RF Front Ends for LPWAN Base Stations

Low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) offer vast potential as a wireless connectivity option with long reach, wide coverage and low energy consumption. Paired with small battery-operated sensors, these narrow-band radio networks enable long-range communications for Massive IoT applications.

LPWANs demand a great deal from base stations that must be able to record a steady and faultless stream of data from sensors and subsequently process it in a useful form. Because the signal strengths of widely distributed sensors vary, base stations have to handle short- and long-range communication simultaneously. And they need plenty of bandwidth to ensure robust data communication even while receiving signals from many sensor nodes operating in parallel. Finally, their transmissions have to be powerful enough to make up for the limited reception sensitivity of sensor nodes in the return channel.

This is why the RF front end that serves as the interface between the antenna and processor is actually the heart of an LPWAN base station. Versatile, powerful and efficient, it provides a data processing platform for a wide range of IoT applications.

A perfect fit for your IoT base station

We can develop the right RF front end for your IoT base station. The flexible architecture of our RF front end enables us to offer both a preconfigured platform and custom solutions. Baseband data – that is, I/Q data – is provided via a standard PCIe interface or via USB 3.0 for your specific modem application. The RF front end may be configured via a graphical user interface (GUI) for test purposes and its data viewed on this GUI. We also have a full complement of laboratory and measuring equipment and rapid in-house prototyping capabilities.

Draw on the expertise and experience of a competent partner in everything from planning to implementation. We are at your side throughout the development process for your RF front end.