Insight SiP, a fabless RF system-in-package (SiP) company, has announced the availability of their ISP4520, a Smart Combo module with dual integrated antennas, in separate variants for Europe, USA, and Japan. This ultra-miniature RF module supports LoRa, BLE, and NFC capabilities to meet the specific frequency band ranges and dBm ratings.
The ISP4520, with its LoRa technology, is a low cost, wide-area networking solution for IoT applications. Its internal antenna typically provides an open field range of 15 km (9.32 miles). This is ideal for use cases requiring a limited data rate and a long-term battery-powered operation. LoRa can operate via public networks and in a private network scenario, giving it unparalleled flexibility for this type of solution.
Both the LoRA and BLE antennas are integrated into an ultra-small device measuring just 9.8 x 17.2 x 1.7 mm, making it the smallest device on the market. The BLE connection with its flexible throughput capability can be used to carry out configuration, commissioning and updating of firmware and software via smartphone or table-based apps.
The differences between the three variants include the semiconductors for the LoRA radio function, namely the Semtech SX1261 (for EU and JP versions) or SX1262 (for US version). Both semiconductors offer the best in class low power consumption, coupled with an array of power-saving features, allowing for multi-year coin-cell operation. The frequency bands and dBm ratings under which the ISP4520 module operates have been adjusted to 863-870 MHz and 14 dBm for the Europe Variant, 902-928 MHz and 22 dBm for the USA Variant and 920-923 MHz and 14 dBm for the Japan Variant.
The hardware at the core of the ISP4520 remains the same across all three versions. The module incorporates chips from the leading semiconductor vendors for each technology – Nordic Semiconductor for BLE and Semtech for LoRa. Processing power is provided by the Nordic nRF52’s onboard M4 floating point processor, with 512K of flash memory available for advanced applications. A full set of interfaces is integrated into the device for analog or digital peripherals including 23 GPIOs and an SPI interface. Thanks to pin to pin compatibility, the three variants are compatible with one another.
The three variants of the ISP4520 are available for the customers who are integrating them into new IoT devices which require Long-Range Networking, with great success. Feedback from the market for this ground-breaking LoRa-enabled RF module has been extremely positive.
