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NRC7292 SoC for 802.11ah Wi Fi HaLow Ultra Low Power, Long Range Wi Fi for IoT

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802.11ah(Wi-Fi HaLow) Overview
  • WI-FI STANDARDS
  • IEEE 802.11AH (WI-FI HALOW)
  • COMPARISON OF IOT TECHNOLOGIES
  • FREQUENCY BAND OF GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
  • FIELD TEST EXAMPLES

WIFI HALOW STANDARDS

STANDARD & SPECIFICATION
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CERTIFICATION & PROMOTION
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Characteristics of IEEE 802.11ah HaLow
Frequency Band License-exempt bands below 1 GHz, excluding the TV white spaces – Example: 863-868.6 MHz (Europe), 915.9 -928.1 MHz (Japan), 755-787 MHz (China), 917- 923.5 MHz (Korea), 866-869 MHz, 920-925 MHz (Singapore), and 902-928 MHz (U.S.)
Channel Width 1/2/4/8/16 MHz
Range Up to 1Km (outdoor)
End Node Transmit Power Dependent on regional regulations (from 1 mW to 1 W)
Data Rate 150 Kbps ~ 346.666 Mbps
Devices per Access Point 8,191
Standard Body IEEE 802.11 working group
Topology Star, Tree
Ultra-Low Power, Long Range Wi-Fi for IoT
Features or Capabilities NRC7292 case Wi-Fi HaLow Key benefits
Sub-GHz radio frequencies 750~950MHz
  • 10x longer range, 100x area, 1000x volume of coverage by single AP
  • Up to 1.5km range of operation
  • Robust connection in noisy environments
  • Better penetration through buildings
  • Capable of battery operation
  • High-density, Low latency
  • No proprietary hubs or gateways
  • Easy FW upgrade over the air (FOTA)
Narrow band, OFDM channels 1,2,4MHz BW, Max 64QAM
Ultra-low power sleep modes TIM/TWT
Flexible and high data rate Up-to 15Mbps PHY
Large volume of STA per AP 1080 STA per AP
Enhanced Security WPA3 & enhancedopen security
Ready for easy internet & cloud connectivity TCP/IP, IPv6
World-wide open standard IEEE standard WFA Certification

COMPARISON OF IOT TECHNOLOGIES

BLE ZigBee Z-Wave Wi-SUN LoRa NB-IoT HaLow (NRC7292)
Power Consumption Very Low Very Low Very Low Very Low Very Low Very Low Very Low
Frequency 2.4GHz 2.4GHz/Sub-1GHz Sub-1GHz Sub-1GHz Sub-1GHz Licensed Sub-1GHz
Data rate 1Mb/s 270kb/s 250kb/s 40kb/s, 100kb/s 300kbps 11kbps, 50kbps 250kbps 15Mbps
Coverage < 100m < 20m < 30m < 1km < 10 km < 10km < 1.5km
Self Network Configuration O O O O X
(Operator)
X
(Operator)
O
TCP/IP(Internet) X X X X X O O
Modulation GFSK BPSK, OQPSK BPSK, GFSK FSK, OFDM, OQPSK CSS QPSK OFDM
Security AES128 AES128 Security2(s2) IEE802.1x AES128 3GPP Security WPA3
Firmware OTA O O O O - O O
Main Topology Scatternet Mesh Mesh Mesh Star Star Star/Tree/Mesh
World Wide De facto Standard Bluetooth SIG IEEE 802.15.4 X IEEE 802.15.4g X 3GPP
LTE Cat-NB1
IEEE 802.11ah
Data Rate vs Range of Unlicensed IoT Connective Technologies
  • Wi-Fi HaLow provides significant range improvement over 11b/n, BTLE including BT Long Range Modes and Zigbee as well as the data-rate much higher than other LPWAN technologies
  • Allows direct connect of sensors to APs without professional mesh install
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FREQUENCY ALLOCATION IN SOUTH KOREA

Allocated frequency and Tx power
Item Value
Allocated frequency (MHz) 921 - 923 (USN1) 925 – 931 (USN5)
Allowed Bandwidth (MHz) 1 1, 2
# of Channel @ BW 1MHz 2 4
# of Channel @ BW 2MHz 0 2
Max Tx power e.r.p (mW) 10, 25 50, 100
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  • 전파법 기술기준안 개정 완료 (2021.10)
  • 뉴라텍 지원사항: NRM7292B module 전파 인증 (USN1, USN5) 및 무선마이크 신호 회피 알고리즘 FW 제공
  • Radio Wave Act technical standards revision completed (October 2021)
  • Newatec support: NRM7292B module radio wave certification (USN1, USN5) and wireless microphone signal avoidance algorithm FW provided

