CatWAN Arduino Shield

The Arduino LoRa Cat Shield is a long-range transceiver with LoRa shield technology for the Arduino and based on the lmic and RFM95 open source libraries. The Shield allows the user to send data and reach extremely long ranges with a small amount of data and low current consumption.

The LoRa shield features an RFM95 that is based on the SX1276 chip that targets professional wireless sensor network applications such as irrigation systems, smart metering, smart cities, smartphone detection, building automation, etc.

Using Semtech’s patented LoRa ™ modulation technique, the LoRa Cat Shield can achieve a sensitivity of over -148dBm. The high sensitivity combined with the integrated +20 dBm power amplifier generates an industry leading link budget making it optimal for any application requiring range or robustness. LoRa ™ also provides significant blocking and selectivity advantages over conventional modulation techniques, solving the traditional design compromise between range, interference immunity and power consumption.

These packet radios are simpler than WiFi or BLE, you don’t have to associate, pair, scan, or worry about connections. All you do is send data whenever you want, and any other module tuned to that same frequency (and, with the same encryption key) will receive. The receiver can send a response. Packing and error correction modules can automatically retransmit, you no longer have to worry about everything and less about the energy lost in maintaining a link or pairing.

This is the 900 MHz radio version, which can be used for 868MHz or 915MHz transmit / receive – the exact radio frequency is determined when the software is loaded as it can be dynamically adjusted. These are + 20dBm LoRa packet radios that have special radio modulation that is not RFM69 compliant but can go much further. They can easily go 2 km line of sight using single wire antennas, or up to 20Km with directional antennas and trim adjustments.

Each shield has a 3.3V voltage regulator and a level-shifter that can handle 3-5V power and logic so you can use it with 3V or 5V devices. You can cut and solder a small piece of wire to create your antenna. Optionally, you can choose an SMA connector and connect an external antenna.