IotaComm has announced an 800MHz LoRaWan reference design in the form of a complete hardware, software and modem architecture purpose-built for developing devices that operate on FCC-licensed spectrum.

The North Carolina-based firm also announced that its environmental sensor, the first commercial device built on this platform, has received FCC equipment authorisation, validating the reference design’s readiness for commercial-scale deployment.

The reference design provides device manufacturers, system integrators and enterprise developers with a proven foundation for building LoRaWan products that leverage IotaComm’s FCC-licensed 800MHz spectrum holdings. 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.

Until now, LoRaWan device development has centred almost exclusively on unlicensed ISM-band operation. While the 915MHz 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 800MHz reference design addresses this gap by giving the ecosystem a standard path to licensed-spectrum device development, without sacrificing LoRaWan interoperability or requiring proprietary approaches.

The environmental sensor is the inaugural device built on the reference design and provides continuous environmental monitoring over IotaComm’s 800MHz licensed LoRaWan, collecting and transmitting real-time data on temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure and total volatile organic compounds. Its gas sensor detects and estimates key volatile organic compounds, including ethane, isoprene, ethanol, acetone and carbon monoxide, supporting deployments across smart buildings and other indoor monitoring environments.

The FCC authorisation 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.

IotaComm will bring these capabilities to market through IotaWave, its dual-band LoRaWan strategy pairing nationwide licensed 800MHz spectrum with the 915MHz ISM band. Users can choose the licensed 800MHz layer when managed-spectrum performance is required or leverage the 915MHz ISM layer when unlicensed deployment economics and broad ecosystem alignment are the priority, all within a standards-based, interoperable framework.

“The 800MHz reference design is the foundation we’ve been building towards,” said Terrence DeFranco, CEO of IotaComm. “This milestone completes the foundational network components required to extend LoRaWan into licensed spectrum, materially increasing the value and utility of our spectrum assets. 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 analyse data others simply cannot, reinforcing our leadership position in the large, rapidly growing smart infrastructure markets.”

The reference design is available now to qualified partners and device developers.

IotaComm (iotacomm.com) is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with operations in Pennsylvania.