Semtech has announced the availability of their new EV8600 dual modem (PLC+RF System-on-Chip) with integrated LoRa wireless RF technology. This is the first fully integrated PLC and LoRa modem for smart grid, smart metering and IoT applications. It can help reduce network operational costs of Advance Metering Infrastructures (AMI) by up to 50 percent. This modem also enables a seamless LoRa gateway network deployment for smart city and industrial automation.
By offering both a Power Line Communications (PLC) modem operating at 10-500 KHZ and a Radio Frequency (RF) modem operating in the range of 142 to 1050 MHz, this modem enables virtually 100 percent connectivity coverage with a single chip. It also offers a LoRa fallback mode in the event of a complete network outage caused by a natural disaster or other unforeseen events.
The integration of Semtech LoRa technology in the EV8600 enables critical access for network operators and provides further reliability in network operations. It helps eliminate the ‘1 percent Problem’ in AMI networks, where the cost of reaching the 1 percent Hard-to-Reach Nodes can account for as much as 50 percent of the entire AMI network operational cost.
To simplify the design effort, this modem performs all bridging/routing algorithms between the two internal modems and has embedded dual image flash memory. This implementation of LoRa features into EV8600 is accompanied by the addition of Wireless M-BUS protocol for sub-metering applications.
