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Morse Micro issues first Wi-Fi HaLow SoC samples for ‘new (mid-range) IoT use cases’

Semiconductor company Morse Micro, developing Wi-Fi HaLow for low-power mid-range IoT connectivity, has released system-on-chip (SoC) and module samples to select developers. The target is to raise interest in Wi-Fi HaLow among the IoT developer community to “enable new IoT use cases”. The samples are being offered with the company’s own evaluation kits.

Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) uses sub-GHz spectrum frequencies below 900 MHz (“outside the highly congested 2.4 GHz traditional Wi-Fi band”) to nearly double the range of traditional Wi-Fi, which relies on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz spectrum bands, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. It offers better penetration and lower power for long life fit-and-forget IoT solutions.

It will offer multi-vendor interoperability by using existing Wi-Fi protocols, making it compatible with Wi-Fi Alliance certified products, and offering the same government-grade security and easy setup as current Wi-Fi solutions. It straddles the line between low-power short-range technologies like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Zigbee, and the traditional LPWA set, including LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, and Sigfox.

Australia-based Morse Micro, which has raised at least AUD$30 million from investors since it was founded in 2016, including a AUD$13 Series A round a year ago, is one of those developing chips for the new technology. It claims a 10-times advance with its Wi-Fi HaLow chips in terms of range, compared with conventional Wi-Fi; IoT modules based on its hardware will last “many years” on a single coin-cell battery, it reckons.

The company’s new Wi-Fi HaLow portfolio, available for sampling later this month (July), includes the “smallest, fastest and lowest-power” IEEE 802.11ah compliant SoCs. The MM6104 SoC supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, and 4 MHz channel bandwidth; the MM6108 SoC also supports 8 MHz bandwidth. “These SoCs provide 10x the range, 100x the area and 1000x the volume of traditional Wi-Fi solutions.”

It said: “Wi-Fi HaLow signals penetrate obstacles more easily and can extend beyond 1 km, connecting far-flung IoT devices across residential, retail, office park, campus, warehouse and factory environments. Developed specifically for the IoT and supporting the latest WPA3 security, a single Wi-Fi HaLow access point can connect up to 8,191 devices, simplifying network deployment and reducing costs.”

Michael de Nil, co-founder and chief executive at the firm, commented: “The massive capacity and extended range of our Wi-Fi HaLow solution, combined with market-leading power efficiency and 8MHz channel throughput, will redefine Wi-Fi connectivity for the IoT… By delivering IEEE 802.11ah-compliant SoC and module samples for evaluation, we’re helping our partners and customers accelerate the market shift to Wi-Fi HaLow technology.”

The MM6108 and MM6104 SoCs provide a single-chip Wi-Fi HaLow solution with radio, PHY, and MAC. Their RF interface provides the option for on-chip amplification for low-power IoT devices, or an additional external PCB-mounted power amplifier or front-end module for wider-area applications. The RF receiver utilizes a high-linearity low-noise amplifier (LNA).

Morse Micro co-chairs the Wi-Fi HaLow task group, promoting Wi-Fi Alliance certification and a HaLow certification programme. It is targeting commercial, residential and industrial IoT markets in applications such as access control, security cameras, industrial automation, retail, and mobile devices – “at throughputs and ranges that will enable new IoT use cases,” it says.

ABOUT AUTHOR

James Blackman
James Blackman
James Blackman has been writing about the technology and telecoms sectors for over a decade. He has edited and contributed to a number of European news outlets and trade titles. He has also worked at telecoms company Huawei, leading media activity for its devices business in Western Europe. He is based in London.