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February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

SODAQ SARA is an Arduino Compatible Cellular IoT Board with LTE-M, NB-IoT, and GNSS (Crowdfunding)

There really seems to be a push for cellular IoT those days, with new hardware coming up every week. Following up on their NB-IoT shield for Arduino last year, SODAQ has now launched two versions of SARA boards based on u-blox SARA LTE-IoT modules, and u-blox M8Q GPS/GNSS module. Both boards are Arduino compatible thanks to a Microchip SAMD21 MCU, and while u-blox SARA board follows the Arduino form factor, u-box SARA SFF is much more compact (50×25.4 mm) and potentially easier to integrate into a project or product. Another pretty unique feature (AFAICT) is that you can power the board directly with a solar panel. u-blox SARA board specifications: Wireless module (three options) with external antenna: SARA-N211 NB-IoT, band 8 and 20, for the European and African market SARA-R410M Dual mode LTE-M and NB-IoT module for all global bands SARA-R412M Triple mode module with LTE-M, NB-IoT and 2G for […]

February 14, 2018February 14, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Particle Unveils Three nRF52840 Bluetooth 5 Boards: Argon (WiFi), Boron (LTE), and Xenon, as well as Particle Mesh Technology

In the last year or so, Bluetooth has gotten an upgrade with the release of Bluetooth 5. The new protocol works on several existing platforms, but if you want support for the full set of Bluetooth 5 features such as longer range and higher bandwidth, we’ve seen you need a recent chip such as Nordic Semi nRF52840. However so far, AFAIK you had to buy Nordic Semi own development kit for play with nRF52840, and now Particle has announced not one, but three low cost development boards powered by nRF52840 chip starting at just $9, and supporting their newly announced Particle Mesh technology. So for some reasons, it appears they did not go with Bluetooth Mesh. Particle Xenon – Bluetooth 5 + Mesh Xenon is the cheapest model with the following specifications: SoC – Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 Arm Cortex-M4F 32-bit processor @ 64MHz with 1MB flash, 256KB RAM Storage – […]

October 4, 2017October 4, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

U-Blox announces NINA-B3 Bluetooth 5 Wireless MCU Modules

Bluetooth 5 promises to quadrupling the range and double the bandwidth of Bluetooth LE connection. However, we’ve seen not all Bluetooth 5 solutions will provide all features in a comparison between Nordic Semi nRF52840 vs nRF52832 vs nRF52810 Bluetooth 5 ready SoCs, as while all three platforms will handle the higher bandwidth just fine, only the nRF52840 will extend the range up to 4 times. That’s why you want want to make sure you get recent hardware capable of fully handling Bluetooth 5, and U-blox has just announced NINA-B3 Bluetooth 5 module series, based on nRF52840 SoC, that will both provide longer range and higher bandwidth. U-blox NINA-B3 module comes in two family flavors: NINA‑B31, comes pre‑flashed with u‑blox’s Connectivity Software, eliminating the need for embedded programming. Support for AT command set, and u-Blox low energy serial port service NINA‑B30 using nRF52840’s ARM Cortex-M4F as an “Open CPU” that allows […]

September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Arduino MKR WAN 1300 & MKR GSM 1400 Boards Launched with LoRaWAN and 3G Connectivity

Arduino has introduced two new boards right in time for Maker Faire New York: MKR WAN 1300 with a LoRa radio, and MKR GSM 1400 with a “3.75G” cellular module, both software compatible with Arduino Zero, and in Arduino MKRZero board form factor. MKR WAN 1300 Board Arduino MKR WAN 1300 specifications: MCU – Microchip Atmel SAMD21 32-bit ARM Cortex M0+ MCU @ 48 MHz with 32 KB SRAM, 256 KB flash (8KB for bootloader) Digital I/O Pins – 8x digital I/Os, 12x PWM, UART, SPI, and I2C, 8x external interrupts Analog Pins – 7x analog inputs (8/10/12-bit ADC), and 1x analog output (10-bit DAC) DC Current per I/O Pin – 7 mA LPWAN connectivity Murata CMWZ1ZZABZ LoRa module based on Semtech SX1276 and STMicro STM32L Antenna power – 2dB Carrier frequency – 433/868/915 MHz Working regions – EU/US USB – 1x micro USB port for power and programming […]

