IotaComm®, a digital infrastructure company powering Physical Artificial Intelligence (Physical AI) for smart buildings and smart cities, announced its 800 MHz LoRaWAN® Reference Design, a complete hardware, software, and modem architecture purpose-built for developing devices that operate on FCC-licensed spectrum. Alongside the reference design launch, IotaComm announced that its Environmental Sensor, the first commercial device built on this platform, has received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment authorization, validating the reference design’s readiness for commercial-scale deployment.
The 800 MHz Reference Design provides device manufacturers, system integrators, and enterprise developers with a proven foundation for building LoRaWAN® products that leverage IotaComm’s FCC-licensed 800 MHz spectrum holdings (authorized under FCC Part 90 for 809.0–817.0 MHz operation). The reference design encompasses certified modem hardware, embedded software stack, and integration documentation, reducing the engineering lift required to bring licensed-spectrum LPWAN devices to market.
Why a licensed-spectrum reference design matters
Until now, LoRaWAN® device development has centered almost exclusively on unlicensed ISM-band operation. While the 915 MHz ISM band offers broad ecosystem alignment and deployment flexibility, critical infrastructure and industrial applications increasingly require the managed-spectrum characteristics that licensed operation provides: predictable interference profiles, coordinated coverage planning, and the operational certainty that comes with exclusive spectrum rights.
The 800 MHz Reference Design addresses this gap by giving the ecosystem a standardized path to licensed-spectrum device development, without sacrificing LoRaWAN® interoperability or requiring proprietary approaches.
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Environmental Sensor: First device, first FCC authorization
IotaComm‘s 800 MHz Environmental Sensor is the inaugural device built on the 800 MHz Reference Design and carries Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment authorization for commercial deployment. It provides continuous environmental monitoring over IotaComm’s 800 MHz licensed LoRaWAN® network, collecting and transmitting real-time data on temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs). Its gas sensor detects and estimates key volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including ethane, isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene), ethanol, acetone, and carbon monoxide, supporting deployments across smart buildings and other indoor monitoring environments.
The Environmental Sensor’s FCC authorization serves as both a product milestone and a proof point for the reference design itself, demonstrating that devices built on this architecture can achieve regulatory approval and move from prototype to production deployment.
IotaWave™: Dual-band deployment flexibility
IotaComm will bring these capabilities to market through IotaWave™, its dual-band LoRaWAN® network strategy pairing nationwide licensed 800 MHz spectrum with the 915 MHz ISM band. Customers can choose the licensed 800 MHz layer when managed-spectrum performance is required or leverage the 915 MHz ISM layer when unlicensed deployment economics and broad ecosystem alignment are the priority—all within a standards-based, interoperable framework.
“The 800 MHz Reference Design is the foundation we’ve been building toward. This milestone completes the foundational network components required to extend LoRaWAN® into licensed spectrum, materially increasing the value and utility of our spectrum assets,” said Terrence DeFranco, CEO & Chairman of IotaComm. “IotaComm now occupies a unique position in the LoRaWAN® ecosystem, offering a licensed LPWAN purpose-built for critical infrastructure, utilities, and healthcare, while maintaining interoperability with standard LoRaWAN® deployments. This dual-layer network strategy enables Delphi360® to collect and analyze data others simply cannot, reinforcing our leadership position in the large, rapidly growing smart infrastructure markets.”
“We designed this reference architecture to collapse the complexity of licensed-spectrum device development—from modem certification through software integration to field deployment,” said Wael Guibene, Senior Vice President of Product and Technology at IotaComm. “The Environmental Sensor is the first product off this platform, but the reference design is built to support a roadmap of devices. Combined with Delphi360® for network management and analytics, we’re giving customers a complete stack from edge to insight.”
SOURCE: PRNewswire