Rapid prototyping for long-range IoT devices

Würth Elektronik has expanded its range of FeatherWing development boards to include the Daphnis-I FeatherWing Board. The energy-efficient Daphnis-I radio module installed on the board operates utilising the LoRaWAN 1.0.4 protocol. This IoT radio protocol in the EU868 frequency band allows devices to communicate with a gateway located over 10km away. The FeatherWing design enables rapid prototyping for smart factory, smart home, and smart city applications, as well as for monitoring tasks in agriculture and logistics.

The Adafruit Feather form factor allows developers to seamlessly combine the company's ever-growing range of FeatherWings with hundreds of compatible boards from other manufacturers. The Daphnis-I FeatherWing now offers power-saving LoRaWAN technology alongside its other wireless solutions. The radio module on the Feather board, based on the STM32WLE5CCU6 chip, consumes just 63.9nA in sleep mode. This makes it ideal for battery-powered devices such as sensor networks for IoT applications. The FeatherWing comes with the external 868MHz Hyperion-I antenna and a UMRF-to-SMA RF cable.

The LoRa Wide Area Network architecture has a star topology. LoRa end devices communicate with LoRa gateways, which forward the data packets to a LoRaWAN server that, in turn, communicates with the application server. All communication is secured with 128-bit AES encryption. The Daphnis-I FeatherWing supports LoRaWAN classes A, B and C, which means that the module can receive data in response to its transmissions, either time-controlled or with a permanently open download-receive window. The radio module is controlled via a UART interface using an easy-to-use AT command set. It can log on to the network (activation) utilising either the OTAA or the ABP method. The company offers an evaluation kit for the Daphnis-I module employed here, along with a convenient PC tool with a GUI and a software development kit for its entire FeatherWing portfolio. Developers also have free access to the company's GitHub repository, where they can find examples for testing this product, such as secure connections between the module and a LoRaWAN network server to transmit sensor data to various cloud platforms. Quick-start examples are obtainable for cloud platforms like TTN, AWS, Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, and Kaa IoT.

The Daphnis-I FeatherWing is now available from stock. The Daphnis-I radio modules are available without a minimum order quantity.