With the rapid development of low-power wireless interaction technology, massive numbers of sensors and actuators are being deployed in every corner of homes, farms, factories, and cities. As the "sensory nerves" for monitoring the environment and the "execution units" for responding to decisions, they are accelerating the breaking down of the boundaries between the real world and the digital world, driving the Internet of Things from "concept implementation" to "deep empowerment," and are an indispensable infrastructure in the era of the Internet of Everything.
Image source: IoT ANALYTICS
According to data from IoT Analytics, a global IoT market research firm, the number of connected IoT devices worldwide is expected to reach 21.1 billion in 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 14%. Among these continuously growing devices, Sub-GHz radio frequency chips with only physical layer (PHY) functionality are becoming one of the "connection bases" supporting the operation of these IoT device networks due to their characteristics such as low power consumption, low cost, easy integration, long communication distance, and flexible customization of communication protocols.
In the communication modules of IoT devices, Sub-GHz radio frequency chips with only physical layer (PHY layer) functions not only offer greater development freedom but also have a simpler hardware structure, making them an excellent solution for deploying large-scale IoT networks.
For example, HOPERF's independently developed CMT2310A is a digital-analog integrated transceiver product with only basic RF transmission and reception capabilities. Terminal developers can design or program publicly available upper-layer protocol frameworks on this basis to accurately match various scenarios with personalized requirements for communication protocol architecture ( such as private networks, private LPWAN (low-power wide area network) or customized communication architectures ) , and fully release the flexibility of protocol design to meet the technical requirements of specific IoT applications.
CMT2310A - System Functional Block Diagram
In addition, the CMT2310A has a variety of unique transceiver functions and supports both Direct and Packet data processing modes, which can effectively improve the wireless communication quality of IoT devices. When the IoT terminal is working in an environment with strong out-of-band interference, the CMT2310A can adjust the system amplifier gain through the automatic gain control loop (AGC) to obtain the best system linearity, selectivity and sensitivity.
It is worth mentioning that most IoT terminals do not have high requirements for communication speed, but they often have extremely high requirements for coverage distance, power consumption and stability. The CMT2310A not only has a transmit power of up to +20 dB and a receive sensitivity of -122 dBm, but also supports a sleep current as low as 400 nA and a duty cycle receive mode, which can fully meet the needs of "small amount of data, long-term operation and long-distance communication". It is especially suitable for devices such as digital sensors, asset trackers and smart meters that need to reduce maintenance frequency and rely on battery power.
Sub-GHz radio frequency chips refer to wireless communication devices that operate at frequencies below 1GHz (such as 315MHz, 433MHz, 868MHz, 915MHz, etc.). They are mainly used to enable interconnection between IoT devices and act as "translators" between wireless carriers and digital signals.
In the wireless data collection solution for smart meters, the Sub-GHz radio frequency chip with only physical layer (PHY layer) functions is compatible with various LPWAN communication solutions such as WM-Bus, LoRaWAN and Sub-GHz proprietary protocols. This fully helps smart meters improve the accuracy and efficiency of wireless data collection, thereby realizing the wireless centralized collection and transmission of data from electricity meters, water meters, gas meters and heat meters, significantly reducing labor costs and improving energy utilization efficiency and the level of intelligent operation and maintenance.
Schematic diagram of a wireless data collection solution for smart meters.
In agricultural and environmental monitoring solutions, the low power consumption of Sub-GHz radio frequency chips can support long-term field deployment of equipment such as farmland soil sensors, greenhouse environmental detectors , and small weather stations without the need for frequent battery replacements. Furthermore, their long-distance transmission capability can cover large areas of farmland, forests, or remote monitoring areas, enabling centralized data transmission from distributed devices . This provides data support for precision irrigation, intelligent fertilization, and disaster early warning (such as frost and rainstorm warnings), and promotes the green and sustainable development of agriculture and the intelligent upgrading of environmental monitoring.
Looking ahead, as the number of IoT devices continues to grow, their connectivity boundaries will continue to expand to outdoor, rural, and remote areas. The industry's demand for low-power, wide-coverage, and highly adaptable communication solutions will further increase. Sub-GHz RF chips like the CMT2310A, which only have physical layer (PHY) functionality, are becoming one of the key forces in breaking through connectivity bottlenecks in these scenarios due to their core advantages in "long battery life, long transmission distance, and easy customization".
