MultiConnect^® mDot™ Box

Portable, Handheld End-Point Device for Conducting LoRa® Site Surveys (MTDOT-BOX Series)

The MultiConnect® mDot™ Box has been designed to help companies quickly determine if LoRa® is the right technology to solve key industrial IoT issues: how to effectively connect to, and manage, thousands of assets and sensors in the field to meet the cost, performance and strategic needs of the business.  The mDot Box, which includes a MultiConnect® mDot™ RF module and a micro developer kit, utilizes the LoRa long range, long distance, RF spread spectrum technology by Semtech^®, to create a solution that overcomes the most difficult challenges in this area:

• Distance and obstruction penetration:  Incredible asset management range with LoRa – up to 10 miles/15 km line of sight, 1-3 miles/2 km thru buildings*
• Low Cost – Free bi-directional communications from thousands of mDots to a single Conduit utilizing LoRa unlicensed ISM band spectrum
• Extended Life – LoRa’s extremely low power draw enables battery-powered assets to operate for years

The mDot Box helps companies determine if their LoRa-based IoT applications solve the questions above by making it easy to obtain real-world LoRa performance information through site surveys or proof of concept development results.   With the click of a button, the mDot Box provides a wealth of valuable information such as location, spreading factor, throughput, time and date activity and power level usage at the very locations companies are planning to deploy LoRa technology.   Viewing and analyzing site survey data is easy thanks to the versatility of the mDot Box which provides multiple ways of exporting data, including to the customer’s preferred Cloud platform.

The mDot Box features LEDs via an LCD displaying menu and device navigation information as well as network, test mode, GPS and sensor status data.  Two push button controls are also included providing menu navigation functions and two LEDs for displaying network and GPS status.  The mDot Box also has several built in sensors including temperature, ambient light, pressure, electrical current and a 3-Axis accelerometer.  It comes standard with GPS to enable site survey and location-based proof of concept testing.  This versatile device can be used purely as a communications device or programmed with a custom application using the integrated ARM® mbed Enabled™ programmable MultiConnect mDot.  

The mDot Box provides 3 modes to make it easier to evaluate LoRa technology use cases: 

• LoRa Demo Mode is ideal for testing IoT application prototypes and “proof of concepts”.  Sensor data is transmitted to the LoRa gateway at user defined intervals or triggered with the push of a button.
• Survey Single Mode tests connectivity with the LoRa gateway at different data rate and power level combinations. 
• Site Survey Sweep Mode tests connectivity with the LoRa gateway over a wide range of data rates and power levels automatically. 

Following the LoRa Alliance plan to ensure openness and interoperability, the mDot Box was developed to work with LoRaWAN™ compliant gateways, including MultiTech’s MultiConnect® Conduit™, the industry’s most configurable, manageable, and scalable communications gateway.  

Extremely easy to use, customize and manage, the mDot Box makes evaluating LoRa technology for IoT applications as easy as clicking a button.  

* Represents ideal network configuration and equipment set up.  Results vary depending on payload amount, transmission frequency, spreading factor used, as well as terrain, RF interference and obstruction type (e.g., metal, cement, etc.)

DEVELOPER SUPPORT & RESOURCES

• Developer documentation and support available at www.multitech.net

KEY BENEFITS

• Quickly and easily perform LoRa site surveys with the mobile mDot Box
• Measure LoRa distance and building penetration performance for line of sight or urban/obstructed use cases
• User friendly LoRa evaluation tool - no heavy configuration or embedded design skills needed
• View LoRa site survey data your way - in the Cloud, on the gateway or export directly to your laptop

FEATURES

• LCD screen displays menu options, test mode data as well as sensor data
• GPS enabled for highly accurate location-based site surveys
• Flexibility to operate with any LoRaWAN 1.0 compliant gateway
• Supports both the European 868 MHz and North America 915 MHz ISM bands