The RAK WisBlock Core (RAK4631) LPWAN Module is a beast in a tiny package. No other way to describe it. When I purchased my Helium Developers Kit I thought it was just an Arduino on steroids. I’ll dig deeper into the specifications here with you and show you why my first impression was so very wrong!
Nordic nRF52840 MCU
The heart of the RAK4631 is the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 MCU and the “heart of the heart” is controlled by a 32-bit ARM® Cortex-M4F CPU with a FPU which implements the Armv7-M instruction set. The nRF52840 is a very versatile MCU suited to a myriad of applications such as health and fitness devices, remote and gaming controllers, keyboard and mouse peripherals, and what we are most interested in here, IoT devices.
This powerful micro controller unit (MCU) has the Cortex-M4F CPU running at 64MHZ, includes 256 KB of RAM and a full 1MB of flash storage.
I found myself awed to learn that this MCU configuration includes:
- ARM® TrustZone® Cryptocell 310 security subsystem
- NIST compliant random number generators
- AES Engine
- SHA-1, SHA-2 up to 256 bits
- (seriously?? in an MCU? I’m blown away! While no, it can’t complete with an ASIC Bitcoin miner, part of me want to see how many hashes SHA-256 this tiny powerhouse can produce.)
- Internal temperature sensor
Wireless Communication
The Bluetooth 5.0 specification paired with the Semtech SX1262 LoRaWan® transceiver offer to support a great variety of use cases.
The SX1262 is a half-duplex transceiver capable of transmitting up to +22dB along a frequency spectrum of 150 – 960 MHZ. The exact spectrum will depend on which model is applicable to your specific region. For example 915 MHZ for the United States or 868 MHZ in Europe.
Amazing power efficiency, as documented in the RAK4631 datasheet, shows a maximum power consumption of 125mA while using the Tx mode LoRa @20 dBm and as low as 2.0 uA while in sleep mode.
The device is also capable of NFC communication but this is disabled by default to help conserve on power consumption. NFC is accessible using optional WisBlock IO module.
Connecting to the real world
If those specifications weren’t awesome enough lets review what is included to access the real world:
- USB 2.0
- I2C
- SPI (when using the WisBlock IO module)
- Analog Inputs
- Digital Inputs and Outputs
- Serial UART
Summary
What do you think? Are you impressed as I am?
The RAK4631 is not much bigger than the nail on your thumb and with Nordic nRF52840 MCU it packs a punch that takes your breath away!
Questions? Comments? You know where to post them.