Alfa Network long range-low power Wifi HaloW AHPI7292S RPI HAT

Alfa Network long range-low power Wifi HaloW AHPI7292S RPI HAT

Apr 9, 2022 — by Giorgio Mendoza

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The AHPI72992S by Alfa Network is a Raspberry Pi HAT that guarantees long distance wireless communication for low power due to its WiFi HaLow(IEEE 802.11ah) standard protocol.

The expansion board is built around the NRC7292 SoC that is IEEE 802.11ah compliant and Qorvo’s RFFM6901 single chip front end module (FEM). Due to its design, the AHPI72992S module is optimized to operate in the sub 1GHz license-exempt band.

AHPI72992S top and bottom view(click images to enlarge)The IEEE 802.11ah is a wireless networking protocol that targets large-scale and dense deployments of low-power stations. The standard coverage for this protocol ranges up to 1 km at 150 Kbps. 

The AHPI72992S expects to be an ideal solution for applications that need to cover long distances and require low power consumption such as agricultural IoT applications, wearables, multimedia streaming, home automation, etc. 

ALFA Network offers support for standalone and host based modes (up to 15Mbps for shorter distances). Refer to the standalone SDK for the NRC7292 and the Getting Started for the AHPI72992S for software documentation. According to the documentation on Alfa’s website you might need two RPI boards and two AHPI7292S HaLow HAT to follow their Getting Started instructions. 

Specifications listed for the AHPI7292S  include:

• Chipset —  Newracom NRC7292 WiFi HaLow SoC (IEEE 802.11ah draft 8.0 compliant)
• RF module – Qorvo RFFM6901 front-end module
• Frequency band :
  • 847 MHz (TW)
  • 866 MHz (EU)
  • 915 MHz (US)
  • 922 MHz (KR)
  • 924 MHz (JP)
• Modulation — OFDM with BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM
• Data rate 
  • 150 Kbps ~ 15 Mbps
• Channel bandwidth:
  • /2/4 MHz
• Antenna connector:
  • 1× IPEX/U.FL
• Interfaces:
  • 1x SPI
  • 1x UART
  • 1x I2C
• Debugging
  •  4-pin UART connector
  • 1× power LED
  • 1× TX LED
  • 1× RX LED
  • DIP/Slide switch for mode selection
• Dimensions – 65 x 56 x 10.3 mm (RP3B+ & RP4 HAT form factor) 

Further information

The AHPI7292S RPI WiFi HaLow HAT starts at $69.97 available through the Rockland’s website (w/ free shipping). Refer to the Alfa website for additional information regarding the product.