Everyone is talking about Long Range, aka: LoRa. This is a new wireless technology, meant for Long Range and yet low power. In some cases, the battery can last for years.

RFM LoRa Shield is an Arduino shield which integrates RFM95W LoRa module and based on Open Source Library with any Arduino projects. It is compatible with Arduino/Genuino/CT Uno, Arduino/Genuino Mega2560, Arduino Leonardo and possibly other pin compatible main boards.

RFM Lora Shield allows users to send data and reach extremely long ranges at low data-rates (< 50kbps). It provides ultra-long range spread spectrum communication and high interference immunity whilst minimising current consumption, and targets professional wireless sensor network applications such as irrigation systems, smart metering, smart cities, smartphone detection, building automation, etc.

Using LoRa modulation technique, RFM Lora Shield can achieve a sensitivity of over -148dBm using a low cost crystal and bill of materials. The high sensitivity combined with the integrated +20 dBm power amplifier yields industry leading link budget making it optimal for any application requiring range or robustness. LoRa also provides significant advantages in both blocking and selectivity over conventional modulation techniques, solving the traditional design compromise between range, interference immunity and energy consumption.

Besides supporting high performance (G)FSK modes for systems including WMBus and IEEE802.15.4g, RFM Lora Shield also deliver exceptional phase noise, selectivity, receiver linearity and IIP3 for significantly lower current consumption than competing devices.

LoRa shield has stackable side headers which allow more Arduino-compatible shields to be stacked on top of it. It also has built-in grove sensors connectors which allows users to integrate grove-based sensors into their application. It has also provided an option for the user to integrate OLED with this shield for visual display.

Note: This is LoRa Radio shield, it does not contain LoRaWAN protocol, so the Arduino main board will require more program to store the LoRaWAN stack.

Note: LoRa is a wireless communication technology, like all other wireless technologies, the wireless range depends on many factors: Obstacle, Line of Sight, Urban, sub-urban, rural, interference from other wireless wave, antenna position and orientation. For LoRa there is another factor with is spreading factor that affect the data rate. LoRa specification stated it can reach up to 5km or more. From our testing, we are able to get communication upto 1.5km using the 915MHz LoRa Gateway on Raspberry Pi and Cytron LoRa RFM shield at our office area. Other have manage to record distance of 702km(Not with this shield).

Features:

• Integrated with RFM95W LoRa module operating in the 915 MHz frequency band.
• High Receiver Sensitivity: down to -146 dBm.
• TX Power: adjustable up to +14 dBm high efficiency PA.
• FSK, GFSK, MSK, GMSK, LoRa and OOK modulation.
• Low RX current of 10.3 mA, 200 nA register retention.
• The shield comes with 1 x SMA 90 deg antenna connector, 1 x U.FL SMD antenna connector and 1 x single through hole for wire antenna.
• 3 Grove connectors for sensors or other grove-compatible devices.
• Interface via SPI with Arduino main board.
• Option for OLED display.
• Suitable for low power wireless sensor network applications such as irrigation systems, smart metering, smart cities, smartphone detection, building automation, etc.
• Antenna Spec:
  • 2dBi gain
  • Impedance: 50 Ohm
  • VSWR: <=2.0
  • Terminated Terminal: SMA
  • Antenna Length: 10.9cm
  • Frequency: 915MHz

Packing List:

• 1 x Shield-LoRa-RFM (915MHz)
• 1 x 915Mhz SMA Antenna (50 Ohm)
• 1 x U.FL to SMA Pigtail

Documents:

• User's Manual
• Shield LoRa RFM Schematic
• Github and Getting Started
• mydevices/Cayenne sample code
• Tutorial - Lesson 1: Build a simple Lora node in 10 minutes - Using Cytron LoRa RFM shield
• Tutorial - Lesson 2: Setting up a Raspberry Pi 3 LoRa Gateway with HAT-LRGW-915