Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module

The proliferation of the Internet of Things(IoT) in both scale and complexity, alongside advances in optimised edge and fog system architectures, is driving an increasing need for low power end nodes with greater computational capabilities. These distributed higher capacity nodes allow IoT infrastru...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Njoroge, Mark
Other Authors: Winberg, Simon
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Electrical Engineering 2024
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613292631949312
access_status_str Open Access
author Njoroge, Mark
author2 Winberg, Simon
author_browse Njoroge, Mark
Winberg, Simon
author_facet Winberg, Simon
Njoroge, Mark
author_sort Njoroge, Mark
collection Thesis
description The proliferation of the Internet of Things(IoT) in both scale and complexity, alongside advances in optimised edge and fog system architectures, is driving an increasing need for low power end nodes with greater computational capabilities. These distributed higher capacity nodes allow IoT infrastructures to minimise the power cost of data movement and increase real time response through increased edge data analytics. This dissertation presents the design of a prototype softcore RISC-V based LoRa end node Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design. By combining the reconfigurability and optimisation potential of a FPGA and RISC-V based architecture with a LoRa interface, the design contributes a novel option for use in solutions to the above. The design utilises the open source python framework LiteX to generate an open, low cost and flexible System on a Chip (SoC) that contains the necessary core and peripherals to facilitate integration with a LoRa transceiver. The SoC is implemented on an ultra low power FPGA (Lattice iCE40UP5k), providing access to both reconfigurable logic and a CPU for data analytics, and standard interfaces for 3rd party sensors, such UART, I2C and SPI. The whole design is integrated on a custom PCB in a USB dongle form factor. The resulting prototype can therefore be used as a peripheral for existing systems that may require additional compute power and IoT connectivity. The performance of the prototype is evaluated in various applicable outdoor and indoor scenarios and is observed to have comparative results with industry standard modules.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39817
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:49.949Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Electrical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Electrical Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39817 Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module Njoroge, Mark Winberg, Simon Engineering The proliferation of the Internet of Things(IoT) in both scale and complexity, alongside advances in optimised edge and fog system architectures, is driving an increasing need for low power end nodes with greater computational capabilities. These distributed higher capacity nodes allow IoT infrastructures to minimise the power cost of data movement and increase real time response through increased edge data analytics. This dissertation presents the design of a prototype softcore RISC-V based LoRa end node Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design. By combining the reconfigurability and optimisation potential of a FPGA and RISC-V based architecture with a LoRa interface, the design contributes a novel option for use in solutions to the above. The design utilises the open source python framework LiteX to generate an open, low cost and flexible System on a Chip (SoC) that contains the necessary core and peripherals to facilitate integration with a LoRa transceiver. The SoC is implemented on an ultra low power FPGA (Lattice iCE40UP5k), providing access to both reconfigurable logic and a CPU for data analytics, and standard interfaces for 3rd party sensors, such UART, I2C and SPI. The whole design is integrated on a custom PCB in a USB dongle form factor. The resulting prototype can therefore be used as a peripheral for existing systems that may require additional compute power and IoT connectivity. The performance of the prototype is evaluated in various applicable outdoor and indoor scenarios and is observed to have comparative results with industry standard modules. 2024-05-31T12:02:32Z 2024-05-31T12:02:32Z 2023 2024-05-30T09:52:25Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39817 eng application/pdf Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
spellingShingle Engineering
Njoroge, Mark
Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module
title_full Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module
title_fullStr Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module
title_full_unstemmed Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module
title_short Design and Implementation of a Risc-V Based LoRa Module
title_sort design and implementation of a risc v based lora module
topic Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39817
work_keys_str_mv AT njorogemark designandimplementationofariscvbasedloramodule