Ultra long range wireless module for Pico

Any played with these LoRa modules? Low bandwidth but very long range, very low power and low cost, sound like a perfect complement to Espruino Pico for IOT goodness.

Example1, Example2, Example3
Arduino Code
Partial Project with Arduino code

Doh, just realized I put this in the wrong forum, sorry. Don't know how to move it...

Just moved :)

I haven't personally played with them, but they look pretty interesting. Does anyone have a link to a decent explanation of what 'LoRa' is?

Actually making code work with them looks pretty easy too. There's the code here and once readRegister and writeRegister functions have been re-written in JavaScript (they're almost one-liners) the rest of the code for sending and receiving is basically copy+paste.

Hopefully someone will make a module for it....

Here are a few more links:

What is LoRa?
SX1272 Datasheet
Unfortunately that module is $70 USD on Digikey, unlike the $10 ones in the first post or this one from Alibaba.

Hi @Manxome!
Do you have any working LoRa Espruino Unit? Have you tried the SX1272 module? I'm also looking for a long range solution for Espruino...

Regards, Andreas

Hi @ak! I haven't had time yet to actually do any experimenting; just know that I want to play with LoRa. Heck, I don't even have an Espruino yet, where are my Pico's Gordon? JK

I ordered a few whisker (LoRa) modules from http://www.d6labs.com and waiting for them to be shipped. I am not sure when the shipping date will be, but I am super psyched to play with them and actually see how far the "actual" distance I can get with line of sight vs going through obstacles.

LoRa is a brand name for long range wireless operating in the IMS band (868 Mhz) in Europe & 915 Mhz in USA. It's low bandwidth designed for sensors/devices that wake a few times an hour/day.

Range CISCO claim 20 miles from their HQ. Even with very cheap & poorly designed RF modules I got 350 meters in Urban and it works EVERY where in my house nothing has ever done that before! For a bit fun take a look at http://www.daveakerman.com

Whisker like quite a few modules provide an UART AT command interface. Others provide SPI radio interface. Take a look http://modtronix.com/products-modules-wireless-lora/.

General advice you won't get long range with CHEAP far Eastern modules. Most European module manf. are aimed at commercial & don't sell to makers. Both Whisker & modtronix have aimed to create quality boards at a good price for makers.

BTW LoRa modulation can only operate in certain radio bands and you must to keep a track of you transmission time or you will be braking the law.

Just to confuse everyone there is http://lora-alliance.org/ this is aimed at Telcos (public) and orgs. who want to build (private) wide area sensor networks. In the UK Vodafone are trialing this.

And finally to open a new can worms there is SIGFOX Telcos are operating SIGFOX in Europe but there'r aimed at commercial orgs & payload is only 12 bytes.

@LawrenceG good to know :-) Thanks!

Please try this module. I have tested in the wild field. The RF range is up to 10km.
http://www.appconwireless.com/ProShow.asp?id=337

Hi Jason,

Thanks - but please try not to spam our forum with links to what I assume is your shop?

If you could provide example code for Espruino so that others can use these products I'm sure it'd really be appreciated though.

Hi Gordon,
I am not the guy which make the spam. I am electronical hobby. The link that i provide is a kind of UART transparent module. very simple coding to integrate with Espruino or Arduino.
For the coding, you can check this link:
http://eclipsesource.com/blogs/2012/10/17/serial-communication-in-java-with-raspberry-pi-and-rxtx/
The module is cost-effective compared to other vendors. The technical guys are kindly to help us for debugging. Click this for more

Hi Jason, thanks for clearing it up - it's just that you posted about 3 times with links to the same site :)

Looks like an interesting module - seems like there's an MCU on there as well as the SX1276. Unfortunately the link you gave is for Java (and it just uses a library so it's not that useful for us) but the datasheet does give the relevant commands that have to be sent over serial, and it doesn't look too tricky at all.

Hi Gordon,the relevant commands are used for parameter setting. For the serial communication, the UART parameter need to be compatible for both espruino and module. The belowing code is for TX and RX between two LoRa modules RF1276 and espruino.

// TX

// Alternate sending 1 and 2 to make RX expruio blink

const int buttonPin = 10;     // the number of the pushbutton pin

int buttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the pushbutton status


void setup() {                
 Serial.begin(9600);   // it depend on serial port of RF1276, we set the serial port baud rate 9600bps

}

void loop() {  
 buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);

 // check if the pushbutton is pressed.
 // if it is, the buttonState is HIGH:
 if (buttonState == HIGH) {     
   // turn LED on:    
   Serial.println("1"); 
 } 
 else {
   // turn LED off:
   Serial.println("2");
 }
 delay(100); 

}

_____________________

// RX

int led = 13;

void setup() {                
 pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
 Serial.begin(9600);
}


void loop() {

 if (Serial.available()){
   char input = Serial.read();
   switch (input){
   case '1':
     digitalWrite(led, HIGH);  
     delay(100); 
     break;
   case '2':
     digitalWrite(led, LOW); 
     delay(100); 
     break;
   }
 }  
 else // blinks if there is no serial connection available 
 {
   digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
   delay(200);
   digitalWrite(led, LOW);
   delay(200);
 }
}

@Jasonwu that looks like c/c++ code not javascript. Also looks like code that would work on an Arduino.

Yes, I don't think that's been used on an Espruino ;)

But from the code it looks like the module provides a straight serial link - so it looks like it doesn't really need much of a driver.

I've used very similar LoRa module in Standard mode all you need to do send a payload in my case a JSON string and it will trasmit after not seeing any more data for a defined period.

That's really cool, that these things just magically send serial strings across the air and hide all the crap from you - I had assumed these required a much more complicated driver.

How do you configure them? I assume there are settings operating mode, channel, power level, etc?

The module can make the configuration via UART-TLL converter by RF tool. It is objective.
Also it supports the AT command via serial port.

@DrAzzy it seems each module offers different ways of interfacing. The default firmware of the WizziKit is exactly this; a serial bus over the air (as long as you send a given opcode as the first bytes, then it will be in the serial rx/tx mode).

Which LoRa module did you try @LawrenceGrif?

@alexanderbrevig I've used DORJI DRF1278DM 433Mhz docs look very simular to @Jasonwu modules got abut 350m in urban space. I'm also beta testing some commercail baords from Multitech and Neumurs which both have AT cmd interface but are very expensive. Also many commercail boards have MOQ in 1000s.

@Gordon I'm sure I've pointed to Semtech Git and radio Lib. https://github.com/Lora-net/LoRaMac-node/tree/master/src/radio/sx1276

@LawrenceGrif thanks! I received the SX1276 radios from Modtronix last week, so when I've shipped out the rest of the Picos that's one of the things I'll be looking at.

I know Dorji DRF1278DM. Dorji is one of distributors of Appconwireless RF module. DRF1278DM don't have shields. The anti-jamming ability is worse than the RF1276 as I have tested.

@Jasonwu thanks for that the Dorji module looks identical to RF1276T from Appcon just a diffrent semtech chip. Where did you buy you RF1276 from?

@LawrenceGrif I directly send mail to Appconwireless. The sales manager is a kindly guy named Forbe. He is passionate and hard-working.