The Ultimate Board for Sigfox — IoT connectivity
The demand for wireless devices on the Internet of Things (IoT) systems and their market application is potentially growing at a rapid speed with the culmination of cloud computing system embracement by most of the organizations around the world, and on the central point, in the African region.
This has led to less or minimal grappling of outdated data tools that aid in making better solutions for problems efficiently and quality systems for increased revenues in organizations.
The new Warefab Konnect development board (STM 32) is touted as the next must-have kit designed to make it easier for hardware developers to have a quick start and connectivity to the Sigfox LPWAN network or most feasible under the 21C skills platform.
Purely invented and manufactured in Kenya (100%) by Warefab in Kiambu County, this kit comes with inbuilt sensors enough to run the kit or act as a quick start for new custom firmware; calibrated and mounted on a circuit so that the device can perform better than a handheld sensor, and used with Mems L70 GPS module that brings up high performance and equipped ultra-low power consumption and a quick positioning capability-GPS.
Innovators Inceptions:
The kit and several other manufactured products are designed, developed, and tested in four 3x3 feet average rooms by two co-founders Mercy Ngoiri and John Muchiri who are former engineering scholars of the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri-Kenya.
Although they schooled together, it was difficult for them to land a job.
They initially worked at different marketing and sale jobs to make a living before coming together to start up their company amidst scarce resources and location convenience.
However, no matter the challenges they faced three years ago, their company (WAREFAB) is far much ahead today with their productions right at the heart of Kiambu town.
“It was very tough for us to purchase the right machines and tools and prototyping before investing time and money into actual development,” John said.
The advantage of starting a niche business must come with ease of picking out a potential customer base because you target certain customers for your products.
On the other hand, Mercy highlighted that proper research of the market and a transparent business plan, passion, and hard work are crucial for starting your own enterprise with the main goal to satisfy your identified customer needs.
“To make sure you are meeting the needs of your particular clientele, you must never manufacture a product in the market to the world only for one ideal type of business, but for the larger group — for our case, you have to think of the new technologies needs like Cloud, IoT among others that are continuously improving business processes and responding to market changes faster while providing better services to their customers -without that, you will be working in the dark,” said Mercy.
By default, the kit comes loaded with the default firmware.
Summarized Inbuilt Descriptions for the kit:
* SFM10R1 Sigfox radio module, EMEA region.
* STM32L052 32bit low power microcontroller.
* SHT30 Temp and Humidity sensor.
* LIS2DH 3 axis Accelerometer.
* L70R GPS module.
* MEM Analog Microphone.
* LDR Ambient Light sensor.
* Micro Buzzer.
* External battery LIPO connector and charging circuitry.
* 2 user buttons.
* 3 User Leds — Red, Green, and Blue.
*USB-UART controller for firmware updates and debug logs
* Extension port to connect more sensors and actuators, supports GPIO, UART, SPI, and I2C.
For more and other Warefab board kits or modules, visit https://warefab.com/
