SparkFun, Digi International Collaborate to Simplify LoRaWAN® IoT Deployment

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SparkFun Electronics, a leader in open-source embedded electronics, and Digi International ®, a leading global provider of complete end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products, solutions and services, announce the launch of a collaborative new development board, the SparkFun IoT Node for LoRaWAN®, as well as two kits, one each for North America and Europe, the SparkFun Digi X-ON™ Kit for LoRaWAN®. Aimed at accelerating end-node creation, these products are designed to simplify the use of IoT devices via a LoRaWAN® network for developers and professionals, and are perfect for applications that require reliable communication in challenging environments.

"SparkFun is the right company to bring the Digi X-ON™ solution to market with us," says Bob Blumenscheid, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Digi. "Customers can use the kit to see a real proof-of-concept up and running in minutes and use SparkFun Qwiic sensors to create a secure and scalable Digi X-ON solution for their exact IoT application and use case."

The kits enable users to quickly collect and send sensor data over a LoRaWAN® network. The kits include an HX15 Gateway from Digi, the new SparkFun IoT Node for LoRaWAN®, and SparkFun's dual-action ENS160/BME280 (Qwiic) Environmental Combo Board. The kits also include a free 30-day subscription to Digi X-ON device management platform, free cellular connectivity, and is available in two versions, one for North America and one for Europe. The two kits are priced at $395.00 USD, bringing the total price under what customers could typically expect to pay for the gateway alone.

At the heart of the kit is the SparkFun IoT Node board. Key features of the development board include:

• The Digi XBee® LR module for LoRaWAN®, which uses LoRa™ modulation for Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) two-way communications for long-range and high-noise RF environments and comes pre-activated on Digi's X-ON cloud platform.
• Plug-and-Play Functionality: Preinstalled firmware automatically connects to Digi X-ON, detects an attached sensor, and publishes data to the X-ON cloud. For the kits, the installed firmware connects and posts data from the Digi HX15 Gateway for LoRaWAN® to DiGi X-ON.
• A SparkFun Qwiic connector enables quick, solderless integration with SparkFun's extensive range of Qwiic-enabled sensors and products, perfect for rapid prototyping and developing proof-of-concepts.
• An RP2350 microprocessor from Raspberry Pi, which supports many development environments, including Arduino, micropython, and the Raspberry Pi pico SDK, and comes with 16 MB of flash and 8 MB of PSRAM.
• Economical Pricing: SparkFun and Digi have worked together to make these products as affordable as possible and to enable widespread adoption, offering an introductory pricing model for the IoT Node for LoRaWAN® at $49.95 for the first 250 units, which will increase to 99.95 soon.

"Digi is the obvious partner to help us simplify the set up of LoRaWAN® IoT devices," says SparkFun CTO Kirk Benell. "Pairing the Digi X-ON solution and Gateway with SparkFun's development board expertise, sensor ecosystem and unique prototyping software solution delivers an agile, time saving solution for deployment of LoRaWAN® IoT devices. With this solution, developers can deploy an operational LoRaWAN®-based sensor in minutes and then leverage this operational base to rapidly tailor a solution to achieve their LoRaWAN® goals."