Elecrow has announced the powerful LoRa Node Expansion Board, which is built on the nRFLR1121 with the nRF52840 core SoCs, which is specifically created to enable reliable, long-range, low-power communications to modern IoT projects. This is a small board that is packed with essential wireless technologies to accommodate multifunctional networking applications in smart agriculture, environmental sensing, industrial automation, and asset tracking, among others.
Near the core of this board is the nRFLR1121, with the nRF52840, which are chips that integrate into LoRa RF transceiver communication with an efficient control logic. The module is compatible with the LoRaWAN standard protocol and also in point-to-point transparent mode, and that is why the centralised LoRaWAN infrastructure can be easily integrated into a private LoRa network or a centralised LoRaWAN network. It is programmed to handle 868 MHz and 915 MHz frequency bands, so that it can set up applications across different geographical requirements across the globe.
We have already covered some LoRa-based products, including the LILYGO T-Lora Dual, the LILYGO T-Beam-1W development board and recently wrote about the LoRaWAN Gateway and Elecrow LoRaWAN Tracker. You can get a rough idea of the difference between a LoRa board and a LoRaWAN board.
The most important characteristics and built-in features
It has an embedded lithium battery management circuit, a solar charging interface to the reserve, which is one of the best features. It implies that the board is capable of addressing off-grid and outdoor solutions by charging over the solar panels and supporting the communication nodes in a sustainable way. This will be most suitable in remote monitoring stations where the monitoring stations cannot have direct access to power sources or are inaccessible.
Hardware connections are abundant, like several interfaces are offered by the board, such as two digital pins, two analogue pins, one I2C port, and one UART interface that may be easily integrated with various Crowtail sensors included in a full list of environmental sensors, including temperature, humidity and air quality, among others. This renders quick development in prototype and sensor node deployment easy for both engineers and hobbyists alike.
Besides being interface-supportive, the design has customizable pin headers and function buttons. These provide the developers with space to expand functions, debug, or add new functions without necessarily redesigning them.
Software and Development Support
Elecrow LoRa Node Expansion Board (nRFL1121) has easy and readily adaptable software FCs. It has built-in AT command firmware to ease the configuration and control of the device via the UART. With regard to the intensive projects, it enables the creation of custom applications, which are built on the Nordic nRF52840 SDK. The board also supports LoRaWAN 1.0.4 and can readily be interoperable with usual IoT networks. More informations are available on the Wiki page.
Applications and use cases
The wide adaptability of the LoRa Node Expansion Board makes it ideal for numerous IoT scenarios. It can be deployed in smart city infrastructures, connecting and monitoring distributed nodes such as air quality sensors or traffic devices. It empowers farmers to gather soil moisture in intelligent farming, crop health, or weather information in a large area through long-range wireless connections. This board is also applicable in the automation of industries where the real time communication is required at low power with high data transmission over a long-range to link machines and sensors in most of the large facilities.
Price and availability
The Elecrow LoRa Node Expansion Board (nRFLR1121) is already sold on the official online store of Elecrow at a price of approximately $22.99. The nRFLR1121 core in India is also sold by local retailers like Robu.in at a cost of around ₹2200 to ₹2400 (varying in availability and tax). Its use is mostly an in-stock product, which can be ordered in bulk either directly at Elecrow or via local electronics suppliers, and supplied worldwide.