Lora-based development kit targets IIoT applications

The easy-to-use kit is based on Renesas’ Synergy microcontrollers, sensors and power management components.

The number of LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network)use cases is growing fast, addressing key markets that leverage existing and new LoRa networks for deployment in smart factories and building automation, along with use in a host of smart healthcare, transportation, logistics and supply-chain tracking, agriculture and retail applications.

The kit uses the LoRaWAN protocol, which supports low-power devices with battery life time of several years.

Ideal for developing cloud-based condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and device management, the kit comprises all the necessary elements to take customer IoT solutions from the edge to the cloud.

It includes a LoRaWAN gateway, multi-sensor monitoring through nine different sensor technologies, plus everything required for cloud connectivity via the IoTConnect platform, including the LoRaWAN network server, device management, visualisation and control, and data analytics.

The Avnet Silica turnkey low-power multi-sensor solution is designed to enable the majority of LoRaWAN-based use cases and comes with a full software stack and the use of CE-certified hardware, including sensors for humidity, temperature, ambient light, air quality and air pressure, plus added microphone, digital accelerometer, digital gyroscope and inductive proximity sensor for positioning information, enabling proof-of-concept to begin right out of the box.

The board integrates a number of key components from Renesas, such as: the Synergy S3A6 microcontroller, which powers the LoRaWAN module, and the Synergy S124 application MCU; sensing devices including the HS3004 humidity and temperature, ISL29035 ambient-light, ZMOD4410 air-quality and ZMID5202AE1R inductive proximity sensors; plus the ISL88014 voltage supervisor and ISL9122A buck/boost regulator for advanced power management.

"Our advanced Synergy microcontrollers, sensors and power management ICs deliver all the performance, low-power capabilities and features required for advanced IoT application development,” said Thomas Kellermann, Business Development Manager IoT & Infrastructure Business Unit MCU Business Development at Renesas.

“This new miniPOC kit enables developers to start work on delivering proof-of-concept for their IoT use cases within minutes of opening up the box,” said Frank Hansen, VP Technical Marketing & Resources at Avnet Silica. “The combination of low-power hardware, leading-edge LoRaWAN connectivity and Avnet´s IoTConnect cloud platform offers a ready-made and highly scalable solution for customers working on innovative new IoT use cases.”

The miniPOC kit is shipping now from Avnet Silica in all EMEA markets.