LIONv3

LIONv3-R Module

Overview

The LIONv3-R is an IoT and Direct-to-Satellite (DtS) board built around the ESP32-C6, with 16 MB of external flash and local connectivity over Wi-Fi, Zigbee and Thread. Its radio supports LR-FHSS alongside conventional LoRa, enabling reliable uplinks to satellites or terrestrial gateways from remote sites, at device densities conventional LoRa cannot sustain. By bridging local wireless networks with satellite reach, the LIONv3-R is a complete, scalable hardware platform for telemetry, global asset tracking and remote sensing.

Repository Organization

• docs: Systems engineering, datasheets, requirements (SRD), and interface control (ICD).
• hardware: Native KiCad project, schematics, and manufacturing files.
• mechanics: 3D models, technical drawings, and physical integration constraints.
• software: Embedded firmware and support testing scripts.

Releases

Contributing

We welcome contributions to this project! To ensure a smooth collaboration and maintain our engineering standards, please review our Contribution Guidelines before opening any issues, modifying the hardware design, or submitting pull requests.

References

This board was developed from scratch, but draws on the earlier LIONv1 and LIONv2 designed by Diego Anestor Coutinho and Arielli Ajudarte. The v3 introduces several improvements:

• Dedicated low-power MCU on board
• LR-FHSS support and a more capable LoRa transceiver, covering both sub-GHz and S-band
• External flash for store-and-forward applications
• More efficient antenna
• More compact form factor

License

This project utilizes a dual-licensing approach to maximize flexibility and adoption:

• Hardware: The hardware designs and schematics are licensed under the permissive CERN-OHL-P-2.0 open-hardware license. You are entirely free to use, modify, distribute, and commercialize the design without any copyleft obligations to share your derived works under the same terms.
• Software: All embedded firmware and utility scripts are licensed under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code without restriction, provided the original copyright notice and permission notice are included.

Acknowledgments

This work was carried out at the National Institute of Telecommunications (Inatel) with the support of three research laboratories. The EMBRAPII Inatel Competence Center for 5G and 6G Networks (xGMobile) supported this project through its Talent Development Program (PFT xGMobile), alongside the Radio & Communication Laboratory (RadioCom Lab) and the Wireless and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (WAI Lab). Many thanks to the researchers and staff of all three laboratories for their help and for the infrastructure that made the LIONv3-R possible.

_{Built with ❤️ by Rodrigo de Carvalho Andrade}