Episode 8
Teaching The Way: Carl Rowan
Carl is an electronics engineer, educator, and prototyper based in Manila, Philippines. He’s been deep in the hardware game for over a decade, with a background that spans industrial sensor systems, embedded design, and, for the past several years, some of the most widely used LoRaWAN modules on the market
He currently works at RAKwireless, where he helps lead product education and development as an IoT Product Specialist. If you’ve ever looked up how to use a RAK3172 or wanted to understand WisBlock’s modular ecosystem, chances are you’ve read one of Carl’s guides or seen his posts. He’s been a huge force in making LoRaWAN approachable — not just by helping build the tools, but by teaching the rest of us how to use them.
In today’s episode, we dig into Carl’s journey from prototyping industrial sensors to helping ship over a million LoRaWAN modules, his philosophy on documentation and community feedback, and what’s next for the LoRaWAN hardware world — from ESP32 + LoRa hybrids to satellite-connected devices and even Meshtastic mesh networks.
Carl’s one of the most thoughtful and enthusiastic builders in the space — let’s get into it.
Links:
Carl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlrowan/
Company: https://www.rakwireless.com/
MeteoScientific
https://console.meteoscientific.com
https://metsci.show
https://support.metsci.show
Transcript
Today, on the business of Lorawan, I'm joined by someone whose fingerprints are all over the Lorawan hardware world, Carl Rowan.
Speaker A:Carl is an electronics engineer, educator, and prototyper based in Manila, Philippines.
Speaker A:He's been deep in the hardware game for over a decade, with a background that spans industrial sensor systems, embedded design, and for the past several years, some of the most widely used Lorawan modules on the market.
Speaker A:He currently works at Rack Wireless, where he helps lead product education and development as an IoT product specialist.
Speaker A: r looked up how to use a rack: Speaker A:He's been a huge force in making Lorawan approachable, not just by helping build the tools, but by.
Speaker A:But by teaching the rest of us how to use them.
Speaker A:In today's episode, we dig into Carl's journey from prototyping industrial sensors to helping ship over a million Lorawan modules, his philosophy on documentation and community feedback, and what's next for the Lorawan hardware world.
Speaker A:From ESP32 and LoRa hybrids to satellite connected devices and even meshtastic mesh networks, Carl is one of the most thoughtful and enthusiastic builders in the space.
Speaker A:Let's get into it.
Speaker A:Carl, thanks so much for coming on the show.
Speaker B:Hi, Nick.
Speaker B:Yeah, I really appreciate the invitation.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm super excited to have you here.
Speaker A:You're a real Lorawan educator, and so it's nice to have someone else come on the show who's as excited about educating people as they are about building.
Speaker A:There's a lot of builders in this space, but I think the education side can use a little help, which is why we're both here.
Speaker A:So thank you.
Speaker B:Yeah, let's see.
Speaker A:You've taught a bunch of people about Lorawan.
Speaker A:You got to watch a bunch of people figure it out.
Speaker A:Do you have a, like, a story about watching someone figure out Lorawan and having, like, a light bulb moment that you're like, oh, yeah, I like.
Speaker A:I always like telling this story.
Speaker A:I always think of this person when I think of how people learn about Lorawan.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B: So I started the LoRaWAN: Speaker B:I'm based in Manila in the Philippines, so I'm far away where the action is really happening.
Speaker B:That time, it's in Europe, primarily.
Speaker B:So one of the.
Speaker B:I believe one of the triggers or the catalyst of the movement is the things network that time because they democratize the Access to the standard.
Speaker B:So at that point, I've seen many people really getting excited on it, like, hey, we can do this network without any kind of limits because it's open, the standard is there, you can read it.
Speaker B:So that's where I initially get involved with the technology.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then there are lots of possible applications that you can do it in agriculture, in different industries.
Speaker B:It's like a horizontal technology.
Speaker B:And then you can have different kinds of verticals in which it can be used with the long range and the low power characteristic and then the flexibility of deployments.
Speaker B:Like you can do it in your own network, you can can do it on the cloud, or a hybrid of this kind of deployments.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's really good and there are lots of people getting really excited on it.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's super cool.
Speaker A:You spent a lot of time.
Speaker A:You spent a lot of time in the forums answering questions.
