Microchip's LoRa wireless module is the world's first LoRa Alliance certified

     Microchip Technology, the world's leading provider of integrated microcontroller, mixed-signal, emulator and flash memory patented solutions, announced that its RN2483 LoRa module has become the world's first product to pass the LoRa Alliance's LoRaWAN™ certification program. The RN2483 module was independently tested by an Espotel accredited test laboratory and is functionally compliant with the latest LoRaWAN 1.0 protocol specification for use in the 868 MHz license-free band. This allows designers to quickly and easily integrate their end devices into any LoRaWAN network. The LoRaWAN standard enables up to 10 miles of Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) low-data rate wireless communication, as well as 10 years of battery life and the ability to connect millions of wireless sensor nodes to LoRaWAN gateways

     Steve Caldwell, Microchip's vice president of Wireless Products and chairman of the LoRa Alliance Strategy Committee, said: "The launch of the Certification Accreditation program marks a critical step toward the LoRa Alliance's mission to build a carrier-level open standard specification for secure, low-power wide area networks (LPWAN). We are proud to be the first and only company to have module products certified to the LoRaWAN 1.0 specification. "This certification program will provide end customers with assurance that their application-specific end devices will work in any LoRaWAN network, which is key to leveraging LPWAN to enable global iot deployments."

     Jouko Nikula, Product Lead, Test Services, Espotel LoRaWAN, said: "Microchip has done a lot of preparation for certification testing, and Microchip engineers have been very professional and meticulous in their performance during the test execution process. "As Espotel further develops the LoRaWAN certification specification and improves interoperability and performance testing, Microchip's RN2483 module will be used as a benchmark in our test and research lab."

     Prior to the launch of this certification program, Microchip's LoRa development team had conducted extensive validation and interoperability testing with all major LoRaWAN network infrastructure vendors, so its module products have long been recognized as the gold platform in the LoRaWAN ecosystem. Peter Kaae Thomsen, CTO of OrbiWise, a leading LoRa core network provider, said that they have already used the RN2483 module as a reference device to test their UbiQ network solution.

     According to the authoritative market research company Gartner, by 2020, the number of connected products will reach 25 billion. The IoT market is experiencing explosive growth, and developers are challenged to build simple, robust infrastructure with limited resources. There was an urgent need for a solution that could meet the requirements of lowest total cost, ease of design, short time to market, strong interoperability and nationwide deployment. The Microchip 433/868 MHz RN2483 LoRaWAN module is an RF module that has been evaluated by the European R&TTE Directive to significantly speed up development and reduce development costs. In addition, the new module is small, measuring only 17.8 x 26.7 x 3.0 mm, and has 14 GPIOs, allowing the flexibility to connect and control a large number of sensors and actuators while taking up very little space.

     The RN2483 module comes with a LoRaWAN protocol stack that easily connects to the existing and rapidly growing LoRa consortium infrastructure, including privately managed local area networks (Lans) and public networks operated by telecommunications companies, to create a nationwide low power wide area network (LPWAN). The integration of the protocol stack allows the module to work with any single chip microcomputer with a UART interface, including hundreds of Microchip PIC® MCUS. In addition, the RN2483 comes with Microchip's simple ASCII command interface for easy configuration and control.

     The RN2483 module solves a long-standing dilemma for wireless application developers, where designers have to choose between longer distances and lower power consumption. With LoRa, designers can now do both, maximizing longer distance communication and lower power consumption while saving additional repeater costs. In addition, with AES-128 encryption, the RN2483 provides network communication security.

     The RN2483's scalability, reliable communication, mobility, and ability to operate in harsh outdoor environments make it ideal for a wide range of low-data rate wireless monitoring and control designs. Examples of IoT and M2M applications include smart cities (street lights, parking and traffic sensors), energy metering (electricity/water/gas smart meters), and industrial/commercial/home automation (HVAC controls, smart appliances, security systems, and lighting).