[Device Overview] Seeed Studio's Wio-E5 LoRa Development Boards

hi in this video we will see detailed review of these two amazing Laura development kits we o E5 development board and weo E5 mini which are manufactured by Seed Studio we will see their features specifications data sheets AT commands configuration guide and we will also see demo of Serial configuration of these boards via AT commands so let's get started [Music] hello all welcome to make to explore Channel first of all thank you to all our subscribers viewers and supporters in this video we are going to see and review these two new devices Lora development kits those are weo E5 Dev board and its compact version We o E5 mini both boards are suitable for rapid prototyping and building small size prototypes of loravan wireless iot devices with a long distance communication range these boards are manufactured by Seed Studio we will know more about sedan later part of this video so without any delays let's get started before starting actual device review let's first see some brief introduction to Laura technology what does actually mean by Laura so Laura is a wireless communication technology that offers long range low power and secure data transmission for machine to machine and iot applications it is same as other Wireless Technologies which we used in our day-to-day life like Wi-Fi Bluetooth zigbee Etc but there is a difference in their range of coverage let's see this diagram so here are few commonly used Wireless Technologies like Bluetooth which ranges up to 30 feets Wi-Fi ranges up to 200 feets zigbee ranges up to 1000 feets and Laura can be ranges up to 10 kilometers so in technical terms Laura which means long range is a physical proprietary radio modulation technique it is based on spread Spectrum modulation techniques derived from chirp spread Spectrum CSS technology which has low power characteristics like FSK modulation but can be used for long-range Communications it was developed by company named cyclo based in Grenoble France and later acquired by septic the founding member of the Laurel Alliance septic means septic Corporation is a supplier company of analog and mixed signal semiconductors since Laura is used for wireless communication there will be communication between different Lora nodes So eventually another very important concept comes into picture the networking network of Laura is called loravan means low power long-range white area network Laura van defines the software communication protocol in system architecture these are nothing but standard set of rules with which we should communicate using Laura technology so who manages this protocol the lore Alliance lore Alliance is an open non-profit Association of companies with over 500 members who supports manages and promote the global adoption of the loravan this Alliance is dedicated to promoting the interoperability and standardization of lauravan okay these all are basic introduction about Laura and Laura van if you want to know more about Laura technology you can also check out our previous videos about Laura where we have explicated in-depth and thorough information about Laura Laura van difference between them related protocols networking stack operating frequencies and applications of Laura Etc all have been explained in detail you can click here on a button or links are also shared in description of this video so we are going to test these two Lora development kits you may have noticed that both of these kits consist of the same chip which is weo E5 stm32 wle 5jc module weo E5 is a low-cost ultra low power extremely Compact and high performance Laura van module designed by company named Seed Studio let's know more about them Seed Studio is a Shenzhen china-based electronics and semiconductor manufacturing company which mainly Works in Wireless Communications and iot domains let's go to their website here is the one so Seed Studio is the iot hardware enabler offering a wide array of Hardware platforms and sensor modules ready to be integrated with existing iot platforms paired with Partners from Silicon to the cloud seed empowers iot developers to realize their products you can see they have wide range of products categories depending on Technologies modules Fusion Services devices and solutions along with different MCU boards and single board computers they also have their Flagship products like sense cap rear things Grove series Tinker gen Etc seed also provide odm and OEM Services Electronics Manufacturing Services Fusion custom PCB assembly Services structural parts CNC and 3D printing services beside all of this Seed Studio also hosts huge ecosystem with open source Community Technology forums project hubs makerspaces and many more although this video is not sponsored Seed Studio generously sent us their two products we o E5 mini in weo E5 Laura development board for reviewing and testing so thanks a lot to them [Music] [Music] okay now we will see all the technical details of these boards we will see how to get started with them and we'll also create one iot based application project using these amazing kits after that we will also perform long distance communication range test of that prototype application okay let's move forward and see the features of these weo E5 kits on their Wiki Pages created by Seed Studio foreign Studio have extensive and thorough documentation portal means Wiki Encyclopedia for each of their devices and platforms which is very impressive and also very helpful for Developers let's go to weo E5 series Lora devices and modules here are the wiki links for devices which we are going to see you can go through these for more info let me guide you through in brief okay so here is we o E5 stm32wle 5jc module the main core of weo E5 mini and wio E5 development kit weo E5 is a low-cost ultra low power extremely Compact and high performance Laura van module designed by seed technology it's a compact chip you can see its form factor as compared to this coin it contains st's system level package chip stm32wle 5jc which is the world first SOC integrated with the combo of Laura RF and MCU chip means this module is nothing but a Soc system on chip which having two main cores inside those are arm cortex M4 MCU and septics sx126 series lorechip it supports FSK mode and Laura with these frequency range bandwidths it can be used in Laura mode for eu868 and us-915 standard therefore we can use it for Designing of various iot nodes you can know more about this module on its wiki page like its comparison with rf95 module various features typical applications Factory at firmer configurations clock configuration Hardware pin out electrical specifications data sheet and documents with