Morse Micro, AzureWave Unveil the "World's Smallest" Wi-Fi HaLow Module for Compact IoT Devices

Morse Micro and AzureWave have shown off what they claim to be the "world's smallest" Wi-Fi HaLow module, offering a 13×13mm (0.51×0.51") footprint — while delivering ten times the range of traditional Wi-Fi connectivity.

"Wi-Fi HaLow continues to gain momentum in the IoT [Internet of Things] ecosystem, and our collaboration with AzureWave builds on this energy as we scale and accelerate the deployment of Wi-Fi HaLow solutions worldwide," says Michael De Nil, co-founder and chief executive officer at Morse Micro. "By joining forces, Morse Micro and AzureWave are poised to design and deliver best-in-class Wi-Fi HaLow solutions that will enrich existing communication modules in a broad range of IoT and consumer electronics applications."

Standardized as IEEE 802.11ah, an amendment of the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard, Wi-Fi HaLow uses sub-gigahertz radio bands to deliver long-range low-energy wireless connectivity at the cost of reduced peak throughput. The standard also includes a mesh-like collaborative communication system, which helps large number of nodes work together in a single area, a boon for dense sensor network deployments.

The companies' headline-grabbing 13×13mm (0.51×0.51") Wi-Fi HaLow module is joined by a larger 14×18.5mm (0.55×0.73") variant, both based on Micro Morse's MM6108 system-on-chip. In addition to 802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLow connectivity with a data rate of up to 32.5Mbps across a single stream, the part includes an on-chip power amplifier, integrated power management unit, SDIO 2.0 connectivity, and a standard SPI bus plus UART, I2C, and general-purpose input/output (GPIO) connectivity with pulse-width modulation (PWM) support.

"As a leading wireless module maker, AzureWave provides design and manufacturing services that ultimately shorten the customer's development process and time to market, enabling the end-products to be more compact, value-added and extremely low power," claims AzureWave president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng. "Our partnership with Morse Micro demonstrates the continued global demand for Wi-Fi HaLow solutions, and it provides the opportunity to rapidly scale Wi-Fi HaLow for countless IoT devices."

Both modules are due to be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas later this week, with orders being accepted price-on-application at AzureWave — and with Morse Micro promising the launch of evaluation platforms based on the modules in the near future. Attendees can book to see Morse Micro on the company website.