Seeed Studio Launches Wi-Fi HaLow Connectivity Boards — and a New XIAO LoRa Board, Too
"Wi-Fi HaLow represents a breakthrough in wireless connectivity," claims Seeed's Kezang Loday — but the company's hedging its bets.
Embedded and hobbyist electronics specialist Seeed Studio has announced the launch of two new long-range low-power communications modules based on the Wi-Fi HaLow standard — and a XIAO add-on board for those who would prefer to use LoRa instead.
"Wi-Fi HaLow represents a breakthrough in wireless connectivity," claims Seeed's Kezang Loday of the technology. "Operating in the sub-1GHz frequency band, it offers superior wall penetration compared to traditional Wi-Fi and is particularly well-suited for smart agriculture, industrial IoT [Internet of Things], and smart city applications. While current market adoption is still lower than other popular Sub-1 GHz connectivity like LoRa and NB-IoT [Narrowband-IoT], increasing chip availability and growing commercial deployments suggest Wi-Fi HaLow is emerging as a promising option for long-range IoT communications in the coming years."
To help that along, Seeed has partnered with Quectel and Morse Micro to launch two communications modules supporting Wi-Fi HaLow: the Wio-WM6108 mini-PCI Express (mPCIe) module, and a XIAO backpack module — roughly twice the footprint of the compact XIAO development boards on which it's designed to stack. Both are powered by Quectel's FGH100M-H transceiver, supporting Wi-Fi HaLow connectivity in the 902-928MHz frequency range.
"These solutions offer practical pathways to implement sub-1GHz Wi-Fi in diverse applications," Loday claims. "With Wi-Fi Alliance's ongoing support for the HaLow standard and increasing market adoption, these modules are well-positioned to meet the growing demand for reliable, energy-efficient wireless connectivity in IoT deployments, from smart agriculture to industrial automation."
For those not yet convinced by Wi-Fi HaLow's advantages, meanwhile, Seeed Studio has also launched the Wio-SX1262 — another backpack board for the XIAO family of compact microcontroller development boards, but this time based on the Semtech SX1262 transceiver and offering LoRa connectivity. The board has a key advantage over its Wi-Fi HaLow equivalent for those building space-constrained projects, too: it fits in the same footprint as the unexpanded XIAO boards themselves.
All boards are now available to order from Seeed Studio with the Wi-Fi HaLow mPCIe module and XIAO add-on module priced at $14.90 each and the Wio-SX1262 priced at just $4.99, all before volume discounts.
