nb-iot News - Page 6 of 14 - CNX Software

December 31, 2021December 31, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Year 2021 in review – Top 10 posts and statistics

As per tradition, we’ll look back at what happened during the year in the last post, and see what 2022 may have in store, plus the usual statistics from CNX Software website. The biggest story of 2021 has to be the worsening of semiconductors shortages with extremely long lead times, prices of some components going up multiple folds, constant complaints on Twitter about availability and prices. I think I even saw a website, hopefully misconfigured, showing an estimated availability of a specific STM32 MCU in 2037. This also gave rise to opportunities and board redesigns, with MotorComm Ethernet chips replacing some Realtek chips in SBCs such as NanoPi R2C and Orange Pi R1S Plus LTS, and CH9102F showing up as a replacement for CP2104 in some IoT boards. We also got some interesting Arm processors, but sadly the high-expected Rockchip RK3588 got delayed by another year, although it’s getting really […]

December 6, 2021December 6, 2021 by Sponsored Post - 10 Comments

Ai Thinker enters the NB-IoT LPWAN market with EC-01 modules (Sponsored)

As we all know, 2G and 3G cellular networks are gradually being sunset, and NB-IoT has been formally incorporated into 3GPP standards. The LPWAN industry has ushered in new development opportunities for the Internet of Things market. Ai-Thinker has recently released three NB-IoT series modules: EC-01/EC-01F/EC-01G. The NB-IoT series modules are equipped with the EC616S chip platform, which is an ultra-low-cost, ultra-low power, ultra-high integration NB-IoT SOC chip, fully supporting the 3GPP R13/R14 NB-IoT standards with up to 159 kbps uplink. What are the benefits of the new modules? Better signal, more spectrum Better performance (equipped with EC616S) Ultra-low power consumption, stable and reliable connectivity I/O expansion, feature-rich module Check out the comparison table between AI Thinker NB-IoT modules part of the EC-01 family below. Ai-Thinker NB-IoT series modules adopt an SMD package that is convenient for mass production at the factory, and can use AOI to do the SMT […]

December 5, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Eigencomm EC616/EC616S SoC supports Cat-NB2 cellular IoT

Eigencomm EC616/EC616S are Cortex-M3 microcontrollers supporting the 3GPP R13/R14 NB-IoT standard, with 3GPP R14 notably introducing the newer LTE Cat-NB2 standard allowing higher bitrates up to 127 kbps downlink, and up to 159 kbps uplink, and OTDOA and E-CID positioning methods. Both EC616 and EC616S are virtually identical, but the EC616S comes with fewer GPIOs and is designed for the lowest possible BoM cost for modules as small as 10×10 mm. Both target similar IoT applications such as wireless meter reading, smoke detection, smart street lights, smart logistics, asset tracking, smart fire monitoring, smart parking, smart home, wearable devices, industry 4.0, smart agriculture, and others. Eigencomm EC616/EC616S specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M3 @ up to 204 MHz Frequency band – 663 MHz to 2200 MHz Protocol version – 3GPP R13/R14 Built-in PA output power – 23dBm Receiver sensitivity – EC616: -118 dBm, EC616S: -117 dBm Peripherals EC616 – 2x […]

November 3, 2021November 3, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Conexio Stratus – An nRF9160 board with solar energy harvesting capability (Crowdfunding)

Conexio Stratus board is equipped with Nordic Semi nRF9160 System in Package (SiP) with LTE-M (eMTC) & NB-IoT cellular IoT connectivity as well as GPS support through a pair of u.FL connectors for antennas, together with 500MB of mobile data valid for ten years. Designed for battery operation, the devkit comes with built-in battery charging, monitoring, and energy-harvesting circuitry, plus an accelerometer and a temperature and humidity sensor that makes it ideal for prototyping cellular IoT systems such as asset-tracking applications, environmental monitoring, and smart-meter monitoring, among others. Conexio Stratus board Conexio Stratus specifications: SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9160 system-in-package with Arm Cortex M33 MCU, 1 MB Flash, 256 kB RAM, cellular IoT modem, and GPS. Cellular Connectivity 3GPP LTE release 13 Category M1 and NB1 compliant 3GPP release 14 NB2 compliant RF Transceiver for global coverage supporting bands: Cat-M1: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B8, B12, B13, B14, […]

October 8, 2021November 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Blues Wireless Swan board adds castellated holes to Adafruit Feather form factor

