Back in 2012, we were introduced to the Nike+ FuelBand, which proved to have the appeal of wrist‑based activity tracking, and now ever since the category has exploded. Nowadays, a whole industry has emerged around this market, led by brands like Fitbit and Xiaomi. Whereas early fitness trackers could get by on simple activity monitoring using a basic accelerometer, nowadays the market is much more competitive. 

  Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u-blox, announced that its LEA-M8T concurrent GNSS timing module is now being used by V3Novus, a provider of a high quality electronic components and embedded system designs based in India, in its latest Precision Synchronisation System with built-in NTP Server.

If you’ve ever lost your keys, wallet, or mobile phone, you probably know that terrible feeling that comes with losing something important. A mixture of fear, regret, and helplessness – most of us have experienced it and will do anything to prevent it from happening again. Guest blog by Florian Bousquet.

Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u‑blox, has announced the launch of its full Bluetooth 5 compliant NINA-B3 wireless MCU module. Featuring Bluetooth low energy long range connectivity, high data transfer rates and supporting Bluetooth mesh and 802.15.4, NINA‑B3 caters to applications in smart buildings, smart cities, and the Industry 4.0, including smart lighting systems, industrial sensor networks, asset tr...

When faced with the destructive powers of nature there is not a lot that can be done. Severe weather systems such as hurricanes, typhoons, and winter storms regularly strike population centres, and their impact can be catastrophic. For the longest time it was difficult to accurately predict a storm’s arrival and might.

Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u‑blox, has announced the latest member of its ZOE‑M8 series of ultra-small GNSS SiPs. The company claims that the ZOE‑M8B is industry’s most power efficient GNSS System‑in‑Package (SiP) available for small battery powered consumer devices. It combines performance with ultra-low power to deliver an optimised solution for portable and wearable devices targeting the fitn...

With high-level autonomous vehicles, the necessary elements are starting to roll out as GM deploys Vehicle‑to‑Vehicle (V2V) systems in its vehicles, while Vehicle‑to‑Everything (V2X) test beds begin in Tampa, New York, and Wyoming. It’s finally started: Automotive giant GM has begun V2V deployments with the rollout of dedicated short range radio (DSRC) in its 2017 Cadillac CTS models.

  Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u-blox, has announced certification of its SARA-R410M module on AT&T's LTE-M network to support a broad spectrum of IoT applications, such as utility meters, telematics, asset and vehicle tracking, security systems, building automation, as well as smart lighting solutions and parking sensors.

Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u-blox, has announced enhancements to its series of NINA stand alone short range radio modules. NINA B1 Bluetooth low energy modules are now Bluetooth 5 qualified. And for the first time, the ultra-compact NINA-W101 and NINA-W102 WiFi and Bluetooth wireless modules give developers access to their microcontroller units (MCU), allowing them to run their own applications right in th...

All across Europe, Asia and the United States, smart electricity metering is being rolled out, and other utilities are looking to get in on this action. Those involved in water, gas and heat are now also seeking to take advantage of the benefits. There’s a key difference, however, between the smart meters used for electricity and those required for other utilities. This is around choosing suitable communications technology.

Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u-blox, has announced that its SARA-N2 series of NB IoT (LTE Cat NB1) modules is enabling the Narrowband IoT (NB IoT) connected smart street lighting control system from Flashnet in Romania, inteliLIGHT. A pilot project is already deployed on the OTE (Telekom) network in Patras, Greece. With hundreds of existing projects deployed worldwide, InteliLIGHT’s smart street lighti...

The ODIN-W2 stand alone IoT gateway module from u-blox has achieved ATEX certification for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (zone 0). Already designed to withstand harsh environmental and electrical conditions, the professional grade, dual band WiFi and dual‑mode Bluetooth module is now certified for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, found in the oil and gas, mining and petrochemical industries.

Cast your minds back to 1997, what were you doing? Daniel Ammann, Jean‑Pierre Wyss and Andreas Thiel were inventing the world’s smallest GPS module as part of their post‑graduate research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). The idea was a simple as it was ingenious and, within a matter of months, they teamed up with their professor and a well‑wishing mentor and investor to found u‑blox.

Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u‑blox, and Atoll Solutions Pvt, an IoT gateway platform, sensor node and wireless module provider, have announced the availability of an IoT starter kit based on LTE Cat M1 and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) modules from u‑blox. With an extensive smart city programme already announced, India’s infrastructure is moving towards low-power wide-area (LPWA) technologies to enable ...

A joint venture has been announced by Bosch, Geo++, Mitsubishi Electric and u-blox. Sapcorda Services will bring high precision GNSS positioning services to mass market applications. The four parties recognised that existing solutions for GNSS positioning services do not meet the needs of emerging high precision GNSS mass markets. As a result, they decided to join forces to facilitate the establishment of a worldwide available and affordable...

u blox has announced that its LARA R3121 has received a 2017 IoT Evolution Product of the Year Award from IoT Evolution magazine and IoT Evolution World. The u blox LARA R3121 module comprises a single mode LTE Category 1 modem and a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning engine specifically designed for IoT and M2M devices.

Before the end of the decade, the number of connected things is projected to grow exorbitantly. Looking at different sources, projections for the number of connected objects by 2020 could be as low as 26 billion or as high as 50 billion. But even the low end of that range is quite large, so it is reasonable to expect connectedness to be commonplace and expected within the next few years.

  Global provider of wireless and positioning modules and chips, u-blox, has announced that it is partnering with key players of the IoT ecosystem, Huawei, Vivo, CAS Tecnologia and PinMyPet running lab and field tests inside new Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT or Cat NB1) networks in Brazil. The first tests are ongoing since Q1 2017 and initially focused on metering and tracking applications.

The first NB-IoT Smart Meter has been developed by Huawei, which has been one of the main contributors towards standardising NB-IoT technology (4.5G technology), in partnership with JANZ CE and u-blox. EDP Distribuição is using this technology for a pilot project as part of the UPGRID project of the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission. The infrastructure network using NB-IoT technology has been installed by NOS, b...

Engineers and sales can get along better, and customers get safer automobiles by using the ISO 26262 as agreed‑upon set of rules. “Shoot the engineer and ship the product,” is a fun maxim that has stood the test of time. Engineers and developers like to get it right, step back, and take pride in the beauty of their work. CEOs, marketing, and sales want to get it shipped, on time and below budget.