lte News - Page 9 of 20 - CNX Software

March 9, 2018March 9, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Hologram Introduces Global IoT eSIM Chip

Hologram provides a SIM card for IoT projects that can be used in most of the world, and I own a developer SIM card that’s very convenient for reviews and evaluation with 10MB free data per month, which I used for example in a recent 3G HAT board for Raspberry Pi. The company also manage network by software, so they were on of the first SIM providers to enable 4G LTE Cat M1 and NB-IoT without changing anything to the SIM card itself. Since everything is programmable, not tied to any specific service provider, the SIM card form factors may not be the most convenient, and instead for a lower form factor, and possibly better reliability Hologram eSIM based on MFF2 form factor may be a better solution for new projects. The chip measures just 6x5mm with 0.67mm thickness, and would be soldered on the board of your cellular IoT […]

March 7, 2018March 7, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Nutaq PicoLTE IoT Kit Allows NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 Devices Testing Anywhere

If you’ve been following cellular IoT news you must have read plenty of announced about NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 (eMTC) hardware platforms bring LTE connectivity at lower power and somewhat lower cost than existing 3GPP networks. That’s all good, and you may have decided to go ahead with a commercial project, except none of the Telco are providing LTE IoT connectivity in your area just yet, or if it does, you may also want to test your device in bands not allowed/supported in your country (at a permitted power level). If that’s the case, Nutaq PicoLTE IoT Kit should help as an LTE NarrowBand & Cat M test measurement platform for IoT that can test NB-IoT and Cat-M1 devices in all frequency bands. Nutaq PICOLTE IoT kit key features: Supports M1 & NB-IoT devices Proven compatibility with M1 & NB-IoT devices from over 5 manufacturers Test multiple devices simultaneously […]

March 5, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

CUBOT X18 Plus 4G Smartphone Sells for as Low as $79.99 (Promo)

If you are on the lookout for an inexpensive 4G phone, Cubox X18 Plus smartphone with a Mediatek MT6750T processor running Android 8.0, a 6″ display, 4GB RAM, and 64GB flash may be worth a look as GearBest offers the device for as low as $79.99 shipped. The trick is that it is a flash sale with only the first 10 units sold at 9:00 UTC on March 5-9 (50 units in total), so you’d have to be fast and lucky to get it at that price. If you miss the flash sale, promo price is $129.99 until March 12. CUBOT X18 Plus smartphone: SoC – Mediatek MT6750T Octa-core (4+4) processor @ up to 1.5GHz with Arm Mali-T860 MP2 GPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot up to 256GB Display – 5.99″ 2160×1080 touchscreen display Camera – 20+2MP dual rear camera with AF […]

March 1, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Avnet Silica NB-IoT Sensor Shield Works with mbed OS 5, STM32 Nucleo Board

If for some reasons, none of the many NB-IoT boards launched recently suit your needs, there’s yet another option with Avnet Silica NB-IoT sensor shield, that supports – despite the name – also supports LTE Cat M1 (eMTC) beside NB-IoT (LTE Cat NB1), and comes with Arduino headers, as well as a Pmod connector. The board relies on Quectel BG96 module, and can be controlled with Arm mbed OS 5 when connected to STM32 Nucleo board. NB-IoT Sensor Shield specifications: Cellular Module – Quectel BG96 LPWA Module Multi Modes: Cat.M1, Cat.NB1, EGPRS Global bands Cat M1/NB1: B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B8 B12 B13 B18 B19 B20 B26 B28 B39 (B39 for Cat M1 only) EGPRS: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz Voice Over LTE support (M1 only) – PCM digital audio interface SIM card holder (also optional embedded SIM) Optional GNSS – GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou/Compass, Galileo, QZSS Expansion – Arduino headers, Pmod connector […]

February 26, 2018February 27, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Huawei MediaPad M5 Tablets Come with Kirin 960 Processor, 8.4″ or 10.8″ Display, Optional LTE

