RPMA and LTE Cat 1 modules presented at EU Utility Week 2016

"As the IoT progresses, the gap between existing wireless options and what the market needs is growing," said Stefano Moioli, u-blox Director of Product Management Cellular.

"At u-blox we're excited to fill the gaps both for the low-power wide area network needs in the unlicensed spectrum, with our new NANO-S100 modules using RPMA technology, and in the licensed spectrum for devices that need more bandwidth, with our new LARA and TOBY LTE Cat 1 cellular modules, which will take advantage of widely deployed LTE Cat 1 networks in Europe and North America."

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 M2M communication for IoT applications, such as asset tracking and smart metering.

With 177 dB link budget, RPMA devices have unprecedented range, even underground or indoors, and because RPMA utilises 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. Availability will be in Q1 2017.

At its booth, u-blox will have an RPMA exploration kit on display to depict the setup customers can use to easily 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, https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/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 all 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.

See the new devices for yourself, and explore how easy it is to develop IoT applications with RPMA, from November 15 to 17 at EU Utility Week, Barcelona, Spain, Booth 69, Hall 3H.