4 LoRaWAN Modules Made for Smart Cities

As we automate and connect more of our cities to make our lives easier, we need LoRa Modules that can accommodate this undertaking. These modules need to be compact and have to be suitable for various applications that require long-range data acquisition.
Here are 4 of the best LoRaWAN Modules available now for us to acquire data from our smart cities:

RAK4200 This LPWAN module has an ultra-low power consumption of 1.5uA in sleep mode and high LoRa output power up to 19dBm max in work mode. It also supports LoRa Point-to-Point communications, which makes it suitable for different applications.
Take a peek at some of RAK4200's key features

• Compact Form Factor: 15 x 15.5 x 2.5 mm
• 20 Pin Stamp Pad for PCB SMT mounting
• I/O ports: UART/I2C/GPIO
• Temperature range: -40°C to +85°C
• Supply voltage: 2.0 ~ 3.6V
• Frequency range: 863€“870MHz (EU) / 902€“928MHz (US), ISM and SRD systems
• Low-Power Wireless Systems with 7.8kHz to 500KHz Bandwidth
• Ultra-Low Power Consumption 1.5uA in sleep mode
• Core: ARM 32-bit Cortex M0+ with MPU
• Up to 128KB flash memory with ECC
• 20KB RAM

RAK4270 The RAK4270 is a LoRa SX1262 Module that supports several spreading factors (SF5 - SF12) and signal bandwidth. RAK4270 can be used in smart meters, agricultural sensors, and the like.
Some of its key features include:

• Ultra-low-power (1.5uA in sleep mode)
• Perfect for ultra-long transmission
• Highly sensitive in LoRa® modulation (~138dBm)
• Low Cost
• Stronger signal transmission (22dB max@PA_BOOST)
• Easy-to-use

RAK4600: The RAK4600 LPWAN module features both LoRa and BLE communication capabilities. With its nRF52832 MCU and SX1276 LoRa chip, the RAK4600 can be utilized in a variety of applications within the smart city setting.
Here are some of its key features:

• LoRa® module for Smart City, Smart Agriculture, Smart Industry
• I/O ports: UART/I2C/GPIO (optional NFC interface)
• Frequency range: 863€“923 MHz (entire LoRa® high band spectrum)
• Low-Power Wireless Systems with 7.8kHz to 500KHz Bandwidth
• LoRa® Tx power up to 20dBm
• BLE5.0 (Tx power -20 to +4 dBm in 4dB steps)
• Serial Wire Debug (SWD) interface
• Ultra-Low Power Consumption 2.0µA in sleep mode by using RUI„¢-based firmware.
• 512 KB Flash, 64 KB RAM
• Supply voltage: 2.0 ~ 3.6V

• Temperature range: -40°C to +85°C

RAK4260 Lastly, RAK4260 is a SiP device integrating a 32-bit ARM Cortex -M0+ MCU with a LoRa Transceiver in a compact surface-mount package. It is the perfect solution for any LoRaWAN end node developer and allows for rapid deployment.
Some of its key features include:

• High-quality Low power LoRa® device (Microchip ATSAMR34J18 SiP)
• Fully supported 862 to 1020 MHz frequency coverage (all LoRaWAN® bands)
• High level of accuracy and stability (32MHz TXCO)
• Max Tx Power: 20dBm
• Max Sensitivity (SF12 BW125kHz): -136dBm
• Rx Current: 17mA (typical)
• A rich selection of interfaces: I2C, SPI, ADC, UART, GPIOs

These are just some of the best LPWAN modules out there that can are suitable for applications in a smart city.

Learn more about them here:

Shop RAK4270: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/rak4270-lpwan-module

Shop RAK4200: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/rak4270-lpwan-module

Shop RAK4600: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/rak4600-lora-module

Shop RAK4260: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/rak4260-lora-module

About This Author

Karanbir Singh https://www.rakwireless.com/ Internet Marketing Manager at RAKwireless | Marketing Lead | Joined: March 30th, 2020