NRC7292 802.11AH SOC – SYSTEM FEATURE

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Silicon Process
40nm CMOS LP
Voltage: 2.6~3.6V
Clock Resources
32.768kHz OSC& 32MHz OSC
LPO 16MHz/32.768kHz
System PLL (Aux PLL)
96MHz mode only
Application Processor
Cortex-M3(48/32MHz)
Wi-Fi Communication Processor
Cortex-M0(48/32MHz) for LMAC, PHY/RF control
Internal Memory
ROM0 dedicated to CM3 : 32KB & ROM1 dedicated to CM0 : 32KB
SRAM0/1/2 (256KB/256KB/ 224KB) for CM0 & CM3
Instruction Cache Memory : 32KB
Subsystem IPs
AHB – 11ah MAC/PHY, GDMA, HOST I/F(C–SPI), Mailbox
APB – RTC/Clock Control(CKC), PMC(Power Management Controller), WDOG, 4x I2C Master, 2x SSP, 4x HSUART, 8x PWM- 6x TIMER, GPIO, 4x 9-bit ADC

NRM7292B MODULE

Allocated frequency and Tx power
Standard IEEE 802.11ah-2016 Security AES-CCMP
Data rate 150Kbps ~ 15Mbps Voltage 2.8~3.6V(Typical 3.3V)
Frequency
  • US : 902 ~ 928 MHz
  • Korea : 921~923 / 925 ~ 931 MHz
  • Japan : 920.5 ~ 928.1 MHz
Current Tx 180mA @50mW Rx 40mA (VBAT=VDD_FEM=3.3V)
Channel Bandwidth 1MHz / 2MHz Operating Temperature -40 ~ 85℃
Interface
  • UART for Host, UART for debugging
  • SPI slave for Host, SPI master
  • I2C master
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SYSTEM TARGET

monetization_on
Low Cost
  • ARM Cortex-M3 for
  • Client Application
  • No External Memory
  • RTC and PMU on Chip
sync_alt
Flexible
  • Standalone vs. External Host Type
  • Pre-Power Amp vs. External Power Amp
  • Host boot vs. XIP boot mode (External Flash Memory)
  • Both Modes for AP & STA
battery_low
Low Power
  • Inside PMU (Power Management Unit)
  • Power Gating Design
  • Clock Gating Design
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EVALUATION KIT

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NRM7292B 11ah Wi-Fi module board
  • Host driver and CLI for host mode
  • SDK for standalone mode
  • Both AP and station support
  • SMA female Antenna connector
  • SPI/UART for external host interface
  • i2C/UART/SSP/GPIO for external device interface
  • Miro-USB type B connector for serial interface
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Raspberry Pi 3 model B External Host board
  • Linux ver. 4.1x with Wi-Fi features
  • Iper3 EVK performance test tool
  • 802.11n connectivity support

802.11AH APPLICATIONS

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  • IEEE 802.11AH APPLICATIONS
  • SMART HOME
  • SMART BUILDING
  • SMART FACTORY
  • SMART HEALTHCARE
  • SMART EV STATION

IEEE 802.11AH APPLICATIONSS

IEEE 802.11ah uses a sub-1GHz bandwidth, which allows a greater coverage of distance up to 1km while transmitting data at reasonable rates. Therefore, it is suitable for almost all IoT applications such as smart home, smart city, smart energy, smart building, smart factory and smart farm.

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SMART FACTORY

Advantages
  • Coverage : 300~500m with max 1080 STA per AP
  • Mbps throughput enables sensor signal data collection for big data analysis or pattern recognition
  • Low latency suitable for emergency warning or failure detection
Use cases
  • Equipment and process monitoring and diagnosis
  • Realtime sensor data collection (vibration, temp/humidity, strain gauge or gas leakage)
  • Safety or security (CCTV/Thermal camera)
  • Factory Energy Management System (FEMS)
  • Wearable (Helmet camera, Watch, Walky-talky and etc.)
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SMART Building

Advantages
  • One AP can cover about 300m distance and multiple floors
  • Simple configuration (star or tree topology) for up to 1080 station per AP
  • Mbps throughput enable large amount of data gathering for big data analysis
  • Saving Installation cost for wired network and regular fee
Use cases
  • Tri band Wi Fi AP or IoT hub/gateway
  • Building energy management system (Meters & gauges)
  • HVAC & air conditioner
  • Various sensor devices
  • Lighting system
  • Security & surveillance system
  • Facility & equipment maintenance
  • Communication between indoor and outdoor unit
  • Backhaul network for other short range devices(Wi Fi, BT, zigbee , z wave etc.)
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SMART HEALTHCARE

