5G RedCap leverages 5G features, limits bandwidth to 85Mbps for industrial IoT applications

5G Evolution 5G RedCap, LPWA, eMBB

5G is often associated with Gigabit speeds when found in mobile handsets or connected laptops, while there’s also 5G LPWA for battery-powered IoT devices. 5G RedCap, which stands for Reduced Capability, offers a middle ground for industrial IoT applications that keep some 5G features such as low latency, low power consumption, enhanced security, and network slicing while limiting the bandwidth to around 85 Mbps. 5G RedCap, also called NR Lite, will be part of 3GPP Release 17 scheduled for later in 2022, and further improved in Rel 18 in 2023. It will be first found in applications currently relying on LTE Cat 1 through Cat 4, and can be considered a light version of the 5G standard. An article on Telit says Rel 18 will specifically address the low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) segment currently carried seamlessly (e.g. no hardware changes required) in 5G by LTE-M and NB-IoT. I found out […]

Semtech LR1120 enables global asset tracking with multi-band LoRa, WiFi, and GNSS

Semtech LR1120

Semtech LoRa Edge LR1120 is an ultra-low-power multi-band chip designed for global geolocation and asset tracking applications including direct satellite-connected Internet of Things (IoT) applications in supply chain management and logistics. Not only does the LR1120 features the usual sub-GHz LoRa radio found in most other chips from the company, but also comes with 2.4GHz LoRa and SATCOM S-Band support for satellite, as well as a GNNS radio compatible with GPS and Beidou, and a WiFi radio for indoor positioning (but no WiFi RTT/802.11mc support). Semtech LR1120 key features and specifications: Low-power high-sensitivity LoRa/(G)FSK half-duplex RF transceiver Worldwide ISM frequency bands support in the range 150 – 960MHz (Sub-GHz) and 2.4GHz, as well as 1.9-2.1GHz (S-Band) Low Noise Figure RX front-end High power PA path +22dBm in the Sub-GHz band Up to +11.5dBm in the 2.4GHz band LR-FHSS modulator Integrated PA regulator supply selector to simplify dual power +15/+22dBm with […]

Morse Micro MM6104, MM6108 Wi-Fi HaLow SoCs support up to 32.5 Mbps data rate

Morse Micro MM61xx

Australian company Morse Micro MM6104 and MM6108 Wi-Fi HaLow SoCs should offer some competition to the Newracom NRC chips found in all 802.11ah WiFi HaLow boards and devices released so far. Both MM610x chips have similar features, but the MM6104 SoC supports 1/2/4 MHz channel bandwidth for up to 15 Mbps data rate – just like the Newracom NRC7292 chip – while the more powerful MM6108 can handle a data rate of up to 32.5 Mbps thanks to 1/2/4/8 MHz channel bandwidth. MM6104/MM6108 specifications: Optional 32-bit RISC-V Host Applications Processor (HAP) Single-Chip IEEE802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLow transceiver for low-power, long-reach IoT applications Worldwide Sub-1 GHz frequency bands (850MHz to 950MHz) On-chip power amplifier with support for external PA option MM6104 – 1/2/4 MHz channel bandwidth for up to 15 Mbps data rate (Note: the datasheet reads “single-stream max data rate up to 40 Mbps”, but it appears to be a mistake […]

Ai-Thinker Ra-08 LoRaWAN module features ASR6601 chip (Sponsored)

Ai Thinker Ra-08 LoRaWAN Module

Ai-Thinker Ra-08/08H are new LoRaWAN modules based on ASR Microelectronics ASR6601 module featuring a 48MHz ARM Cortex M4 microcontroller and Semtech SX1262 transceiver allowing long-range, low power communication for the Internet of Things. Both LoRaWAN modules share most of the same specifications, but the Ra-08 module operates in the 410-525MHz frequency band, while the Ra-08H module works in the widely used 803MHz to 930MHz band. Ai-Thinker also provides a development kit for each module. Ai-Thinker Ra-08/Rs-08H key features and specifications: Programmable embedded Arm Cortex-M4 MCU with 128 KB of Flash and 16 KB of SRAM LoRa radio Sensitivity – -138 dBm @ SF12/125KHz Tx power – Up to +22dBm Frequencies Ra-08 – 410 MHz to 525 MHz Ra-07H – 803 MHz to 930 MHz Spread spectrum factor – SF5, SF6, SF7, SF8, SF9, SF10, SF11, SF12 LoRa, (G)FSK, BPSK, and (G)MSK modulation Bit rate up to 62.5 Kbps in LoRa […]

Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L AI development board comes with built-in LTE Cat M1 modem, 96boards form factor

RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L 96boards extended SBC

Geniatech “AHAURA” RS-G2L100 / “AKITIO” RS-V2L100 is a Renesas RZ/G2L and RZ/V2L Cortex-A55/M33 development board that follows 96boards CE Extended v2.0 form factor, and is equipped with a Renesas LTE Cat M1 modem. Both RZ/G2L and RZ/V2L processors are basically the same, but the latter adds the “DRP-AI” (dynamically reconfigurable processor) AI accelerator for computer vision applications. The board also comes with up to 4GB RAM, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a wireless WiFi and Bluetooth module, as well as Full HD HDMI video output, plus some USB ports, and the usual low-speed and high-speed expansion connectors from the 96Boards standard. Geniatech AHAURA RS-G2L100 and AKITIO RS-V2L100 specifications: SoC – Renesas RZ/G2L or RZ/V2L with dual-core Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.2 GHz, Arm Cortex-M33 core @ up to 200 MHz, Arm Mali-G31 GPU, and DRP-AI vision accelerator (RZ/V2L only) System Memory – 4GB (default) or 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 8GB, 16GB, 64GB, […]

Low-power satellite IoT SoC works with Totum’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network

Totum LEO Satellite IoT Network

Orca Systems ORC3990 is a low-power satellite Internet of Things (IoT) SoC that works with Totum’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network of satellites and targets outdoor and indoor tracking and monitoring applications. It’s not the first time we read about satellites being used for LPWAN networks, as Sigfox launched LEO satellites a few years ago to provide worldwide coverage even in remote locations like the Sahara desert, the two poles, and oceans. But I had never heard of Totum or Orca Systems before, so let’s have a closer look. Orca Systems ORC3990 ORC3990 specifications: Unnamed Arm cores Integrated RF Transceiver Low Power Sensor-to-Satellite (LP-S2S) connectivity in the 2.4 GHz ISM band Totum DMSS modem for improved doppler performance Link budget enables indoor signal coverage Support location fixes with 20m accuracy Low power – 10+ year battery life Package – 7x7mm QFN chip Temperature Range – -40 – +85°C Process – […]

Arduino Portenta gets an LTE Cat. M1/NB IoT GNSS shield

Arduino Portenta LTE Cat-M1 NB-IoT GNSS shield

Arduino PRO Portenta family of industrial boards is getting a new LTE Cat. M1/NB-IoT GNSS shield that adds global connectivity and positioning capabilities through the Cinterion TX62-W LPWAN IoT module by Thales. The shield works with the Portenta H7 board as well as its lower-cost variants and Arduino MKR boards and will power industry 4.0 and edge computing solutions such as positioning, asset tracking, and remote monitoring applications at the factory, in agriculture, public utilities, and smart cities. Portenta CatM1 shield specifications: Cinterion TX62-W module with: 3GPP Rel.14 Cat.M1, Cat.NB1, Cat.NB2 Global coverage with a single SKU FDD-LTE Bands – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 66, 71, 85 LTE Cat. M1 – DL: max. 300 kbps, UL: max. 1.1 Mbps LTE Cat. NB1 – DL: max. 27 kbps, UL: max. 63 kbps LTE Cat. NB2 – DL: max. 124 kbps, […]

Sigfox is in financial trouble

Sigfox coverage

While there are many LPWAN standards, in recent years, we wrote mostly about LoRaWAN, NB-IoT & LTE Cat M1/2, as well as Sigfox to a lesser extent. The company managing the latter, also called Sigfox appears to be in financial trouble with the company placed in “redressement judiciaire”, a court-supervised business recovery/turnaround procedure in French law that looks to be similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US, and sometimes also translated as “receivership”. LTE IoT standards like NB-IoT and Cat M1/M2 rely on the vast infrastructure established for phones, while LoRaWAN allows the community and private companies to build their own network with gateways, but Sigfox decided to build and own their network and charge a monthly/yearly fee per device to access the network. Sigfox has extensive coverage in Europe, South Africa, Japan and South Korea, New Zealand, and part of South East Asia, but more sporadic coverage in […]

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