thorough quick start guide about connecting this module to the things network via AT commands then next thing about how to program this module with custom firmware using stm32 Cube programmer all this information is given with details on this wiki page okay so it was all about this weo E5 module now let's explore two development kits build around this amazing Lora module these two wio E5 development kit and wio E5 mini let's see about them in detail first is weo E5 development kit as they says here weo E5 Dev board embedded with weo E5 stm32wle 5jc module that supports Laura van protocol on global frequency band it lets out full gpios of weo E5 supporting various data protocols and interfaces including rs-485 Grove male female headers Etc it would be a perfect choice for fast testing in rapid prototyping of your Laura iot projects you can see here it has Rich interfaces developed to unlock the full functionality of the wio E5 module it has let out full 28 pins of we o E5 and provides with Rich interfaces including Grove connectors rs-485 terminal male female pin headers for you to connect sensors and modules with different connectors and data protocols saving your time on wire soldering you can also easily power the board by connecting the battery holder with two AA batteries enabling temporary use when lacking an external power source dev kit comes with these components SMA antenna battery holder and type c USB cable let's see the unboxing okay so here is the pin out of E5 development kit you will find all this on Wiki page then next here are the important features of this board like ultra low power consumption supports Global Laura van frequencies and it has long distance transmission range up to 10 kilometers an ideal open area let's see these features on Wiki page we o E5 dev kit has a rigorously documented and informative wiki page consist of information about its features Hardware overview specifications typical applications information about Factory at firmer clock configuration instructions for getting started quick start guide of AT commands instructions for how to connect and send data to the things Network and how to build your own custom application with stm32 Cube MCU package for stm32wl series SDK here on Wiki page in specifications you can see the power output is up to 20.8 dbm in next video we will check its transmission range this board requires three to five volts supply please note that output voltage range is 3.3 volts or 5 volts depend on interface then here it supports all these Lora bands or frequencies and all these modulation schemes all this information you can go through it for more detailed knowledge links will be shared in the description so how we can use this Dev board for these applications first we have to configure it using AT commands we will see this in a minute but before that let's see another board sent by seed which is miniature version of this development board this is weo E5 mini weo E5 mini is a compact size development board suitable for the rapid testing and building of small size prototyping design of your ideal loravan wireless iot device with a long distance transmission range like weo E5 development kit this board also embedded with weo E5 stm32wle 5jc module that supports Laura van protocol on global frequency band it lets out full gpios of weo E5 this board would be a perfect choice for fast testing and rapid prototyping of your Lora iot projects this board comes with all these components [Applause] foreign here you can see Hardware specification of this board this board has cp2102 Chip which is USB to uart bridge controller useful for serial communication with this board using AT commands there are two types of antenna connectors on wio E5 mini ipex mhf and SMA this is Laura E5 chip whose full pins are let out on these headers this is power supply connector header where you can provide Power of 3.3 volts to 5 volts here is the pin out configuration of weo E5 mini board you can also know more about this module on its wiki page similar to weo E5 dev kit weohe 5 mini also has very informative wiki page consist of information about its features Hardware overview specifications typical applications information about Factory at firmer clock configuration instructions for getting started quick start guide of AT commands instructions for how to connect and send data to the things Network and how to build your own custom application with stm32 Cube MCU package for stm32wl series SDK you can go through it for more detailed info links will be shared in the description okay now let's see how we can configure and program these boards since weo E5 is a Laura van chip with an MCU there are three main ways to utilize the wio E5 Dev board first is connecting wio E5 Dev boards to pcva USB and control by at commands there is a built-in USB to you art function on board you can just simply connect the wio E5 Dev boards to your PC with a USB type-c cable and use serial communication software to send at commands and read data from the boards then second method is connecting weo E5 Dev boards to another main board via uard and control by at commands for example connect we o E5 Dev boards to Arduino Uno vauart and send at commands and read data from Arduino Uno through Arduino IDE serial monitor and the third method is bare metal programming means developing user application by using SDK you can build your own custom application with stm32 Cube MCU package for stm32wl series SDK by using stm32 Cube programmer which is the SDK officially provided by St microelectronics to download this SDK resource go to wiki page of weo E5 module [Music] please note that this process will erase Factory at command firmware permanently okay now let's see how to configure these modules using AT commands as there is very weak network coverage of the things Network helium Network and other Laura van service providers in our office area [Music] you can see these coverage maps of Laura iot gateways and networks [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so we decided we will go for point-to-point communication between two Lora nodes means between two wheel E5 Laura development boards we're also going to design one DIY project using same P2P method but before that let cat commands documentation given by Seed Studio okay now let's take overview of at command specification guide you will get this PDF document on Wiki page of weo E5 module we will share its download link on GitHub as well as in video description so let's see as we said earlier weo E5 is a lore SOC which comes with groov E5 module weo E5 mini and we o E5 dev kit have Factory or default firmware which is at commands firmware we have already discussed that we