Speaker A:What are the most common questions that you hear about Lorawan where you're like, oh, yeah, this one's.
Speaker A:I've seen this one before.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, it's not easy to do in the beginning.
Speaker B:Like, if you have no idea, like, because you need to have the network server, you need to have the idea about activation and things like that.
Speaker B:So these are the common questions that I see, because we are on the hardware side and I primarily support devices, the modules that we have.
Speaker B:So the common question, hey, my device is not joining the network, or I have this kind of issue.
Speaker B:So most are basic, like the wrong configuration of the regional bands.
Speaker B:Because in Lorawan we're using the ISM band.
Speaker B:So it's unlicensed band, so it's free for everyone.
Speaker B:However, in each countries, there are different rules on what you can use.
Speaker B:Like in Europe, you're in 800 MHz range.
Speaker B:In US you're in 900 MHz range.
Speaker B:So once you use a different band on your device, on the gateway, on the Lorawan network server, it will not join wrong parameters.
Speaker B:So these are the common issues that I encounter at the beginning.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But after that, usually the user can now proceed on their application.
Speaker A:Got it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So there's a high bar to get in.
Speaker A:And then I found the same to be true.
Speaker A:Once you get in, you're like, oh, I get it.
Speaker A:This is super cool.
Speaker A:Now I'm going to go figure something out.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And you've written a bunch of technical documentation.
Speaker A:That's one of the things you do at rac is write about how to use this.
Speaker A:Is there a method that you use or a way that you think when you're writing this documentation that would be helpful for people.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So when we write the documentation starts with of course with the product itself, the planning, the roadmap.
Speaker B:But then as you go along you'll see the loopholes.
Speaker B:Let's say it's like you're building a house.
Speaker B:So you have different bricks, but it's not perfect.
Speaker B:There are holes, but those holes can be fixed with the feedback of the customers.
Speaker B:So basically that's how we do it.
Speaker B:And then there are multiple questions that keep arising on customers feedback.
Speaker B:We create a dedicated article on that.
Speaker B: base module Dirak: Speaker B:There are many people who wants to change the firmware or they break it or they did something wrong.
Speaker B:So multiple times I have to tell them, hey, you can change, you can have a Fresh1 using STM32Q programmer.
Speaker B:And then I just created a document for that, a guide for that because some people didn't how to use it.
Speaker B:So basically that's how we do the documentation.
Speaker B:It's like a continuous process.
Speaker B:It's not like once you create a product in a document, it's done in our end, it's a continuous updates.
Speaker B:So yeah, we continuously improve the documentation.
Speaker B:It's really helpful to the customer and for us as well.
Speaker B:Less support if the documents are there.
Speaker A:Yeah, if it's clear on how to use it, it's much easier for people to actually use it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then from there let's talk a little bit about prototyping because that's really where you kind of came from, was figuring out like, hey, how do I get this thing that doesn't exist to exist?
Speaker A:How do I make the whole thing work?
Speaker A:Is there a way that you think about prototyping from kind of start to finish or start to finish product?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So when it comes to prototyping, we have the wizblok.
Speaker B:So I always post about that.
Speaker B:So the idea of WizBlock is to create a modular platform for IoT so we have different smart small modules, sensor modules, displays interfaces without soldering.
Speaker B:So you can attach it to itself using a board to board connector.
Speaker B:These are same connectors that we use in our cellular phones.
Speaker B:So these are not hard to source on our side.
Speaker B:So you don't need to solder, you can put them together, we have sample codes and then you can screw it so that it's secured.
Speaker B:So basically it solves the issues of the Headers.
Speaker B:The headers use jumpers, and sometimes this gets unreliable at times.
Speaker B:You know, it depends on what type of wire or jumper you're using.
Speaker B:So with the WizBlock, you can create a compact device and prototype with a complete set until the enclosure side, we have the unified enclosure with different types of attachments.
Speaker B:So that's one way.
Speaker B:I'm not saying that's the perfect way or the only way to do that.
Speaker B:So that's one way we offer the WizBlock.
Speaker B:We also have modules that is in breakout board.
Speaker B:So this is more of a standard to many.
Speaker B:Like there are headers on the side when you attach it to Arduino or ESP32 or whatever microcontroller you use.
