanning for geolocation purposes with a 150-960MHz low-power LoRa and (G)FSK transceiver offering a choice of +22dBm high-power or +15dBm high-efficiency power amplifier paths. The part also includes cryptographic acceleration for AES-128 and full support for the popular LoRaWAN low-power wide-area network standard.
The LoRa Edge LR1110 is joined by the LoRa Cloud, a remote platform which is designed to take Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), GNSS, and Wi-Fi data from LoRa Edge devices and process it to offer accurate geolocation — reducing, Semtech claims, the power requirement on the device itself. While use of the LoRa Cloud will be paid-for, Semtech has announced that it will be charged only when actively used — meaning that devices that aren't being actively tracked won't rack up any bills.
The LR1110 is available now, with more information on the Semtech product page.