Digi and SparkFun collaborate on LoRaWan development
- January 15, 2025
- Steve Rogerson
- Digi

Digi is collaborating with Colorado-based SparkFun Electronics to simplify LoRaWan IoT deployment.
SparkFun specialises in open-source embedded electronics and Digi is a provider of complete end-to-end IoT connectivity products and services.
Together, they have launched a development board, the SparkFun IoT Node for LoRaWas, as well as two kits, one each for North America and Europe, the SparkFun Digi X-On Kit for LoRaWan.
Aimed at accelerating end-node creation, these products are designed to simplify the use of IoT devices via a LoRaWan for developers and professionals, and are suitable for applications that require reliable communication in difficult environments.
“SparkFun is the right company to bring the Digi X-On to market with us,” said Bob Blumenscheid, senior product marketing manager at Digi. “Customers can use the kit to see a real proof-of-concept up and running in minutes and use SparkFun Qwiic sensors to create a secure and scalable Digi X-On option for their exact IoT application and use case.”
The kits help users quickly collect and send sensor data over a LoRaWan. They include an HX15 gateway from Digi, the SparkFun IoT Node for LoRaWan, and SparkFun’s dual-action ENS160 and BME280 (Qwiic) environmental combo board. The kits also include a free 30-day subscription to the X-On device management platform and free cellular connectivity, and are available in two versions, one for North America (www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-iot-node-lorawan-gateway-kit-north-america.html) and one for Europe (www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-iot-node-lorawan-gateway-kit-europe.html). The two kits are priced at just under $400, bringing the total price to less than what customers could typically expect to pay for the gateway alone.
At the heart of the kit is the SparkFun IoT Node board. Features of the development board include:
- Digi XBee LR module for LoRaWan, which uses LoRa modulation for non-line-of-sight (NLoS) two-way communications for long-range and high-noise RF environments and comes pre-activated on the X-On cloud platform.
- Plug-and-play functionality: Preinstalled firmware automatically connects to X-On, detects an attached sensor, and publishes data to the X-On cloud. For the kits, the installed firmware connects and posts data from the HX15 gateway for LoRaWan to X-On.
- A Qwiic connector enables quick, solderless integration with SparkFun’s range of Qwiic-enabled sensors and products for rapid prototyping and developing proofs-of-concept.
- An RP2350 microprocessor from Raspberry Pi supports many development environments, including Arduino, Micropython and the Raspberry Pi pico SDK, and comes with 16Mbyte of flash and 8Mbyte of PSRAM.
SparkFun and Digi have worked together to make these products as affordable as possible and to enable widespread adoption, offering an introductory pricing model for the IoT Node for LoRaWan at $50 for the first 250 units, which will increase to $100 soon.
“Digi is the obvious partner to help us simplify the set up of LoRaWan IoT devices,” said SparkFun CTO Kirk Benell. “Pairing the Digi X-On and gateway with SparkFun’s development board expertise, sensor ecosystem and unique prototyping software delivers agile, time saving for deployment of LoRaWan IoT devices. With this, developers can deploy an operational LoRaWan-based sensor in minutes and then leverage this operational base to achieve their LoRaWan goals.”
More information about the SparkFun IoT Node for LoRaWan can be found at www.sparkfun.com/products/26060.
The Digi X-On is an edge-to-cloud IoT product that provides the components needed for IoT systems from one supplier. Designed to remove the barriers of integrating, deploying and scaling industrial IoT systems, X-On integrates hardware, software and cloud connectivity into one secure, and reliable platform that delivers measurable business value, supporting many different applications and use cases such as connected cities, smart utilities, industrial IoT and smart agriculture.
“With customers deploying Digi X-On in a range of use cases, we are seeing excellent results, such as greater visibility into the health of large livestock herds, automation in buildings and digital transformation in supply chain use cases, as well as improved return on investment,” said Mike Rohrmoser, vice president at Digi.
For example, a lead customer, Fever Tags (www.digi.com/resources/videos/digitizing-animal-health-using-lorawan), empowers ranchers, feedlots and dairies to take a proactive and innovative approach to animal health, enabling early detection of illness, and allowing for timely intervention to reduce extensive antibiotic treatments, prevent death loss and disease spread. This not only improves animal welfare but also contributes to the animal’s continued weight gain and a more sustainable and responsible approach to livestock management.
The X-On platform communicates several kilometres omnidirectionally, so the tags can cover a 250,000-head feed yard, or a 40,000-acre ranch or a dairy, as structures and buildings do not impede the communication signal.
“Digi’s WDS custom engineering services designed and manufactured the custom tag for monitoring animal health around the Digi XBee LR for LoRaWan,” said Rohrmoser. “The XBee module allows the sensor to be pre-activated, so tagging a cow and activating the tag on a rugged tablet takes just seconds as a cow enters the feedlot, a key benefit of Digi X-On’s scan-and-go provisioning.”
Deploying IoT networks requires a diverse set of components and systems, from sensors and gateways to connectivity, software and cloud platforms. As industrial IoT adoption accelerates, organisations deploying LoRaWans struggle with fragmented technology ecosystems, which leads to higher costs, integration complexity, and disjointed support that slows down their digital transformation.
“Digi X-On changes industrial IoT from a complex multi-vendor puzzle into a single, seamless solution that drives real business results,” said Rohrmoser. “Customers can now focus on achieving their business goals instead of wrestling with the complexities of technology integration, scaling from concept to production with remarkable simplicity, speed and scalability.”