Speaker B:Yeah, it depends on the person.
Speaker B:Like maybe some person prototypes by using the modules itself, like they create the boards using kicad.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it really depends on the person, but for me, all it works.
Speaker B:For me, it really depends on the situation.
Speaker A:Got it?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it breaks down something like there's a sensor and then there's what I think of, because I'm not an engineer.
Speaker A:So it's like sensor, brain, radio, battery enclosure, like maybe the five things that you need for.
Speaker A:For a device, and just working your way through how all those things work together.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I always compare it to the reason I compare it to a PC.
Speaker B:So you have the motherboard, you are the cpu, you have the monitor.
Speaker B:So, yeah, you integrate them together.
Speaker B:So you have a working, working device.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And what are the hardware options for someone thinking about entering Lorawan now we've got a bunch of folks who will listen to this, who are like, ah, this is kind of weird.
Speaker A:Like, how do I start this thing and what could I do?
Speaker A:What are some of the options you might give them for a first project?
Speaker B:Yeah, that's a good question, Nick.
Speaker B:So the thing.
Speaker B:The thing with Dorawan is you need to understand their three core concepts.
Speaker B:I three core components.
Speaker B:So you have the device like the one that we're talking about.
Speaker B:Then you have the Lorawan gateway, and then the third one would be the Lorawan network server.
Speaker B:So once you get these three components, it's likely you can create your Lorawan application.
Speaker B:So with the devices, there are many options, there are many vendors.
Speaker B:That's one thing that's good.
Speaker B:With Lorawan, it's a standard.
Speaker B:So even if you get a gateway from a different management manufacturer, it can work on a device from a different manufacturer.
Speaker B:So let's say you get the device from RAC you get the gateways from another vendor, it will work.
Speaker B:Or if you get the gateways from Rack and then you get the device from other vendor, it can work.
Speaker B:Same with the lns.
Speaker B:So the lns, you can use helium, you can use the things network activity.
Speaker B:So these things can work together, interoperable with each other.
Speaker B:So that's good when it comes to options.
Speaker B:Of course, it also depends on what's accessible to the user.
Speaker B:If you have a local vendor there, it might be easier to buy.
Speaker B:But yeah, you need those three components to start with.
Speaker B:The aura one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And really you need kind of a problem to solve.
Speaker A:I think that's always the thing to figure out because it's fun to geek out about it, put it together.
Speaker A:And there's always the magic of the first time you see the thing, actually sense something and you see the uplink come through, you're like, oh, yes, I got it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But really, it's looking for that problem to solve.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And if someone were to come and listen to this and say, what should I get for my first kind of kit?
Speaker A:What kind of kits does Rack have that you guys are psyched on?
Speaker A:It's like, oh, yeah, this is totally the right fit.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we have kit bundles for the wisblocks, so some are dedicated for the common use cases.
Speaker B:We have for the tracking with the gps, we have with the sensors, the environmental sensors.
Speaker B:So that would be a good start for the device because we can just put them together.
Speaker B:We have a variant that already has a working plug and play model.
Speaker B:Then you have to write your own code.
Speaker B:So that's for the device.
Speaker B:For the gateway, we have different kinds of gateways.
Speaker B:We have indoor, outdoor, bigger gateways with lots of complexity.
Speaker B:So it can range from the very basic one to the higher ones.
Speaker B:But the indoor one would be the best recommendation that I can have.
Speaker B:If you have Raspberry PI, we also have a Lorawan concentrator that you can attach the Raspberry PI so you can convert it into a Lorawan gateway.
Speaker B:I started with that with that approach.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was my very first gateway, actually, was a Rack, which is a Raspberry PI.
Speaker A:And I forget the concentrator.
Speaker A:It was the older 1, the 13 1, or maybe the 12 something.
Speaker A: It was in: Speaker A:It was super cool.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, yeah, if you have a Raspberry PI, you think that.
Speaker B:Yeah, I could just buy the concentrator and the hat and I can start on something, have full control again, add more stuff with the Raspberry PI.
Speaker B:And stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that's a good approach as well.
Speaker B:And then with the network server, if you have helium coverage, that's good.
Speaker B:If you have the things network you can attach, you can onboard your gateway to the TTN or chip stack as well.
