u‑blox, a vendor of wireless and positioning modules and chips, announced Monday its initial RPMA module for Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWA) IoT applications, as well as four new LTE Cat 1 cellular modules.
u‑blox will be showing the NANO‑S100, its first RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) module for the IoT (Internet of Things), made in partnership with Ingenu, at the European Utility Week 2016. u‑blox is also showcasing four new LARA and TOBY LTE Cat 1 modules.
The NANO‑S100, u‑blox’s RPMA module created in partnership with Ingenu, is designed to support LPWA IoT applications. RPMA is a low‑power wide‑area channel access method used exclusively with machine‑to‑machine (M2M) communication for IoT applications, such as asset tracking and smart metering.
With 177 dB link budget, RPMA devices deliver a wide range, even underground or indoors, and as RPMA utilizes the globally available 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio band, devices using it can work worldwide, providing scale and cost benefits.
The NANO‑S100 from u‑box features extended temperature range and will allow for simple integration of positioning services, and is set to be available in the first quarter of next year.
At its booth, u‑blox will have an RPMA exploration kit on display to depict the setup customers can use to test their applications on RPMA, even before a local network is available.
u‑blox is launching four new LTE Cat 1 modules in ultra‑compact LGA packages LARA and TOBY form factors to serve markets worldwide with newly rolled out LTE Cat 1 networks. LTE Cat 1 provides data at speeds up to 10 Mbps, but at much lower cost than LTE Cat 3 or Cat 4 technology.
The LARA‑R211 supports 2G fallback for the European market; for the US market, the TOBY‑R202 supports HSPA+ fallback for AT&T and T‑Mobile networks; the LARA‑R204 is a single‑mode LTE Cat 1 device for Verizon networks; and the TOBY‑R200 will support US LTE Cat 1 networks with worldwide 2G and 3G fallback.
u‑blox will also show the recently announced LARA‑R3121, a single‑mode module for the European market based on the in‑house u‑blox UBX‑R3 LTE Cat 1 modem technology platform.
LARA‑R211, TOBY‑R202, and TOBY‑R200 support VoLTE, providing high quality voice support for applications such as security and surveillance, thus eliminating the need for a separate 3G module. All LTE Cat 1 modules are based on the u‑blox nested design compatibility, which means that migration between 2G, 3G and 4G technologies is easy and supported on the same board layout.
