Sleep/wake operation was used to keep the device in a low-power state between scheduled measurements and alarm-triggered events.
Start a Project ↗CASE 03LOW-POWER FIELD DEVICES
Designed for long-term field operation on battery power.
A battery-powered field node developed to collect sensor data and communicate over long distances while operating within a tightly controlled energy budget.
APPLICATIONAgricultural and field automation
CORE REQUIREMENTLong-range LoRaWAN communication with low-power battery operation
DEVELOPMENT SCOPELow-power electronics, RF integration and production
STATUSField deployed and in production
01THE REQUIREMENT
Remote sensing with
a tightly controlled energy budget.
The customer needed a wireless field device to collect soil moisture, ambient temperature and battery-status data from remote locations and transmit it over LoRaWAN.
With no convenient power source available in the field, the product had to spend most of its time asleep and wake only for scheduled measurements or alarm-triggered events.
02THE ENGINEERING CHALLENGE
Sleep, wake, measure, transmit.
Only when the field requires it.
Battery life depended on the complete operating cycle: sleep, wake-up, sensor acquisition, processing, LoRaWAN transmission and return to a low-power state.
The power architecture also had to support short-duration transmit current while maintaining reliable RF operation in outdoor deployment.
03THE ENGINEERING
Energy budget and RF performance, engineered together.
ENERGY CYCLE
SleepLow-power state
→WakeSchedule / alarm trigger
→MeasureShort sensor window
→TransmitLoRaWAN burst
↺TIME IN LOW-POWER STATEWake on schedule or alarm
DESIGN INTENT
Battery life was treated as the energy consumed across the complete operating cycle, not sleep current alone.
Sensor acquisition and active periods were kept short to reduce the energy consumed during each measurement and transmission cycle.
The LoRaWAN radio and antenna interface were designed and matched as part of the complete RF path for the required field performance.
The power architecture was designed around the radio’s short-duration transmit current without unnecessarily compromising battery life.
04THE OUTCOME
Long-term battery operation
without losing field responsiveness.
The resulting hardware remained in a low-power state during normal conditions, waking for scheduled measurements or alarm-triggered events before communicating remotely over LoRaWAN.
The hardware was deployed in the field and subsequently moved into production, with boards continuing to be manufactured for the customer.
ENGINEERING CASES