Raging Bits Symple Link Radio Aims to Bridge the Gap Between Wi-Fi and LoRa for Home Automation
Designed for networks where Wi-Fi is too short-range and LoRa too expensive, Symple Link aims to deliver exactly as the name implies.
Pseudonymous UK maker "Raging Bits" has designed an experimental board family designed for wire-free home automation based on a star topology: Symple Link Radio.
Symple Link Radio [is] a private star network for intelligent home automation," Raging Bits explains. "[It is a] star configuration radio network based of free low power devices on ISM [Industrial, Scientific, Medical] 433 band that can achieve over half [a] mile link distance in LOS [Line-of-Sight]. These links will bring 1× UART, 1× I2C and 4× IOs [Inputs/Outputs] in the Peripheral device, fully controlled by the Central device."
Designed, its creator says, to speed up development — though as-yet unlicensed and uncertified — the Symple Link Radio range is split into two. The Central Module provides the core connectivity, with one or more Peripheral Modules connecting over a 433MHz link — communicating either when directly queried or when an event is detected on the UART bus or an input.
"This network is meant to fill the gap between Wi-Fi and LoRa," Raging Bits explains. "LoRa has a massive price overhead in the gateway point as well as the nodes have little payload and rare ability for proper online data protection, [but] the Symple Link Peripheral will only connect to its Central device. When the Wi-Fi doesn't reach the end of the garden for a light switch, a serial port based sensor, or an I2C IO expander, the Symple Link will."
The modules are up for sale on the Raging Bits Tindie store now at $20 each; at the time of writing, only 433MHz variants were available making them unsuitable for use in North America, with no word on a 915MHz equivalent.
