Semtech expands LoRa portfolio

As the IoT continues to expand, LoRa’s innovative solutions are continuing to see huge growth in their implementation. LoRa enables data communication over a long range while using very little power.

LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN standard are flexible for everything from long distance rural to indoor use cases in a wide range of industries including smart cities, homes and buildings, communities, agriculture, metering and utilities, healthcare, environment and supply chain and logistics.

The new LoRa Connect LR1121 brings the best LoRa transceiver RF performance to date with the multi-band versatility permitting a single, low-power chip to be used anywhere in the world. It is pin compatible with the current LoRa Edge devices, allowing module makers such as Murata to have a single hardware design for a wide range of applications, with global connectivity. Likewise, Integrated Passive Devices such as Johanson Technology can readily be used alongside the LoRa Connect LR1121 to offer a smaller footprint, reduce time to market and minimise design iterations.

The highly integrated LoRa Connect LR1121 transceiver provides LoRaWAN connectivity for terrestrial low power wide area networks (LPWAN) operating at 470, 868 and 915MHz; it also provides LoRa 2.4GHz and the S-band for direct connection to satellites.

“Semtech’s LoRa Connect is targeting the connectivity challenges faced by the industry today enabling widespread adoption and reinforcing LoRa’s position as the de-facto platform for IoT,” said Robert Comanescu, Senior Director of the IoT Chips Business at Semtech. “We continue to invest in improving LoRa technology and enriching our product portfolio with multi-band LoRa support and LoRa Cloud services that will provide best in class, sustainable, ubiquitous and global IoT connectivity.”

New modules and reference designs, developed in partnership with Johanson and Murata, are ready at launch and offer a smaller form factor, lower assembly costs and faster time to market.

Murata’s Type 2GT module, currently supporting the LoRa Edge LR1110 and LR1120 products, is also now supporting the LoRa Connect LR1121, offering a turnkey solution for lower cost assembly and faster time to market with a pre-certified LR1121 variant readily available.

"By collaborating with Semtech on this offering, we are leveraging both companies’ leadership and expertise to create the most needed solution in the IoT market which provides multi-band LoRa and long range - frequency hopping spread spectrum (LR-FHSS) communication over sub-GHz and 2.4GHz ISM bands as well as licensed S-Band for satellites," said Sasaki Akira, general manager of Connectivity Module Marketing, Murata. "The new multi-band module allows designers to develop products with a faster time to market by minimising BOM size, cost and complexity."

Likewise, Johanson Technology’s IPD is also compatible with the LR1121 and replaces many RF passives, allowing a smaller form factor and lower assembly costs. A reference design is available now on the Semtech website to jumpstart chip down designs.