LoRa-E5 (STM32WLE5JC) Module, ARM Cortex-M4 and SX126x embedded, supports LoRaWAN on EU868 & US915

Features

• • Ultra-low Power Consumption: as low as 2.1uA sleep current (WOR mode)
  • Extremely Compacted Size: 12mm * 12mm * 2.5mm 28 pins SMT  
  • High Performance: TXOP=22dBm@868/915MHz; -136.5dBm sensitivity for SF12 with 125KHz BW
  • Long Distance Use: 158dB link budget
  • Wireless Connectivity: Embedded LoRaWAN® protocol, AT command, support global LoRaWAN® frequency plan
  • Worldwide Compatibility: wide frequency range; EU868/US915/AU915/AS923/KR920/IN865
  • Great Flexibility: For users who want to develop software on the MCU of the module, other GPIOs of the MCU can be easily manipulated, including UART, I2C, ADC, etc. These rich GPIO interfaces are useful for users who need to expand peripherals.
  • FCC and CE Certified

This LoRa E5 module is designed with industrial standards, hence it's highly suitable to be used in designing industrial IoT products, with a wide working temperature at -40℃ ~ 85℃.

LoRa-E5 is a low-cost, ultra-low power, extremely compact, and high-performance LoRaWAN Module designed by Seeed Technology Co., Ltd. It contains ST system-level package chip STM32WLE5JC, and STM32WLE5 is the first SoC integrated with the combo of LoRa RF and MCU chip. This module is also embedded with ARM Cortex M4 ultra-low-power MCU and LoRa SX126X and therefore supports (G)FSK mode and LoRa.

The previous versions of the LoRaWAN module all require additional use of MCU (Microcontroller) to run the application code. Now, you can directly and immediately put the LoRa-E5 STM32WLE5JC Module into use to complete this process without the hustle of additional accessories. With the Stamp Hole form factor, LoRa-E5 enables you to integrate this module on your device’s mainboard conveniently. You don’t need to waste time and effort on designing your own device from scratch with the use of MCU and LoRa chip. Moreover, the module has already been certificated, so your completed device can be certified and approved by any agency cheaply and rapidly. Thanks to the innovative design, LoRa-E5 has a comparatively lower cost than other LoRaWAN modules. This will greatly save your budget in the whole process of product design. 

LoRa-E5 LoRaWAN® module is highly suitable for long-distance, ultra-low-power applications such as smart agriculture, smart city, wireless meter reading, sensor networks, wireless communication, and other low-power wide-area IoT scenarios. If you want a module to design your own LoRaWAN sensor, to construct IoT nodes, or to support any wireless communication applications, LoRa-E5 is the premium choice that provides you with an optimal user experience.

If you are not quite familiar with LoRa and would like to learn more about it including what is LoRa? How does LoRa function? What are the pros and cons of LoRa? LoRa and LoRaWAN, LoRa network architecture, and applications of LoRa, etc.,  please check out this article LoRapedia, which introduces LoRa and LoRaWAN in detail. 

Applications

• Works for LoRaWAN sensor nodes and any wireless communication application.

Would like to learn more about the application scenarios of LoRa technologies? Please check out the following real-world use cases of Seeed  Industrial-grade LoRa devices - the SenseCAP LoRaWAN series. 

• Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge at Wageningen University in the Netherlands
• Smart Poultry Farming in Beijing, China
• Smart Musang King Durian Farming in Pahang, Malaysia
• Sustainable Agriculture | Global IoT Education Initiative in the US, Australia, & Congo, etc. 
• Smart High-Mountain Tea Plantation in Sichuan, China 
• Smart Sweet Melon Greenhouse and Weather Station in Guangxi, China
• Environmental Monitoring in Stockholm, Sweden 
• Data-driven Tourism in Guangdong, China
• Smart Greenhouse Growing Tropical Fruits in the North, in Shandong, China
• Smart Outdoor Triticale Farm in Hebei, China

