Semtech's LR1110 LoRa Edge Chip Gets a Maker-Friendly Modular Makeover, Now Testing
With location tracking and a long-range LoRa transceiver, Semtech's LR1110 is a powerful tool previously inaccessible to makers.
Semtech's LR1110 chip, the first in the company's new LoRa Edge platform, has gathered considerable interest alongside complaints regarding its inaccessibility for hobbyists — and one maker is looking to address that by turning the chip into a module.
"Semtech continually delivers Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that simplify and accelerate the development of LPWAN applications," Semtech's Pedro Pachuca claimed at the launch of the single-chip LR1110 earlier this year. "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."
The LR1110 combines a 150-2,700 MHz radio front-end with GPS and BeiDou scanning suport with a passive Wi-Fi scanning system, all linked in to a 150-960 MHz low-power LoRa and (G)FSK transceiver. The company is hoping to have the chip adopted for Internet of Things (IoT) projects ranging from remote sensor networks to asset tracking, but at present has not made the chip available in a package friendly to hobbyists and hackers.
"I'm sure there are many others excited about the potential for this part too, so I wanted to create a module that can easily be dropped into a design without worrying about the RF voodoo that makes it all work," explains pseudonymous Glaswegian maker "Sensors" of the resulting project. "My intention is to complete the design and have a small batch made if there is enough interest. In this case I may also design a breakout board or Arduino shield to remove as many barriers as possible for anyone who is keen to play with this awesome new part."
The project is already well advanced: The first prototype have returned from the fab, and are proceeding through assembly onto breakout boards for testing. The next step: Software support. "I'm still trying to figure out how to get a few of these into the hands of people who are willing to write some libraries and test them," Sensors notes. "Given the cost of them at this low volume I don't want to just send them all out to never hear about them again so I need to find a way to encourage people to see any testing through. Suggestions welcome."
Those interested in helping with the project can find full details and logs of the progress made thus far on Sensors' Hackaday.io project page; anyone willing to assist with library development and testing should fill in this form.