When thinking about LoRaWAN networks, a smartphone or a computer is not always considered an immediate choice for an end device.

More often, as end devices are seen Arduinos and other similar microcontrollers that have sensors attached to them and a LoRa module so they can then relay that data to the LoRaWAN application.

However, smartphones host an array of different sensors in them, and computers can process a lot of information locally before this information is shared on the network as a conclusion so it makes a logical step that they should also be able to send data to LoRaWAN.

So far, I'm not aware of a phone or a computer that can directly do this but using modules like the LA66 USB Adapter from Dragino, we can immediately add LoRaWAN capabilities to any smartphone, computer, or Raspberry Pi, just by plugging that adapter.

The adapter uses the LA66 LoRaWAN module and it also has a CP2101 USB TTL Chip so it can talk with the computer or the phone over serial.

A companion open-source app from Dragino can help you out in the setup process on an Android phone so you can start sharing your phone's GPS data through LoRaWAN in a matter of minutes.

You can check out the video below for a more detailed overview of the LA66 USB adapter as well as the mobile app example.

An interesting example where this module will be super useful is to repurpose an old phone as a tracking device so there won't be a need for a SIM card or any Internet connectivity.

Below you can check out some of the other devices from Dragino:

• TrackerD LoRaWAN Tracker - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DnFSkPZ
• Dragino LHT65N-NE117 Temperature & Humidity - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DEv1Qkj
• Dragino DLOS8N Outdoor LoRaWAN Gateway - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDukXGX
• Dragino LPS8N open-source Indoor LoRaWAN Gateway - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DcidVqx