Speaker B:If you want some open source.
Speaker A:No, there's a ton of options.
Speaker A:And you've worked throughout the ecosystem.
Speaker A:You've worked at was it Philippines?
Speaker A:P and O?
Speaker A:I forget the name of it.
Speaker A:But you've kind of worked throughout the whole thing where it's like, okay, this is on the deployment side and receiving the signals.
Speaker A:This is kind of creating the signals.
Speaker A:This is making sure that people understand what's happening.
Speaker A:What parts of the whole Lorawan system do you get most excited about?
Speaker A:Where you're just like, oh, I can't wait to do this next thing?
Speaker B:I think more on the device side, like for us, we're going to release a new module now.
Speaker B: So we have the rack: Speaker B:It's the STM32 base.
Speaker B:It's a cheap module that released like three or four years ago.
Speaker B:We already sold like over a million of these modules.
Speaker B:Like I'm not sure if you're familiar with that with the Raptor 172, that's our flagship module.
Speaker B:But then there are many, many users integrating it with ESP32.
Speaker B:So now we decided to create a module that is small but integrated with that.
Speaker B:So we will release it soon, maybe late Q2 this year.
Speaker B:We show it in Embedded World last month.
Speaker B:So yeah, I'm more excited on those side, like integrating different things.
Speaker B:Another thing would be the npn, the non Terrestrial networks.
Speaker B:So it's more satellite connectivity.
Speaker B:So that's exciting as well.
Speaker B:There's some traction happening on that space as well.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I think I'm more into the device side than on the network.
Speaker A:Yeah, I saw you holding up the two sticker or the two trackers.
Speaker A:There's the thin little sticker that I think everyone by now is familiar with.
Speaker A:It's the size of a, you know, postcard.
Speaker A:And then there's this slightly thicker one that's this tracking application for Lorawan is such a good one.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So next let's talk about really what's next in Lorawan.
Speaker A:You're excited about the ntn, the non Terrestrial networks.
Speaker A:What else is out there?
Speaker A:I see a bunch of talk about energy harvesting and power management.
Speaker A:Is there stuff on the horizon for Lorawen, for Rack that you see that you're really excited about?
Speaker B:Yeah, we Explore the battery list, some prototypes, but we are not really pushing it right now.
Speaker B:It really depends because it's, you know, the thing is we listen to market.
Speaker B:Like, I'm not sure if, you know, meshtastic, but it's some kind of.
Speaker B:Not in our roadmap before, but suddenly, you know, the trend is going up.
Speaker B:So we shift doing lots of stuff with meshtastic.
Speaker B:So if we see the demand with the batteryless technologies, with the npn, we're looking into it.
Speaker B:But it's not really like a hard roadmap for it right now because Rack is.
Speaker B:We're a hardware company for Lorawan, but the biggest part of the business is the network side.
Speaker B:So we sell lots of gateways and then you also have the WISDM.
Speaker B:So the WizDM is a LoRaWAN gateway management system.
Speaker B:It's more of like a SaaS platform where you can manage your gateways remotely.
Speaker B:You can reboot them, you're notified they're offline, you can update the firmware, change the region.
Speaker B:You can do lots of things remotely as long as the gateway is live.
Speaker B:So, yeah, so this is the big.
Speaker B:It's one of the biggest part of the business, like the gateways stuff.
Speaker B:So, yeah, with the NPN, solar and different trends in the IoT space.
Speaker B:We're listening, we're looking into it, but right now there's no clear roadmap for it.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:So the meshtastic stuff, which is Lora but not a lorawan, really took kind of over for you guys.
Speaker A:We're like, okay, we're going to have to service this market.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because the idea is, you know, the meshtastic is there for quite a while.
Speaker B:Like, they started radio disaster, disaster radio or something like that, and then they moved to a meshtastic branding to cover more use cases than just a disaster.
Speaker B:They primarily use ESP32 on that project.
Speaker B:So most of the devices out there based on ESP32.
Speaker B: the Nordic Semiconductor NRF: Speaker B:The users expect to recharge it every day or every two days.
Speaker B:But then with the NRF 50 840, the device can go for a week without any charging or beyond that.
Speaker B:It depends on the use case.
Speaker A:Impressive.
Speaker B:Yeah, because.
