1. Background of the smart home industry

In 2020, China's smart home has entered the AIoT empowerment period, which will comprehensively innovate the form of smart home products. From the perspective of market size, the smart home market will reach about 153 billion yuan in 2019, and will reach 182 billion yuan in 2020. From the perspective of device shipments, China's smart home market shipments reached 208 million units in 2019 and are expected to reach 215 million units in 2020. From the perspective of user geographical distribution, the distribution ratio of smart home users in first-tier cities is 29.3%, and the second-tier cities and new first-tier cities are 23.4% and 19.8% respectively. 48% of end users tend to use smart panels, and 25% and 23% tend to use language control and mobile APP control, respectively.

In the future, with the continuous development of Internet of Things technology and the accelerated commercialization of 5G technology, smart homes will continue to enter thousands of households and become the trend of future smart home development.

In a sense, LoRa has realized people's desire for horses to run but not to eat grass. LoRa has the characteristics of low power consumption and long distance, and realizes the unity of the two contradictions of low power consumption and long distance. very powerful. Market applications for LoRa have also expanded from industry-class low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) to smart home, community, and consumer applications, providing low power consumption and wide coverage for Internet of Things (IoT) devices in indoor and adjacent areas to connect Sensors and actuators for security, environmental monitoring, and convenience applications.

2. Working principle of LoRa smart home

So how to use the E220 series products? Let's take a look:

Assuming the usage scenario is a smart home, home appliances such as living room lights, kitchen lights, bedroom A lights, bedroom B lights, water heaters, bedroom A air conditioners, bedroom B air conditioners, and balcony curtains are connected to the E220 series modules. And the data is sent to the lora gateway, the LORA gateway uploads the data to the server through protocol conversion, and the server displays the status on the mobile APP after processing; the APP can view and control all home appliances, and can also set flexible automation, such as setting the curtain switch time, or through the value of the light sensor for linkage, etc.; after the APP is set, the server sends the command to the LORA gateway, and then sends it to the corresponding E220 module after protocol conversion. Appliances work as instructed and give feedback.

Of course, here is just an example. The low power consumption performance of lora itself can be well applied to the environment of smart home, and it can also be applied to many industries such as smart agriculture, smart community, and smart security at a long distance.

3. Advantages of LoRa in smart home solutions

LoRa smart home adopts a point-to-point star communication method, which is a communication technology used to connect smart home devices and collect, organize and feedback data. It can be found in smart switches, infrared, temperature and humidity sensors and other devices.

-Compared with wifi and bluetooth, its power consumption is much less

-Communication distance is longer

-No need for network repeater transmission distance

-Smart accessories can directly interconnect with the smart central control host, and do not need a large number of nodes in the middle to convey

-Compared with other communication technologies, LoRa technology is more suitable for low-cost large-scale IoT deployment

4. Related products

Semtech recently released a chip solution called LLCC68. The biggest feature of this solution is that it lowers the threshold for using lora without sacrificing the characteristics of LoRa. As an old-fashioned lora module manufacturer in China, Ebyte will naturally not miss it. It has carried out intensive research and development since the release, and launched the E220 series products based on the LLCC68 chip solution at the first time. This series of products includes M-type (without firmware) and T-type (with firmware) products; it is divided into two frequency bands: 400 frequency band (410.125~493.125) and 900 frequency band (850.125~930.125), and also divided into two types of packages: patch and pin, to meet the different needs of different customers .

E220 series product features

-Super cost-effective: E220 series products lower the threshold for using LoRa without sacrificing LoRa features, and are cost-effective in terms of cost.

-Low power consumption: E220 series has ultra-low power consumption, not only has WOR mode, but also sleep current as low as 2uA;

-Long distance and strong performance: E220 series has long transmission distance, 22dBm communication distance up to 5KM; 30dBm communication distance up to 10KM;

-The measured distance can reach 5500m;

-The maximum transmit power is 160mW, and the software is multi-level adjustable;

-Support global license-free ISM 868/915MHz frequency band;

-Support data transmission rate of 1.76kbps~62.5kbps in LoRa mode;

-Support data transfer rate up to 300kbps in FSK mode;

-Large FIFO capacity, support 256Byte data buffer;

-Support spreading factors SF5, SF6, SF7, SF8, SF9, SF10, SF11;

-Support 1.8V~3.7V power supply, more than 3.3V power supply can ensure the best performance;

-Industrial-grade standard design, support -40 ~ 85°C long-term use;

-Optional dual RF interface (IPEX/stamp hole) is convenient for secondary development and integration.