Semtech helps users evaluate LoRa Edge for asset tracking

  • June 28, 2022
  • Steve Rogerson
Karthik Ranjan.

At last week’s Embedded World in Nuremberg, California-based Semtech launched a cloud service to demonstrate the asset tracking capabilities of LoRa Edge.

The LoRa Cloud Locator service lets users evaluate LoRa Edge, a chip-to-cloud, low-power geolocation platform. It uses Semtech’s LoRa Cloud modem and geolocation services to give users the opportunity to experience the power of devices powered by LoRa Edge and evaluate the accuracy and power consumption capabilities of the LoRa Edge platform for indoor and outdoor asset tracking.

LoRa Cloud Locator has built-in serverless technology and delivers a simple end-to-end experience for users to evaluate LoRa Edge implemented in various ecosystem trackers, either on a private or public LoRaWan.

“The service is free,” said Karthik Ranjan, LoRa cloud partnerships leader at Semtech. “We do it as an evaluation service. Customers can get the information to build their own networks. If you want to try LoRa Edge now, we have lowered the bar. People can go away and try it for a month or so.”

LoRa Cloud Locator is designed to work with trackers using Semtech’s LoRa Edge LR-series chips with little effort. Once configured on the service, together with Semtech’s LoRa wireless radio frequency technology for transmission to the cloud, users can view the tracker location on the map in typically in less than 15 minutes.”

“Asset tracking is not new,” said Ranjan. “It has been around for a long time. That has come from the mobile phone to IoT devices. With LoRa Edge, we have looked at how to solve the battery life problem.”

Asset tracking, he said, was one of the most common use cases across industry verticals.

“Whether it’s tracking wheelchairs in a hospital, shopping carts in retail, pallets in supply chain, cattle in agriculture, or pets around a home, asset tracking can be found everywhere,” said Ranjan. “Semtech’s LoRa Cloud Locator is the fastest way for customers to easily see for themselves the benefits offered by purchasing trackers with LoRa Edge, provisioning them onto the application and seeing their location on the map.”

Maximiliano Ruiz, CEO of Galileo RTLS, added: “Semtech’s LoRa Cloud Locator is the most efficient and fast way to evaluate the LoRa Edge platform as it can measure the performance of the technology and differentiate when a device is tracked by GNSS or wifi. With the wifi location feature, we can now receive GNSS signals without paying for the prohibitive power consumption of traditional GNSS technologies. Through leveraging LoRa Edge, locating assets around the world is much simpler with the unprecedented years of battery life.”

And Tim Guiterman, CEO at InfiSense, said: “Upon testing LoRa Cloud Locator first hand, the service itself was very straightforward; quick and easy to set up, enabling us to efficiently test the accuracy and responsiveness of the service in a variety of environments. The results of our tests further confirmed the broad portfolio of use cases that will directly benefit from the precision geolocation and ultra-low power capabilities of the LoRa Edge platform. We believe that this high-resolution tracking combined with very long battery life is a game changer for our cold-chain monitoring and supply chain projects.”

Users can purchase a LoRa Edge-enabled tracker, create a LoRa Cloud Locator account and discover how LoRa Edge unlocks use cases across the entire global supply chain. There is a selection of compatible trackers from Semtech, Browan, Digital Matter and Miromico. Orders run through CalChip Connect and Indesmatech, two LoRaWan hardware distributors based in, respectively, North America and Europe. After purchasing a tracker, users can log in to the application, register their tracker and view its location on a map using a browser on either their desktop or mobile device.

“Customers want to see the dot on the map,” said Ranjan.