For the past few years, Semtech has sold LoRa chips to customers to build out their LoRa networks. Now, the semiconductor supplier has found a practical use for these networksꟷhelping these users track the location of their own assets, whether they be in retail, medical, or industrial.  

Semtech is now offering a SaaS chip-to-Cloud service, called LoRa Cloud™ Locator, that uses the company’s LoRa Cloud Modem & Geolocation services. The service gives users an ultra-low power, cost-effective solution for indoor/outdoor asset tracking use cases.

LoRa Cloud Locator features built-in serverless technology and delivers a simple end-to-end experience for customers to evaluate LoRa Edge implemented in various ecosystem trackers, either on a private or public LoRaWAN® network.v  The LoRaWAN® standard is maintained by the LoRa Alliance®, an open IoT alliance for Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) applications that has been used to deploy IoT networks in over 170 countries.

According to Karthik Ranjan, LoRa Cloud Solutions and Partnerships Leader in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group, asset tracking is a common use case across industry verticals. He cited examples such as tracking wheelchairs in a hospital, shopping carts in retail, pallets in the supply chain, or farm animals.

Related:Everything You Need to Know about LoRa and the IoT

Ranjan told Design News in a conference call that the service enables users to keep track of their assets leveraging the advantages the precise geolocation and very low power consumption of the LoRa platform. The service would use less power than current GNSS tracking technologies.

The service is designed specifically to work with trackers that use Semtech’s LoRa Edge LR-series chips. Once configured on the service, together with Semtech’s LoRa® wireless radio frequency technology for transmission to the Cloud, customers can view the tracker location on the map, typically in less than 15 minutes.

Customers interested in using the LoRa Cloud Locator can purchase a LoRa Edge-enabled tracker, create a LoRa Cloud Locator account, and then see LoRa Edge unlocks new use cases across the entire global supply chain. To access the service, customers can visit locator.loracloud.com, where they can browse compatible trackers by Semtech, Browan, Digital Matter, and Miromico.

After purchasing a tracker, customers 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.

Semtech is now offering the evaluation tool at locator.loracloud.com.

Spencer Chin is a Senior Editor for Design News covering the electronics beat. He has many years of experience covering developments in components, semiconductors, subsystems, power, and other facets of electronics from both a business/supply-chain and technology perspective. He can be reached at [email protected].