Semtech’s LoRa Edge device-to-cloud geolocation platform now features multi-band capabilities, with LoRa Edge LR1120 allowing for direct satellite-connected Internet of Things (IoT) applications for supply chain management and logistics.
The solution enables logistics companies to leverage ultra-low power trackers with enhanced interoperability, according to a news release. The connectivity allows for “global mobility across multiple regulatory regions.”
The solution is meant to meet the track and trace challenges the logistics industry faces, “with a geolocation IoT platform adapted to global transportation and mass-scale asset management,” said Marc Pégulu, vice president of IoT product marketing for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group, according to the release.
Adding satellite connectivity to the low-power sensor opens up new use cases in infrastructure monitoring, agriculture and environmental monitoring.
“Combining LoRa with small, relatively low-cost LEO satellites will change the game for LoRa and IoT,” said Christopher Taylor, Director, RF & Wireless with Strategy Analytics, according to the release. “Adding satellite communication capabilities in the S-band to LoRa can help replace aging SCADA monitoring and opens up new applications and markets, especially in remote regions. So far, LoRa has attracted the interest of several satellite companies including EchoStar and Lacuna.”
Features include multi-band LoRa capability (sub-GHz, 2.4GHz and licensed S-band for satellite) and multi-technology geolocation using GNSS for outdoor and Wi-Fi for indoor, as well as areas where satellite coverage is poor, and the LoRa Cloud geolocation solver, which transfers the location processing workload from the device to the cloud, making ‘deploy once’ battery life possible.
The solution is supported by GPS and BeiDou constellations and has a hardware crypto engine for increased security.