Huawei has unveiled three MediaPad M5 tablets at Mobile World Congress 2018 with one model with a 8.4″ display, another with a 10.8″ display, and a Pro model adding a pen, support for an optional keyboard cover, more storage to the latter. All models will come with Hisilicon/Huawei Kirin 960 octa-core Cortex A73/A53 processor, displays with 2560×1600 resolution, plus WiFi and optional LTE connectivity. MediaPad M5 / M5 Pro specifications: SoC – Kiron 960 octa-core processor with four Cortex A73 cores @ 2.4 GHz, four Cortex A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G71MP8 GPU System Memory – 4GB RAM Storage – 32 to 128GB internal storage, micro SD card slot Display – 8.4″ or 10.8″ 2560 x 1600 pixels, Enhanced ClariVu display Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz Cellular Connectivity – LTE FDD / LTE TDD / WCDMA / GSM (Enabled only on the SHT-AL09 version) Location […]

February 20, 2018February 16, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

LTE Cat M and NB-IoT Shield for Arduino Features SIMCom SIM7000-Series Module (Crowdfunding)

We’ve already covered several NB-IoT (and/or LTE Cat M1) Arduino shields with products like RAK Wireless WisLTE, Sixfab Arduino NB-IoT shield, or AIS NB-IoT shield, which all happen to come with Quectel modules. A young self-taught engineer has decided to make his own Arduino eMTC/NB-IoT shield, but based on a SIMCom SIM7000-series module instead of a Quectel one found in the other aforementioned products. Board specifications: Cellular Module (one of the list depending on your location) SIM7000A LTE Cat M1 & NB-IoT module certified for AT&T and Verizon in the US SIM7000C Cat M1/NB-IoT module with 2G/2.5G fallback for the Chinese market SIM7000E Cat M1/NB-IoT module with 2G/2.5G fallback for the European market Note: The developer is also looking into SIM7000G module which should work globally, but the option is not available for now Micro SIM card holder GNSS – GPS/GLONASS with 2.5m accuracy supported by SIMCom modules Antenna – […]

February 20, 2018February 20, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

OpenSignal Report Shows 4G LTE Availability and Speed around the World

We may be starting to see more news about 5G technology whose deployment should start in 2019, but 4G LTE coverage and performance depends very much where you live, as we can see from a recent State of LTE report by OpenSignal which gathered close to 60 billions data points out of almost 5 millions phones aroudn the world during the last three months of last year. The new data shows 4G average speed in the top performing country seems to have hit a plateau at around 45 Mbps, but availability keeps on improving across the board. The reports generated two main charts, with the first reporting 4G networks availability per country, not in terms of geographic coverage, but instead OpenSignal tracked the proportion of time users had access to a particular network. 5 Country now have over 90% availability with South Korea, Japan, Norway, Hong Kong, and the United […]

February 17, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

STMicro Introduces Two STM32 Discovery Kits with 2G/3G or 4G LTE-IoT Cat M1/NB1 Connectivity

Embedded World 2018 trade fair will take place on on take place on February 27 – March 1 in Nuremberg, Germany, and we’re starting to see some company announce new products and solutions for the embedded market. STMicro has just announced their showcase their very first cellular development kits at the event, based on a display-less variant on their 32L496GDISCOVERY Discovery board with cellular add-on boards: P-L496G-CELL01 Discovery kit with with a 2G/3G modem P-L496G-CELL02 Discovery kit with with an LTE-IoT Cat M1 (eMTC) / NB1 (NB-IoT) / 2G model Now the company has not started designed their own cellular modem, but instead relying on QUECTEL modems. Both kits share most of the same specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32L496AGI6 Arm Cortex M4F MCU@ 80 MHz with 1 MB Flash, 320 KB RAM in a UFBGA169 package On-board memory – 8 Mbit PSRAM On-board + external storage – 32 KB I2 […]