IoT LoRa Boards - Your Gateway to the Internet of Things
Created by Pi Supply LoRa Kickstarter
Making LoRa cheaper, more accessible and hackable using your favourite single board computers - Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Micro:Bit!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway - Beta Testing Signup
about 6 years ago
– Mon, Mar 02, 2020 at 01:31:06 AM
Hey all,
As you may remember from previous updates (or Twitter / events) we started work around August of last year on a more full featured, industrial grade LoRa Gateway to build on the success of this Kickstarter.
We are calling the product the Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway - Nebra Ltd being our official company name, and our more "grown up" brand which will house our more Industrial / professional grade products with Pi Supply staying as the maker and hobbyist focused side.
We showed the first prototype of this product at The Things Conference on Tour UK event in Reading in October and had some great feedback. More recently we took the prototypes to The Things Conference in Amsterdam last month where they featured both on our stand and on the "LoRa Wall of Fame".
Below you can see some photos showing the prototype:
Like with the boards from our Kickstarter, the whole concept of this product is to bring to market a versatile, modular and high value for money gateway with industrial credentials.
Based on the Raspberry Pi compute module, it is more powerful and has more RAM than any gateway on the market that we are aware of (meaning it can do some other cool things and is future proof). For the more eagle-eyed of you - you will see that we have got PoE, 16 channel capability, 3G/4G capability, WiFi / Bluetooth capability, GPS, and crucially a 40 pin Raspberry Pi HAT header - so you can add off the shelf upgrades such as a battery HAT to act as a UPS, a sensor board, or any other HAT or add on that can work over the GPIO on a standard Raspberry Pi.
The idea behind it being easy to open and being modular is that it is super easy to upgrade in the future as well as making it easy and quick to repair in the field.
Feature and Price comparison chart
Understandably, we have had quite a lot of interest in this product and we are keen to get it to market soon but our next step is to do a Beta Test of some early units of the product... And as our loyal Kickstarter backers we would love to have some of you along for the ride!
We will bill you via our website (payment by PayPal or Credit / Debit Card) for £250 (inc VAT so if you are outside the EU it will be £208.33) for each beta unit required + shipping costs
Once we have more than 10 units accounted for, we will begin the production of the beta units
We will ship them to you around 6 weeks later
You set up your unit and help us to test the hardware and software :-)
Just so you know, the beta test will be FULLY SUPPORTED helping you to get up and running and will carry a warranty - if anything is not working correctly you will get it fixed and/or replacement parts as required. So this will be no different to a future production unit.
The full price units are likely to be more like £300 and will obviously come after the beta. So with the beta you will get early access to the hardware as well as a lower price - with the benefit to us being that you help us to test them!
What will the beta units consist of included in the price (this will all be fully assembled apart from the antenna):
Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway main board (including GPS, PoE, power circuitry etc)
Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway daughter board
Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway IP67 case
Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+
Single 8 channel mPCIe LoRa Gateway (can choose frequency)
High gain glass fibre antenna (can choose frequency)
UFL / IPEX to N type bulkhead cable
Ethernet passthrough gland and general cable gland
Pole / wall mounting hardware
Optional extras
We will also have the following optional upgrades available, should you wish to have them but they will cost extra:
IP67 boards shipped
over 6 years ago
– Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 12:10:19 PM
Hi all,
Just to let you know that the IP67 mounting boards and cases have all shipped out today.
If you are in the UK you should receive by the end of this week. If overseas then it might take until after the holidays.
Send us pictures of your outdoor gateways once you get them set up! @PiSupply on Twitter.
Thanks,
The Pi Supply team
IP67 Mounting Board Shipping
over 6 years ago
– Thu, Dec 12, 2019 at 09:49:54 AM
Hey all,
Thanks for your patience waiting for the IP67 boards.
These are on their way to us as we speak with DHL. We expect to receive them next Monday / Tuesday with any luck and will ship them all out the same day they arrive.
We are making progress with the I2C GPS module as well as the cases and we should have those early in the new year - more updates as we have them!
Thanks,
The Pi Supply Team
Almost everything shipped, Pi 4 compatibility, getting started info, Smart LoRa Gateway, PiJuice Zero and a big thanks!
almost 7 years ago
– Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 02:01:22 PM
Hey all,
We have some pretty exciting news on various different things, so let's get right to it!
Shipping Update
We have now shipped all of the nodes and gateways out! You should expect to receive them by Monday if you are in the UK and within the next 1 to 4 weeks if you are anywhere else in the world (however some places can take up to 6 weeks). Please let us know if you have not received your pledge in the next 6 weeks and we will investigate further.
In the meantime - we would be extremely pleased if you could comment on this update or the main campaign comments section, or send us pictures on Twitter once you start to use and deploy your gateways and nodes! We really want to see where you are deploying them and what you are doing with them!
Remaining things that have not shipped yet:
Gateway and node cases - we are working with CamdenBoss on a design - more as we have it.
IP67 waterproof cases - these are nearly done in production and should be shipped to us soon.
IP67 HAT holder - early stages of production (sourcing) is underway.
I2C GPS Add On for nodes - we are having a few issues with the hardware. Working on this as we speak and will update you as we have more news.
Arduino power supplies - expecting stock soon.
PiJuice HAT - stock should be coming in the week after next.
Pi 4 Compatibility?
Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past week, we are guessing you have seen the announcement about the Raspbery Pi 4?
IoT LoRa Gateway HAT on top of Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
It is fair to say that the new Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is an absolute beast, and perhaps one of the most significant upgrades since the original Pi was released way back in 2012.
