The LokoHUB LoRa Sensor Platform Aims to Deliver Off-Grid Weather Data Absolutely Anywhere

Estonian Internet of Things (IoT) specialist nolilab is preparing to launch a crowdfunding campaign for a long-range remote sensor off-grid weather station system based on LoRa connectivity: the LokoHUB.

"LokoHUB is an off-grid, all-weather data collection and visualization system designed for remote and challenging environments," nolilab's Tomi Piriyev explains. "The LokoHUB Station is a solar-powered, rugged hub that gathers data from multiple sensors up to 40km away using a 10-channel LoRa receiver. It works completely independently of electricity or network infrastructure, making it ideal for agriculture, environmental monitoring, infrastructure management, and security applications."

The hub itself is based around three key components: a Semtech SX1302 LoRa baseband processor — which offers eight channels, rather than Piriyev's claimed 10 — with a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular modem for backhaul communication, both linked to an on-board Espressif ESP32-S3 dual-core Tensilica Xtensa LX7 microcontroller running at up to 240MHz and adding Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy (BLE) support.

You may notice something missing from the "weather station's" bill of materials: sensors. That's because, as the name implies, the LokoHUB is merely a hub — and is designed to communicate with a network of remote sensor nodes at distances of up to 40km (around 25 miles.) "LokoHUB is designed to bring reliable data collection to places where traditional infrastructure simply cannot reach," Piriyev explains.

"Imagine a large farm in a remote region: monitoring soil moisture, weather conditions, and livestock movement can be nearly impossible without reliable power or network coverage. With LokoHUB, a single solar-powered station can gather data from multiple sensors across a 40km radius, providing farmers with actionable insights to improve yields, manage water efficiently, and track their animals in real time."

"Beyond agriculture," Piriyev continues, "LokoHUB is ideal for environmental monitoring, disaster response, and infrastructure management. Researchers can deploy stations in mountains, forests, or deserts to track climate and wildlife data without worrying about battery life or connectivity. Emergency services can monitor remote areas after floods, fires, or other disasters, enabling faster, more informed response."

Piriyev and colleagues are planning to launch the LokoHUB on Crowd Supply in the near future, with interested parties invited to sign up to be notified when the campaign goes live; nolilab has also pledged to make source code and hardware design files available under a source-available license that prohibits commercial use, though at the time of writing the project's GitHub repository was empty except for a readme file.