Renesas joins LoRa Alliance

Semiconductor supplier Renesas Electronics has joined the LoRa Alliance, a non-profit association that supports the standardisation and adoption of LoRaWAN. LoRaWAN is a wireless specification that achieves low-power wide-area (LPWA) wireless networks for the Internet of Things (IoT) as an open global standard.

Renesas has joined the alliance as a sponsor member, the highest level of membership, and from that position will contribute to both the standardisation and promotion activities of LoRaWAN, which are expected to further expand in the future. Specifically, this level of membership will help the company accelerate its microcontroller (MCU) solution deployments using LoRaWAN technology for a wide array of IoT systems.

Renesas plans to develop and produce, within a year, MCUs that support LoRaWAN. The company’s compact MCU package will simplify the integration into the systems and reduce the mounting area on the board compared to the conventional packaging methods. Based on these technologies, Renesas intends to deliver a total wireless network solution combining wireless MCU and software. The company will also expand this deployment for its low-power RL78 MCUs to contribute to the realisation of IoT sensor end devices that can be driven by batteries over the long term.