Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has announced it has collaborated with Semtech Corporation on a compact, two-chip LoRaWAN-based module deployed by Onethinx. The highly-integrated Onethinx module is ideal for smart city applications that integrate multiple sensors and are in harsh radio environments. Using Cypress PSoC 6 microcontrollers (MCU) hardware-based Secure Element functionality and Semtechs LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology), the solution enables a multi-layer security architecture that isolates trust anchors for highly protected device-to-cloud connectivity. In addition, the PSoC 6 MCUs integrated Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity provides a simple, low-power, out-of-band control channel. The PSoC 6 device is the industrys lowest power, most flexible Arm Cortex-M dual-core MCU with a power slope as low as 22-uA/MHz active power for the Cortex-M4 core. The device is a natural fit with Semtechs latest LoRa radio chip family, which offers 50% power savings in receive mode and 20% longer range over previous-generation devices.
Security is a primary concern for many smart city applications. The Onethinx module utilizes the integrated Secure Element functionality in the PSoC 6 MCU to give each LoRaWAN-based device a secret identity to securely boot, on-board, and deliver data to the cloud application. Using its mutual authentication capabilities, the PSoC 6 MCU-based, LoRa-equipped device can also receive authenticated over-the-air firmware updates. Key provisioning and management services are provided by IoT security provider and member of the Bosch group, ESCRYPT, for a complete end-to-end, secure LoRaWAN solution. The module, offered by Cypress partner Onethinx, connects to Bosch Sensortecs Cross Domain Development Kit (XDK) for Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors and to the provisioning system from ESCRYPT to securely connect.