Since SenseCAP LoRaWAN series products are targeting environmental-monitoring, especially in outdoor scenarios, such as smart agriculture, smart city, etc., the above use cases are mainly in these fields. There are many fields to explore scenarios such as smart metering for water, electricity, & gas; and smart homes, and other applications that need low-power, long-range remote monitoring. After designing your own LoRa devices with this LoRa-E5 module, you can get your designs verified quickly with Seeed Fusion PCB and PCBA services, which can help turn your designs into prototypes in a few days. And when the design is verified, Seeed agile manufacturing services will help you scale up the prototypes into mass production, with services from Design for Manufacturing, procuring raw materials, to mass production and global shipment, and many services in between. Contact us at iot[at]seeed[dot]cc should you have any questions or need further info. 

Application Note

For more detailed information about how to use LoRa-E5, please visit LoRa-E5 (STM32WLE5JC) Module Wiki.

1. Factory AT Firmware

LoRa-E5 series has a built-in AT command firmware, which supports LoRaWAN Class A/B/C protocol and a wide frequency plan: EU868/US915/AU915/AS923/KR920/IN865. With this AT command firmware, developers can easily and quickly build their prototype or application.

The AT command firmware contains a bootloader for DFU and the AT application. The "PB13/SPI_SCK/BOOT" pin is used to control LoRa-E5 to stay in the bootloader or jump to the AT application. When PB13 is HIGH, the module will jump to AT application after reset, with a default baud rate of 9600. When PB13 is LOW (press the "Boot" button on LoRa-E5 Dev Board or LoRa-E5 mini), the module will stay in the bootloader, and keep transmitting "C" character every 1S at baud rate 115200.

Attention

1. Factory AT Firmware is programmed with RDP(Read Protection) Level 1, developers need to remove RDP first with STM32Cube Programmer. Note that regression RDP to level 0 will cause a flash memory mass to erase and the Factory AT Firmware can't be restored again.

2. The "PB13/SPI_SCK/BOOT" pin on the LoRa-E5 module is just a normal GPIO, not the "BOOT0" pin of the MCU. This "PB13/SPI_SCK/BOOT" pin is used in the bootloader of the Factory AT firmware, to decide to jump to APP or stay in bootloader(for DFU). The real "BOOT0" pin doesn't pinout to the module, so developers need to be careful when developing low-power applications.

2. Clock Configuration

    2.1 HSE

• 32MHz TCXO

• TCXO power supply: PB0-VDD_TCXO

    2.2 LSE

• 32.768KHz crystal oscillator

3. RF Switch

LoRa-E5 module ONLY transmits through RFO_HP:

• Receive: PA4=1, PB5=0

• Transmit(high output power, SMPS mode): PA4=0, PB5=1

Specifications

ECCN/HTS

LEARN AND DOCUMENTS

Documentations

Datasheet: 

LoRa-E5 datasheet and specifications

LoRa-E5 AT Command Specification

STM32WLE5JC Datasheet

Certifications:

LoRa-E5-HF Certification CE-VOC-RED

LoRa-E5-HF FCC Certification -DSS

LoRa-E5-HF FCC Certification -DTS

Library: 

LoRa-E5 kicad library

LoRa-E5 HF 3D File

LoRa-E5 Eagle Library

Relevant SDK: 

STM32Cube MCU Package for STM32WL series

Learn

[Documentation] 【LoRa-E5 SDK】STM32Cube MCU Package for STM32WL series

HAL, Low-Layer APIs and CMSIS, File system, RTOS, KMS, Secure Engine, Sub-GHz Phy, LoRaWAN and Sigfox stacks - and examples running on ST boards

[Wiki] LoRa-E5 (STM32WLE5JC) Module Wiki

This is LoRa-E5 Module's wiki page, where you can find detailed info about the product, including its specifications, datasheet, how to use the product, etc.