Vodafone Group, Huawei and u-blox have completed the first successful commercial trial of pre-standard NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things). NB-IoT is a new technology that will extend the IoT by making it more efficient to connect objects to the internet which are in areas hard to reach by mobile connectivity or that require a long battery life.

u-blox officially inaugurated its new R&D center in Tampere, Finland yesterday. It is the company’s thirteenth R&D site worldwide. The facility, already staffed and operational, will initially focus on further developing GNSS technology, in close collaboration with the u-blox offices in Thalwil, Switzerland, Reigate, UK and Espoo, Finland.

u-blox has selected the ARM mbed IoT Device Platform for customers creating host-less IoT wireless applications. By adopting the open ARM mbed environment and the u-blox ODIN-W2 module, designers can rapidly develop and deploy wireless IoT applications with ease.

Liverock Technologies has announced the launch of a smart IoT gateway, developed in collaboration with u-blox. Coral Edge, the first mobile gateway equipped with a PoE power supply function to keep the IP camera running at all times, suits industrial and IoT/M2M applications such as remote monitoring of parking lots and solar power generators.

u-blox has announced a further co-operation with Cohda Wireless. To meet rapidly increasing demand for V2X modules for trials, early deployments and infrastructure roll-out, Cohda Wireless and u-blox have agreed on an exclusive license for the use of the latest MK5 module design, leveraging u-blox strengths in quality manufacture and global supply of automotive components for positioning and communications.

u-blox has announced a portfolio of LTE low data-rate cellular modules supporting LTE Cat. 1 for IoT and M2M applications in the industrial and automotive markets. Major carriers are rolling out LTE networks worldwide at an accelerated pace, considering the sunset of their existing 2G and 3G networks. Devices that are expected to operate for years to come need to incorporate LTE technology in order to ensure longevity.

In implementing Long Term Evolution, or 4G LTE networks, communications operators have achieved the fastest ever rollout of a network standard. Its popularity is partially explained by our hunger for bandwidth, particularly in a world where the growth in data traffic is accelerating, driven by our thirst for streaming video from YouTube, IPTV, Netflix and others. In fact, video is now the largest consumer of video bandwidth. It's also interesting...

u-blox has announced TOBY-L201, the world’s first 4G LTE Cat 4 module with 3G WCDMA fall-back, which works on AT&T and Verizon networks. TOBY-L201 switches automatically or via AT command to AT&T’s or Verizon’s network, without the need to load firmware. Depending on which carrier’s SIM card is inserted, TOBY-L201 recognises the carrier and starts on that carrier’s network.

Romteck Australia has announced a collaboration with u-blox in order to upgrade its product portfolio, including the company's flagship product, Romteck ASE. Designed to overcome the shortcomings of more traditional fire alarm systems, it constantly monitors tens of thousands of building alarms and centralises these at a fire alarm monitoring center that then relays confirmed fire alarm information to the relevant fire and rescue services.

While many of the benefits that radios combining multiple protocols offer may be obvious, many more may not. By Pelle Svensson, Product Marketing Manager, u-blox

The latest member of the M2M Alliance has been announced. u-blox’ successful range of cellular, Bluetooth, WiFi and global positioning components allows the company to provide end-to-end connectivity and location-awareness to any device in the IoT, enabling future connected vehicles, connected cities and connected industry.

In an attempt to improve road traffic safety and efficiency, u-blox has become a member of the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium. The industrial-driven consortium is dedicated to the development and deployment of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). 

u-blox announces the CAM-M8C, a small, low profile GNSS positioning module with an integrated wideband chip antenna for reception across the entire L1 band. The module offers simultaneous GNSS operation for GPS/GLONASS, GPS/BeiDou or GLONASS/BeiDou to deliver accurate, jamming-resistant and reliable positioning anywhere in the world.

u-blox has announced TOBY-L280, the first LTE Category 4 rugged module in an LGA package that supports FDD-LTE in frequency band 28. Band 28 is now in commercial use in Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, with further rollouts planned throughout the Asia Pacific region, Brazil and Argentina. Capable of download speeds up to 150Mb/s, u-blox says that the TOBY-L280 is the world’s fastest and smallest modem of its kind.

Increasingly dense urban environments, covered car parks and multi-level highways pose a significant problem to vehicle navigation systems. Two techniques are used: dead reckoning and map matching but using the latter increases complexity and creates a dependency on 3rd-party providers of accurate map data. Also, the map data is constantly changing, especially in high-density cities.

u-blox has announced the EMMY-W1 series of multiradio modules for easy, reliable implementation of automotive short-range connectivity applications, such as in-car hotspots, rear seat entertainment, hands-free telephony, rear view camera communications and GUI mirroring with simple, user-friendly NFC pairing.

Providing predictable, reliable results and easy implementation of in-car wireless connectivity, u-blox announces the ELLA-W1 series of compact, multiradio modules. Applications for the host-based, short-range transceiver modules include hands-free telephony, in-car hotspots, rear view cameras and GUI mirroring.

A stand-alone multiradio module designed for IoT applications, the ODIN-W262, has been introduced by u-blox. The module makes adding wireless connectivity to any product quick and easy, with the added benefit that it is radio type-approved in countries across the world. The module supports multiple concurrent WiFi (2.4 and 5GHz), Classic Bluetooth and BLE links to provide the greatest flexibility possible.

BARTEC PIXAVI has selected u-blox’s LISA-U230 3G cellular module for use in its Impact X ‘intrinsically safe smartphone’. CSA Class 1, Zone 1, IECEx and ATEX Zone 1 certified, the rugged smartphone is both explosion and waterproof. The LISA-U230 is a 6-band 3G cellular module, with a 2G fall back capability, that is designed for devices used in tough industrial and outdoor environments.

Swiss based u-blox has acquired automotive-grade Bluetooth and WiFi module products and a team of key engineers from lesswire, a subsidiary of the PRETTL group. Lesswire, which was founded in 1999, is a privately owned company that provides robust vehicle-ready short range wireless communication modules to Tier-1 automotive electronics suppliers in Europe and Asia.