July 10, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

U-blox SARA-R410M-02B Module Supports LTE Cat M1 and Cat NB1 in a Single Package

We previously covered U-blox SARA-R4 LTE Cat M1 and SARA M2 NB-IoT (Cat NB1) modules, but in case you need support for LTE Cat M1 and Cat NB1, instead of just one or the other, in your product, U-blox launched a new SARA-R4 model with SARA-R410M-02B module supporting both standards. U-blox SARA-R410M-02B module specifications: LPWAN connectivity LTE Cat M1 Half-duplex: 375 kb/s DL and UL LTE Cat NB1 Half-duplex: 27.2 kb/s DL, 62.5 UL Shared bands – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28; Cat M1-only band – 39 Coverage enhancement Mode A and Mode B (in upcoming firmware), 3GPP Rel 13 e-DRX (Extended Discontinuous Reception) supported in upcoming firmware SMS support – MT/MO PDU / Text mode; SMS over SG/NAS Voice – VoLTE (Cat M1) using AMR-WB codec (U)SIM supporting 1.8 and 3V GNSS/GPS support with CellLocate and Hybrid positioning coming […]

May 16, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

u-blox SARA-S200 RPMA Module Supports the Machine Network

RPMA is one of the many LPWAN IoT communication standards, but it does not get as much press coverage as SigFox or LoRa because it targets larger scale deployments, and is not really accessible to individuals. It’s still used by companies in many countries, and u-blox has just released SARA-S200 RPMA module that will also work with the Machine Network, also relying on RPMA and managed by Ingenu. u-blox SARA-S200 module specifications: Connectivity Wireless Frequency – 2.4 GHz ISM Radio Spectrum – 80 MHz Occupied Bandwidth – 1 MHz Modulation – Dynamic – Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (D-DSSS) Multiple Access Scheme – Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA) Transmit Power – +22 dBm Receive Sensitivity – -133 dBm Data Throughput – 100 kB per day Link budget – 176 dB (FCC/IC) Host Interface – 7-wire SPI that includes handshaking for deep sleep modes Power Supply – 3.2 V to 3.4 V […]

April 13, 2017September 19, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Particle Asset Tracker Kit v2 2G/3G GPS Location Tracker Supports Grove Modules

Particle, the maker of IoT boards such as Electron 2G/3G module, has launched it second Asset Tracker Kit – based on Electron – with a smaller case, improved GPS performance, satellite support for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo & BeiDou, and compatibility with Seeed Studio Grove modules. Asset Tracker Kit v2 hardware specifications: MCU – STMciro STM32F205 ARM Cortex M3 micro-controller @ @ 120 MHz with 1MB Flash, 128K RAM Cellular Connectivity – U-Blox SARA U-series (3G) or G-series (2G) modem + NanoSIM card slot + u.FL connector for Antenna Location 72-channel u-bloxM8 engine with support for GPS/QZSS L1 C/A, GLONASS L10F, BeiDou B1I, Galileo E1B/C, SBAS L1 C/A: WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN Update rates: Single GNSS: up to 18 Hz, 2 Concurrent GNSS: up to 10 Hz Position accuracy of 2.5 m, sensitivity of -167 dBm Acquisition times: Cold starts: 26s, Aided starts: 2s, Reacquisition: 1s On board ceramic GPS antenna […]

September 8, 2016February 25, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

u-Blox Unveils SARA-R4 LTE Cat M1 and SARA-N2 NB-IoT Modules for Professional IoT Applications

While I’ve mostly read about SigFox and LoraWan solutions for long range, low power, and low bitrate communications for the Internet of Things so far, there are many active of planned LPWAN standards for IoT applications, and 3GPP Release 13 standard stipulates two LTE LPWAN standards, namely LTE Cat M1 (eMTC) and LTE Cat NB1 (NB-IoT), with the former supporting 1 Mbps downlink and uplink peak data rates, and the latter 250 Kbps downlink, and 250 Kbps (multi-tone) or 20 Kbps (single tone) uplink data rates. U-Blox has released modules for both standard with SARA-R4 LTE Cat M1 and SATA-N2 NB-IoT modules. SARA-N2 Cat NB1 cellular module specifications: LPWAN Connectivity – 3GPP Release 13 NB1; NB-IoT bands: 5, 8, 20; downlink: 227 Kbps, uplink: 21 Kbps Positioning – GNSS via Modem Interfaces – 1x UART, 1x SPI, 2x GPIO, 1x DDC(I2C) for GNSS Features – Antenna supervisor, embedded IPv4 & […]