We’ve often written about Adafruit Feather-compatible boards in the past, but Blues Wireless Swan board is a little different, as the STM32L4-based board comes with castellated holes instead of just through holes which allows the board to expose up to 55 GPIOs, or 36 more pins than a traditional feather-compatible board. The company also introduced the “Feather Starter Kit for Swan” that enables the board to work with the company’s Notecard LTE Cat-M/NB-IoT M.2 modem that ships with 10-year (up to 500MB) of IoT connectivity, as well as GPS/GNSS connectivity. The Swan board Swan specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32L4R5 Arm Cortex-M4 microcontroller clocked at 120Mhz with 2MB of flash and 640KB of RAM USB – 1x Micro USB port for power and programming Castellated holes giving access to 55 GPIO including: 8x analog input 16x digital 4x I2C, 3x SPI 1x USB OTG full speed 1x 14-channel DMA 12-bit ADC, […]

August 26, 2021August 26, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MiniLink IIoT Node – An Arduino compatible RS485 to LoRaWAN node with wireless expansion

Designed by Thailand-based Saijai Tech, MiniLink IIoT Node is an Arduino compatible board based on either an ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth SoC or an unnamed Microchip Cortex-M0+ microcontroller designed for Smart Agriculture or industrial applications (e.g. PLC controllers). The board includes an RS485 interface for sensors or actuators, an ACER-branded LoRa module, and expansion headers to add an extra wireless module with either LoRa PtP (P2P, Point-to-Point), NB-IoT, or 3G/4G LTE & GNSS, and some of those add an extra RS485 port. MiniLink IIoT node key features & specifications: MCU (one or the other) Espressif ESP32 dual-core processor with 2.4 GHz WiFi and Bluetooth LE Microchip Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller (probably SAMD21) LPWAN – ACER AS923 LoRaWAN module Sensor interface – RS485 or UART via terminal block (jumper selectable) Expansion – 2x 14-pin header for expansion modules Misc – User & reset buttons, RS485/UART selection jumpers, user and power LEDs, USB/TTL […]

June 29, 2021June 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

M5Stack Atom DTU LoRaWAN Kit also supports WiFi, RS485, Modbus communication

ESP32 WiFI, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN, and RS485 kit

M5Stack is known for its ESP32 based building blocks for the IoT with WiFi & Bluetooth wireless connectivity, I/O headers, and block-specific features like a tiny color display, a speaker, a touchscreen display, a camera, and more. The company’s latest product is the M5Stack Atom DTU LoRaWAN Kit based on ESP32 ATOM Lite, as well as ASR Micro ASR6501 LoRa module (SX1302 based) and one RS485 header that allows for industrial communication notably with the Modbus protocol. M5Stack Atom DTU LoRaWAN Kit specifications: Wireless connectivity M5Stack ATOM Lite with ESP32 WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2/5.x dual-core SoC ASR ASR6501 LoRa chip Operating frequency – 868MHz or 915 MHz Transmit power – Up to +21dBm RX sensitivity – Up to -137dBm (SF=12/BW=125KHz) Serial communication – UART 115200bps (AT command) via ESP32 Antenna – SMA antenna connector Power consumption @ 3.3V (from ASR6501 datasheet) Tx @ +21dBm – 106 mA Rx – […]

June 24, 2021June 24, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Avnet AVT9152 – nRF52840 & nRF91 IoT module and devkit

Avnet AVT9152 is an IoT module and development kit that combines two Nordic Semi wireless solutions, namely nRF52840 Bluetooth 5.2/LE multiprotocol SoC and nRF91 IoT cellular system-on-module with NB-IoT, LTE-M, and GPS connectivity. The module supports Avnet’s enterprise-ready IoTConnect Platform, and the development kit combines with IoT module with a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, as well as pressure, temperature, relative humidity, ambient light, and motion (PIR) sensors to help with the development of IoT applications such as tracking devices, vending machines, points-of-sale, smart buildings, industrial IoT, and more. Avnet AVT9152 module – nRF52840 + nRF91 Key features and specifications: Wireless SoC/SiP Nordic Semi nRF9160 Cortex-M33 based system-in-package (SiP) with LTE-M/NB-IoT global carrier certification for LPWAN connectivity; support for power save mode, PSM and eDRX Nordic Semi nRF52840 Cortex-M4F microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.0 and Bluetooth LE for short-range communication Flexible LTE and GPS antenna options 50x castellated holes with UART, […]