u-blox GSM Module for Residential and Industrial Smart Gas Meters

“Our SARA-G350 ATEX extends our feature-scalable SARA 2G module series to address devices that must operate in potentially explosive environments such as residential and industrial gas meters, fuel storage facilities, chemical plants, and oil platforms”, said Thomas Nigg, VP Product Marketing at u-blox, “Our ATEX and IECEx certified modem significantly lowers the hurdle for our customers to ATEX/IECEx certify their end devices.”



The ATEX-95 and IECEx equipment directive are EU and international regulations specifying the safety criteria for electrical equipment used in explosive atmospheres. It requires extensive testing at the module level as well as regular audits at design and manufacturing sites in order to continuously verify adherence to stringent requirements.



Packaged in a compact 16 x 26 mm LGA module, SARA modules provide a perfect solution to a wide range of M2M applications requiring dual or quad-band GSM/GPRS, voice and/or data, optional Internet suite (embedded TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTTP and FTP), and in-band modem support for eCall and ERA GLONASS vehicle emergency call applications.



The SARA Land Grid Array form factor enables compact and supports A-GPS for accelerated positioning used in telematics devices, and u-blox’ unique CellLocate hybrid positioning technology to facilitate advanced location-aware systems requiring indoor positioning.



RIL software for Android and Embedded Windows is available free of charge.



SARA modules are manufactured in ISO/TS 16949 certified sites. Each module is intensively inspected and tested during production. The modules are fully qualified according to ISO 16750 - Environmental conditions and electrical testing for electrical and electronic equipment for road vehicles to provide high durability and reliability.



SARA-G350 ATEX samples are available in July 2013.