A self-contained Bluetooth and Long-Range (LoRa) radio node. A superb long-distance remote sensor or data walkie-talkie.
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This project started almost two years ago and has gone through 8 hardware revisions. The Kickstarter product contains:
1) nrf52840 64MHz BLE 5.1 processor with 1MB of flash and 256KB of RAM
2) SX1262-based LoRa radio with up to 7 miles of range
3) Piezo speaker
4) Dual-mode LiPo battery charger
5) 2 LEDs
6) Micro-USB connector for power and i/o
7) Zephyr open-source OS drivers
8) Bluetooth firmware upgrading
9) Available I2C, SPI, Qwiic ports for adding sensors.
Hi! Interesting project. Did you test LoRa bit rate on short distances (100-300 meters) with that chip? I'm interested if can handle 10+ kbps as the specs claim.
Mark Zachmann
Robert Ussery
Mastro Gippo
D. Smith
AVR
Hi, I have not tested for those data rates but the spec is very clear. The Semtech LoRa Modem Calculator Tool says that you can get a bitrate of 12.5 kbps by using 500KHz bandwidth and SF=8, CR=1. Since I normally maximize range I don't use those kinds of settings so your expected range is unknown. The calculator shows it as about 20dB less link budget than my usual operation (so 1/8 the range) and I'd be a lot more careful on the CRC checking.
I think a lot depends on how clearly line of sight you will be between nodes. 100M should be trivial, 300M is easy with nothing in the way.
Mark