o E5 SOC is embedded with two chips one is stm32 arm cortex M4 and other is sentix sx126x Laura MCU so this document is intended to describe a command interface implementation of Laura van class ABC protocol so these all features like supported bands modem Mac commands maximum 96 channels maximum 255 bytes RF frame and so on you can go through them for more info let's move forward as you can see this is a vast document the best way to explore and understand is I will walk you through the important parts so down here you will find the conventions symbols and formats of AT commands like for example conventions like command is case insensitive all commands have response command length should never exceeds total 528 characters and default uart configuration Etc then symbols if you want to query or set the value for command then here are the error codes to identify the syntax or errors in commands and Communications then down here you will get all the information about different band formats frequency and channel configurations then going further here are the detailed explanations for each command for example commands like at version ID Etc you can go more deeper if you want but first let's see all these with an example which we are going to use in our DIY projects coding for that let's go down in test commands section let me show you this one as they said here test command is not like other command it is a serious command which includes several sub commands these are sub-commands like this rfcfg means said RF configuration in test mode let's see this with example they have given here so this is the command and here is its format here they have listed each parameter like frequency spread Factor bandwidth transmit and receive Preamble power CRC error checking and public Laura van status then down here they have also given example of how to transmit Laura packet in test mode so first you have to set the mode as the test mode then set the RF configuration then you can transmit data in the form of packet or hex string using these two commands txlr pkt and txlrstr these are the return responses for these two commands so this was all about transmitting Laura packets now let's see the commands for Laura packet's reception hence at receiver you have to enter these given commands to configure we oe5 Laura boards as a receiver command sequence to receive Laura packets first three are same as of previous but this is the command which configures we o E5 to enter into continuous reception mode and this is the response of receiver when it receives a Lora packet it consists of RSS isnr data length and data information also so here very important please note that Laura E5 can receive the messages only in HEX format whereas it can transmit in both hex as well as in string format so as we said earlier in our DIY project we will use these two command sequences since we are going to use we OE 5 mini and we o E5 dev kit in P2P means point-to-point Lora communication mode all right so this was all about at command specifications and configuration of lore E5 module you can know more about other Laura van modes and commands in this document now let's go back to our presentation NC demo of these at command sequences let's see how to configure and communicate using AT commands here are the two lore A5 Dev boards we o E5 mini and wio E5 dev kit let's connect them to laptop using their type c USB cables you can see when you connect them to the computer in the device manager they will get listed as serial devices here you have to note the com port numbers for the connected Laura boards we will be using Arduino ide's serial monitor to communicate so here we have opened two instances of Arduino IDE then select com ports which we have noted earlier in device manager window after that open serial monitors to enter the AT commands here don't forget to select board rate as 9600 and these CR and NL settings as shown here [Applause] [Music] okay now let's enter the sequence of commands which we have seen in at commands specification guide here on the left hand side is the Laura transmitter we will use this we oe5 Dev board as a transmitter and on the right hand side is the we o E5 mini will be acting as a Laura receiver now let's enter the given commands one by one for each device pay attention what responses we are getting for each of the command [Music] [Music] thank you okay now configuration is complete let's send the Laura packet from sender [Music] first we will use txlr pkt command and the result is you can see we received that data in HEX format on the receiver's side foreign [Music] if we send data with the txlr Str command means data in string format it is also getting received in HEX format [Music] here please note that you have to set the Laura frequency or band as per your country and region as we are testing it in India we have set it as standard in868 band likewise you have to set it as per your country's Laura standard allocated by Laura Alliance all right so this was all about theory of we o E5 Dev boards in next part we will build one point to point Lora application using these Laura Dev boards and then test its long-distance transmission range [Music] okay so in this way we have seen detailed review of these amazing Laura development boards we OE 5 mini and wio E5 Laura dev kit manufactured by the Seed Studio we have seen its unboxing features specifications data sheets AT commands configuration guide and we have also seen demo of Serial configuration of these boards via AT commands in the next part we will see one DIY project using these boards real world application and transmission range testing stay tuned for more updates meanwhile if you want to purchase these Lora boards you can directly go to seed studios website links are shared in the video description alright stay tuned for more projects and Tech updates if you face any difficulty in replicating any of our DIY project feel free to Ping us on telegram or what's up you can also send us email at support the ratemake2explore.com we would be happy to help thank you [Music]

Channel: make2explore Systems

Views: 4,996

Keywords: Arduino, diy, school project, mini project, Final Year Project, Engineering Project, IEEE Project, DIY Projects, Electronics Projects, Diploma Projects, IoT Projects, Embedded Systems Projects, IoT, Internet of Things, Do It Yourself (Hobby), How to, Project Ideas, Arduino Projects, Home Automation Projects, ESP32, NodeMCU, ESP8266, Raspberry Pi Projects, ESP8266 Projects, LoRa, LoRa Projects, Blynk App, Blynk Project, Blynk IoT Cloud, LoRaWAN, LoRa Alliance, Remote Monitoring

Id: 4ojRbUSfYdo

Length: 29min 30sec (1770 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023