FG25 Sub-GHz SoC Now Available for Smart Cities and Long-Range Deployments

During our Works With 2022 Developer Conference, we announced our new flagship sub-Ghz SoC, the FG25, and today we are pleased to announce that it is generally available through Silicon Labs and our distribution partners.

The FG25 is the ideal SoC (system on chip) for long-range, low-power transmissions, capable of broadcasting up to 1.6km with minimal data loss in dense, urban canyon environments. It is also the first SoC in Silicon Labs’ portfolio to support the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulations introduced in Wi-SUN Field Area Network (FAN) 1.1. OFDM supports high data bandwidth of up to 3.6 Mbps. With the higher data rates, the FG25 SoC enables the large networks needed by smart cities where the nodes can number in the thousands.

We’re also pleased to announce that we have been certified by the Wi-SUN Alliance for the PHY layer of the FAN 1.1 profile. Customers can leverage this certification to lower the burden placed on them as they design Wi-SUN FAN 1.1-complaint devices.

Many of our Alpha program participants are already moving forward with deploying devices that leverage FG25, and we’re pleased to share some of their stories!

Landis+Gyr Adopts FG25 and Wi-SUN for Smart Meters

Up until now, Landis+Gyr had used our FG12 SoC running their own proprietary stack, but because Wi-SUN is an open network, it offers increased interoperability and simplified development, meaning it can scale to match the massive size of a city. And while the FG12 helped Landis+Gyr drastically reduce power consumption of their devices, it didn’t have the RAM needed for Wi-SUN and OFDM. By moving to the FG25 Wi-SUN SoC, Landis+Gyr not only increases the performance of their solution, but also gives their customers a smooth Wi-SUN transition because the FG25 runs their proprietary stack as well. With both the MCU and transceiver on the same chip, the FG25 uses the same form factor as Landis+Gyr’s existing module, simplifying the development and design process to integrate the new SoC.

You can read more about how Landis+Gyr is using the FG25 for smarter energy management in our case study, “Landis+Gyr is Unlocking the Potential of Smart Metering with the FG25.”

CyanConnode using FG25 to transform India’s electrical grid

The government of India, through its Advanced Metering Infrastructure initiative, has set the ambitious goal of converting all of India’s 250 million legacy electrical meters to smart meters. This has been in response to studies that have shown as much as 20 percent of India’s generated electricity is lost to theft or waste. CyanConnode, one of the world’s leaders in mesh networking has been supporting India’s transition to smart meters for a decade, and they’ve tapped the FG25 SoC to continue that effort. By incorporating Wi-SUN, CyanConnode can not only collect real-time information about energy consumption to help operators better manage the electrical grid, but Wi-SUN’s open-source backbone also mean that CyanConnode can scale their deployments and also tap into the Wi-SUN ecosystem to discover new ways to deliver value through their connected smart meters.