Smart healthcare for indoor/outdoor wireless network
  • Coverage: 300~500 meters for indoor & 1,000 meters for outdoor
  • IP based simple configuration by 802.11ah with global standard
  • Remote monitoring for elderly care/independent living & personal fitness of outdoor
  • Required high data rate for periodic/event based data transferring of indoor pedestrians & mobile devices
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SMART EV CHARGING STA. / PARKING LOT

Charging Point Service for Electric Vehicle by long range & high data rate of 802.11ah
  • Coverage: 1,000 meters for EV information/charging status & 100~300 meters for monitoring camera
  • IP based simple configuration by 802.11ah with global standard
  • EV Charging Point service from City Operating Center
  • Power level & available information
  • Monitoring and recognizing each Vehicle
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SMART HOME

Advantages
  • Whole home coverage including outdoor area
  • Mbps quality throughput between AP and IoT devices
  • Better wall penetration performance
  • Reaches front door, multi-floor, basement, garage and garden
  • Complex mesh network for coverage extension is not required
  • Supports TCP/IP for easy internet connection
Use cases
  • Sub-GHz HaLow enabled Tri-band Wi-Fi access point
  • AI speaker with IoT hub
  • Smart IoT gateway / EMS gateway / dongle
  • Door lock / door camera
  • Webcam / surveillance camera (indoor / outdoor)
  • Smart CE / smart lighting
  • Smart meters and gauges (Electric, Solar, Water, Gas)
  • Sensors (security, gas, fire, air quality, temperature)
  • Remote control and monitoring devices
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NRC7292 IEEE 802.11ah Wi-Fi Solution + MCU SoC

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Overview

As an optimized Wi-Fi solution for internet of things (IoT) devices, NRC7292 is industry’s first system on a chip (SoC) that is compliant with the IEEE 802.11ah standard. Operating in the Sub 1GHz license-exempt band, it offers a much greater range over 2.4GHz and 5GHz technologies. 1/2/4MHz channel widths with optional short guard interval (SGI) yield 150 Kbps to 15 Mbps PHY throughput which can support lowrate sensor to high-rate surveillance camera application. The protocol’s power-saving mechanisms like a longer sleep time greatly reduces power consumption and hence increase battery life.

The self-contained IEEE 802.11ah Wi-Fi networking capabilities with fully integrated radio transceiver of NRC7292 offers the ideal solution to add Wi-Fi connectivity to IoT products. It minimizes the PCB size, requires minimal external circuitries, and enables fast time-to-market.

The RF transceiver is a complete radio front-end optimized for Sub 1GHz band and it has fully integrated pre-power amplifiers as well as the capability to support various commercial external FEM device. With the dual embedded ARM Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 processor, NRC7292 can be used either as a standalone device or a slave to a host processor via serial peripheral interface (SPI) or universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) interface. In addition, it can support both AP and STA roles.

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Target Applications
  • IoT applications
  • Wearables
  • Home automation
  • Healthcare
  • Industrial automation
  • Safety and security
  • Smart grid
  • Multimedia streaming
Specification
CPU
ARM Cortex-M3 for Application
ARM Cortex-M0 for WLAN
Mailbox for communication
Memory
32KB Boot ROM for M0
32KB Boot ROM for M3
752KB System SRAM
XIP with cache (2 ways, 32KB)
Communication Peripherals
GPIO X 54
SPI X 4
UART X 4
I2C X 4
9-bit ADC X 4
RF Transceiverr
Single-ended RF ports
Frequency band: 750 to 950MHz
Linear TX output power: 0dBm
TX gain range: 30dB
RX noise figure: <4dB
Max. input level: -10dBm
10bits ADC and DAC
Key Features
  • Complies with IEEE 802.11ahTM-2016
  • Fully Integrated on-chip 11ah modem, RF transceiver, processor, and memory
  • Support 1/2/4 MHz bandwidth
  • Up to 15 Mbps data rate
  • Travelling pilot for Doppler spread
  • Low power mode operation
    • Legacy
    • WMM-PS
    • TWT
  • AES-CCMP security
  • Dedicated SPI and UART interface for host
  • Various peripheral interfaces for sensor device
  • Manufacturing tools for configuration and test
  • Diagnostic and DUT test tools for indoor and outdoor test