Speaker B:And then the Wisblok, our main core there, the RAC461, it's based on that chip on Nordic.
Speaker B:And then someone ported it to.
Speaker B:To meshtastic.
Speaker B:And then we see, hey, these people are Keep.
Speaker B:Some people are buying our modules.
Speaker B:Who are this?
Speaker B:Then we found out that it's meshtastic.
Speaker B:So then we create lots of stuff with it.
Speaker B:Like we have now the repeaters, you have the gateways, you have a wish mesh.
Speaker B:We created the brand called Wish Mesh.
Speaker B:So it's the product line, the wish mesh.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We have the wisp block, we have the wish gate.
Speaker B:Then for the mesh, we have the wish mesh.
Speaker A:Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:I think I converted some of my ten 7 01s I'm looking at right now to a meshtastic.
Speaker A:It was just super cool.
Speaker A: s for helium projects back in: Speaker A:I think we're doing a bunch of tracking and field testing all around London and Barcelona and in Portugal.
Speaker A:It was super cool to kind of see those come out.
Speaker A:I think that's one of the really important parts of Lorawan is being able to see something.
Speaker A:And so when you go to a place and you can say, yep, here I've got coverage.
Speaker A:Here's the screen.
Speaker A:I'm looking at this thing.
Speaker A:I know that I've got, you know, this, this amount of coverage here.
Speaker A:And so it's super cool to see you guys treating that pretty seriously and saying, yeah, this is how you can do it.
Speaker B:Yeah, same with me.
Speaker B:I use the.
Speaker B:The field tester as well to map helium coverage here in Manila.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's not as big as before, but still the network is still up.
Speaker B:Like, there are places that you can still send packets of the helium.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I had some clients in the Philippines back when I was doing all the helium consulting.
Speaker A:So I remember taking a look at that place.
Speaker A:So, Rip and Carl, is there anything coming down the pipe that you're ultra pumped about in the next couple, let's say the next quarter, next couple weeks or months?
Speaker A:You're like, keep your eye on this.
Speaker A:This is coming out.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What's going to release very soon would be the new modules that we have combining LoRa with ESP32.
Speaker B:So there are two modules.
Speaker B:There are two modules involved on that.
Speaker B: So one would be the RAC: Speaker B:So it's smaller, but the previous one is a bit bigger, like a 2.2mcus there.
Speaker B:But yeah, it depends on the.
Speaker B:On the user, on how he will select on that.
Speaker B:Yeah, that will be the latest announcement.
Speaker A:Yeah, that'll be exciting, I'm sure.
Speaker A:When they come out, you'll have your hands full making sure that the documentation is correct.
Speaker B:Yeah, we're doing that.
Speaker B:Yeah, right now.
Speaker A:Ripping.
Speaker A:Carl, thanks so much for making the time and coming on.
Speaker A:Always cool to talk about Lorwan with some of the pros in the biz.
Speaker A:Thanks, man.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:Thank you, Nick.
Speaker B:Good luck.
Speaker B:Congratulations on your new podcast.
Speaker A:That's it for this episode of the Business of Lorawan.
Speaker A:I built this show for you, the one person in about 100,000 who actually has an interest in how this tiny little slice of the world works.
Speaker A:Of course, this isn't just about you and me.
Speaker A:It's about everyone in Lorawen and how we can work together to make an exceptional thing.
Speaker A:Lorawen is a dispersed community with little pockets of knowledge all around the world, and most of them don't talk to each other as much as I'd like.
Speaker A:So the first and best thing we can do to make this show better is to get more guests on who I don't even know exist.
Speaker A:I want to talk to strangers, strangers who are your friends.
Speaker A:Please introduce me to the most rad Lorawan ear you know, or point them my way.
Speaker A:Or hell, reach out and give me a name.
Speaker A:When it comes to running down Lorawan guests, I can track a falcon on a cloudy day.
Speaker A:If you can remember met sci show, you can find me.
Speaker A:That's M e t s C I s H o w Metsci Show.
Speaker A:Okay, so finding guests is the first and by far the most important thing we can do to make this show better because that means we are sharing more knowledge with each other.
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Speaker A:That's enough to run a sensor for about a year.
Speaker A:If you're firing off a packet about every hour.
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