Last year, Semtech introduced the LR2021 LoRa Plus transceiver chip designed to tackle the low data-rate problem linked with LoRa but did not release a development board at that time. Now, Seeed Studio and Semtech have launched the LR2021 LoRa Plus development kit, focusing on long-range high-speed LoRa and FLRC applications up to 2.6 Mbps.
The board supports LoRa Gen 4 technology, featuring Sub-GHz, 2.4 GHz ISM, and S/L-band operation. A XIAO nRF54L15 board provides dual-core processing (Arm Cortex-M33 + RISC-V) and supports protocols like NFC, Bluetooth LE 6.0, Matter, Thread, and 2.4 GHz proprietary protocols. Additional features include a 0.96-inch 128×64 OLED, three Grove connectors for expansion, USB Type-C for power, SWD debugging, and two Sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz SMA connectors. It is compatible with Arduino Uno, STM32 Nucleo, and Nordic DK boards and offers Fast Channel Activity Detection (CAD) for reduced power consumption during channel sensing. It is suitable for global asset tracking, high-speed OTA updates, converged networking, and low-power audio and image transmission.
Semtech LR2021 LoRa Plus Evaluation Kit specifications:
Main Module – Seeed Studio XIAO nRF54L15 USB-C board with Nordic Semi nRF54L15 wireless SoC:
– CPU: Arm Cortex-M33 @ up to 128 MHz, RISC-V coprocessor
– Memory: 256 KB SRAM
– Storage: 1.5MB NVM
– Wireless: Bluetooth LE 6.0, Thread, Zigbee, Matter, Amazon Sidewalk, Proprietary 2.4 GHz, NFC support
– Antennas: Ceramic antenna + IPEX4 connector
Wireless Module – Wio-LR2021 module based on LR2021 LoRa Plus transceiver chip:
– Supported Frequency Bands: Sub-GHz, 2.4 GHz ISM, S-Band, L-Band
– Supported Modulations: LoRa, LR-FHSS, FLRC, (G)FSK, OQPSK, OOK, BLE PHY
– Output Power: Sub-GHz +22 dBm to -10 dBm, 2.4 GHz up to +12 dBm
– Receiver Sensitivity: -141.5 dBm (LoRa SF12), -111 dBm (FLRC @ 260 kbps), -97 dBm (BLE @ 2 Mbps)
– Phase Noise: -104 dBc/Hz @ 915 MHz, -93 dBc/Hz @ 2.45 GHz
– RF Interfaces: RFI_LF, RFI_HF, 50Ω antenna impedance
– Host Interface: SPI
– Sleep Current: 470 nA (without RTC), 1.28 µA (with RTC)
Other features include a 0.96-inch OLED display, Grove ports, Arduino-compatible header, SWD and SAMD debug interfaces, user button, reset button, power LED, and dual SMA ports. Power comes via USB Type-C, with an operating voltage of 3.3V, and the board measures 65 x 73 x 27 mm, operating within -40°C to +85°C.
The board supports Zephyr RTOS and Semtech’s LoRa USP. Developers can utilize the usp_zephyr repository for integration between Zephyr RTOS and Semtech’s LR20xx, including the LR2021, leveraging LoRa Basics Modem for easy LoRaWAN device creation. More details are available on the wiki.
The kit, priced at $99.00 on the Seeed Studio store, includes two of each component for point-to-point testing, available in EU868, US915, and CN490 variants.