New 6LoWPAN gateway wireless routers for the Internet of Things

RS Components has announced that it is extending its portfolio of wireless network products designed for Internet of Things (IoT) applications with the availability of the 6LoWPAN IoT Gateway from WEPTECH elektronik. The 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Network) IoT Gateway board functions as a border router in a 6LoWPAN-based network and connects a wireless IPv6-based network to the Internet. The board facilitates the routing procedures necessary to integrate an IPv6 mesh network comprising small wireless low-power devices into the global IP network. It enables users to connect up to 32 6LoWPAN child nodes to the network. In addition to offering native IPv6 (Bridge Mode) operation, the 6LoWPAN IoT Gateway uses the plug-and-play NAT64 IPv6-to-IPv4 translator mechanism, enabling the addressing of IPv4-based servers from any 6LoWPAN node. Therefore sensor data from the radio network can be transmitted to servers located anywhere on the Internet. In terms of hardware, the board is based on the ARM Cortex-M3-powered TI CC2538 microcontroller that provides an AES and SHA encryption engine and embeds 512kB of Flash memory and 32kB of RAM. The board provides dual-band operation with two radio interfaces: the CC2538 MCU integrates an 802.15.4-compliant radio interface in the 2.4GHz band; and an extra sub-gigahertz transceiver (TI’s CC1200) allows use in the 868 or 915MHz frequency bands. The Internet connection is enabled via the Microchip ENC28J60a Ethernet controller IC. The board also offers a USB 2.0, which also serves as the 5V power supply interface. Two versions of the 6LoWPAN IoT Gateway are available: the first with a table-top / wall-mount enclosure with dimensions of 110mm x 76mm x 29.5mm, which is ideal for use in industrial control, home automation and 6LoWPAN sensor networks; and a second version without enclosure targeted for use as a development platform. Free software for the board is based on the open source Contiki OS with the source code available for download via Github, says the company.