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Part of the cost issue is carrier approval for the modem/device. In the EU telcos require GCF approval http://www.globalcertificationforum.org/ of at least the modem and increasingly the device (Dash/Electron etc.) before it's approved.
With high street PAYG SIMS you don't get any SIM management tools as you do with M2M sims. My M2M provider charges £3.30 a month for 1Mb for a Global SIM. Also most M2M providers don't like talking to me as I'm a one-man-band not some "big corp". For me Konekt/Electron are like citizen band for the IoT.
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It's not just Konekt hardware it's their whole platform that excites me. I've got some of their SIMs and should be able to test the beta platform next week so will let you know how I get on. BTW I had to draw this diagram to get my head around their platform http://industrialinternet.co.uk/iot-2/konekt-io-architecture it might be of help to others.
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@CKnight this is great work thanks
I use Telit modems and used JS to talk to them... -
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.
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@StuntMonkeh I just found this. Your doing a lot of what I want from an general industrial board.
I was going to get someone to quote to the design I'm wondering if we could collaborate?There is an example on this thread for a 4-20ma source generator
http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/2905/4-to-20-MA-Source-Circuit-DiagramLawrence
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@DrAzzy many thanks for the link.
Yes had fun with my 6yr old and Bear, much time hand scrubbing & impedance testing...Have you seen this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/voltera/voltera-your-circuit-board-prototyping-machine
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@DrAzzy apologies for off topic question what are you using for your prototype boards?
Looks like conductive ink? and what is the substrate?Thanks in advance
Lawrence -
Whisker aren't shipping 868 mhz yet and modules are undergoing CE testing. Like number of module manufacturers they have a simple AT command interface.
http://modtronix.com/inair9.html will do an 868 mhz they are more maker focused but you will need to implement the LoRa HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer). May be something for Gordon :)
All the EU module manufacturers are commercially orientated. Some you have to buy their dev kits or they have MOQ in 100/1000s off.
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I would support @allObjects in recommending LoRa.
Even with cheap Chinese modules I've got 350 Meters from my home in a residential area. Indoors I can't find a place where it won't work :)These modules are popular http://www.hoperf.co.uk/shop/RFM92W-868S2-RFM92W_868S2.html BTW if your considering this module for commercial projects I've been told it will fail EMF testing.
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@MetallixBrother your right a mesh wouldn't last long I've found this tool useful for rule of thumb battery calks http://oregonembedded.com/batterycalc.htm
You probably want to consider a site survey with your chosen hardware to make sure your getting the range you expect. I've learn't this the hard way even after doing a full paper based survey (using a floor plan) to identify poor signal paths.
Solutions Architect who can code..just!
http://www.industrialinternet.co.uk