Ready-to-use development kits jumpstart LPWAN connectivity
LoRa development packs from STMicroelectronics enable users, from large corporations to smaller companies, independent designers, hobbyists and schools, to use long-range, low power wireless IoT connectivity.
ST offers two packs to provide a LoRaWAN (LoRa wide area network) development chain including gateway and end-node boards, firmware and tools, and using ST’s STM32 Nucleo evaluation boards.
The packs cater for regions with 868, 915M or 923MHz and sub-550MHz industrial, scientific, medical (ISM) frequency bands. Each as proprietary gateway software and ST’s I-Cube-LRWAN end-node software. The node and gateway boards come with an antenna and on-board debugger.
The P-Nucleo-LRWAN2 pack is for high-frequency (868MHz/915MHz/923MHz) ISM bands. It comes with the I-Nucleo-LRWAN1 node expansion board designed by USI, which combines an STM32L0-powered module with ST’s sensor devices including the LSM303AGR MEMS e-compass (accelerometer/magnetometer), LPS22HB pressure sensor, and ST HTS221 temperature and humidity sensor.
The P-NUCLEO-LRWAN3 pack for low-frequency (433/470MHz) ISM regions comes with a node expansion board embedding the STM32L0-powered RisingHF module RHF0M003, together with an ST LSM6DS33D accelerometer, ST LPS22HB pressure sensor, and HTS221 temperature and humidity sensor.
Each pack has a gateway, built with an STM32 Nucleo-144 development board (Nucleo-F746ZG) which contains an STM32F746ZGT6 microcontroller. According to ST, this gateway has an advantage over a commercial version, because users can access device pins to assist development. The gateway acts as a basic packet forwarder to enable data coming from the development node to reach LoRaWAN network servers.
ST has established agreements with LoRaWAN network-server providers LORIOT, Actility, and The Things Network to let users connect gateways to basic network-server capabilities, free of charge. Users can also visualise sensor data and control devices with the myDevices Cayenne for LoRa IoT Builder dashboard.
Nodes are based on the Nucleo-L073RZ Nucleo-64 board that features the STM32L073RZT6 low power microcontroller. A battery socket is provided for mobility. Each pack includes a LoRa node expansion board, which contains a low-power STM32-powered module running an AT-command stack. There is also a selection of motion and environmental sensors provided on-board.
Both development packs are available now. ST’s ecosystem includes LoRaWAN protocol stacks, free integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Keil MDK-ARM and software toolsets, including the STM32CubeMX MCU initialiser and configurator.