We are guessing that a lot of you are probably thinking - "I wonder which of my HATs and accessories will still work with the Raspberry Pi 4"? Well, we are pleased to say that our engineer Ryan has already been working very hard to bring Pi 4 compatibility to our LoRa boards and has upgraded the Gateway software to work with Raspberry Pi 4 and the new Raspbian Buster. The Pi 4 does run quite hot currently though, and we have not had extensive testing on it, so we still recommend the 3B or 3B+.
We are soon going to be testing the Node pHAT software but we do not expect any major issues, and if there is anything to update on the software we will make those changes as quickly as we can.
Thanks for your patience whilst we perform these upgrades - we did not have early access to the Pi 4 so we were not able to do this.
If you find any software bugs or issues, please report them to us in a GitHub issue.
RAK833 upgraded to RAK2247
As you will know from the campaign page and the packaging - we use the RAK833 8 channel LoRa Gateway Module in our Gateway HATs.
RAKwireless have recently upgraded the RAK833 to the RAK2247. It is pretty much identical in terms of hardware but it includes a purpose built pre-assembled onto the module, rather than having to manually add one like at the moment.
So going forward, all of the Gateway HATs will be using the RAK2247 instead of the RAK833. However we just wanted to reassure you that this module is functionally identical to the RAK833 so you are not losing out on anything from having the RAK833 on yours :-)
Getting Started Info
For those of you who have started receiving your nodes and gateways and looking for information, here are some useful links:
We have mentioned this before, but the Raspberry Pi, micro:bit and Arduino Nodes and Gateways were really just the first of many LoRa products we have been planning. They are us "dipping our toes into the water" and testing the concept and the market to see if what we are doing resonated with our customers, and with people who are using and working with LoRa and The Things Network etc.
It is clear now that we are doing something right at least - and moving in the right direction. And this has enabled us to put more resources and time behind building out this vision.
The next step of this is the Nebra Smart IoT LoRa Gateway (Nebra Ltd is our official company name, Pi Supply is the trading name - and going forward you will see our more "industrial" focused products flying under the Nebra banner!).
Quick prototype version with the Compute Module 3
Like with all good projects - the best way is to start small (preferably with off the shelf components that you already have) for the proof of concept! Above you can see the first proof of concept that Ryan threw together with the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 Dev Kit and our LoRa Gateway HAT. He used this to prove the concept, and crucially to develop the gateway software (which is actually already finished!).
Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway PCB Front
Nebra Smart LoRa Gateway PCB Rear
The next step is of course the PCB design, laying out the board in the format we needed it to fit in the cases. Above you can see a render of the first PCB designs which we have literally just sent of for manufacture. We should have them next week, and at that point we will assemble the first couple of prototypes for testing. They should hopefully be up and running by mid-July (we will share pictures of course!).
For the more eagle-eyed of you - you will see that we have got PoE, 16 channel capability, 3G/4G capability, WiFi / Bluetooth capability, GPS, and crucially a 40 pin Raspberry Pi HAT header - so you can add off the shelf upgrades such as the PiJuice HAT to act as a UPS, a sensor board, or any other HAT or add on that can work over the GPIO on a standard Raspberry Pi. The pinout is identical - it would be insane to have a Raspberry Pi inside and not have that possibility!
As you can see - the PCB will also proudly feature the "Powered by Raspberry Pi" logo :-)
Feature and price comparison chart
You can see in the above chart a quick and dirty comparison of the specifications for our LoRa Gateway with some other popular LoRa Gateways. As you can see, ours comes in significantly ahead of the competition for CPU, RAM and storage - but crucially at a lower price point.
From when we first dipped our toes into the field of LoRa, our ambition has been to make the most cost effective products we possibly could. Our pricing is not based on what others are selling things for but the best possible pricing we can offer. And we will stand by that pledge for this standalone gateway as well.
We are hoping that the base 8 channel PoE enabled gateway with IP67 enclosure will come in under £300 but we are in the early stages so can't confirm that just yet. We will provide more news on pricing as soon as we have finished the prototypes - so likely around the end of July or early August.
The additional add ons, such as the additional 8 channels, 3G/4G modules, WiFi and bluetooth modules will add extra cost - however the neat thing is you can add these as uprades at any time as they are totally modular and plug and play...you just open up the case, plug them in, and they are instantly supported in the software. It couldn't be easier.
Perhaps the best part is - they are totally upgradeable! New LoRa stack comes out? Just plug in a new module. Need more eMMC for your application? Pop in the 32GB Compute Module. It is literally that easy.
We also are planning to have both indoor and outdoor case versions, depending on your use case :-)
PiJuice Zero Launch!
Last but not least, and since a lot of you are certified Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, we thought you might be interested in our most recent product - the PiJuice Zero - which is a Raspberry Pi Zero version of our very popular PiJuice HAT!
The shipping costs for UK, EU, AU and Switzerland include pre-paid customs duties so what you see is what you will pay :-)
A huge thank you!
Last, but by no means least, we just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU for your support. Both financially as backers of this campaign, and for all your kind words, social media posts, your patience with our delays of a few months etc. We couldn't do what we do without our awesome customers and you surprise us every day with your use cases. Hearing your feedback and seeing your pictures is what keeps us going! We really appreciate it. Here is to many more sucessful Kickstarters together :-)
Thanks,
The Pi Supply Team
Shipment arriving tomorrow!
almost 7 years ago
– Wed, Jun 26, 2019 at 02:33:47 AM
Hey all,
Just a quick one to let you know that the Gateway / Node shipment is arriving tomorrow.
So if you are UK based you can expect the Gateways to arrive with you before the weekend.
For all other countries, shipping will likely take 1 to 4 weeks.
