Murata, a leading electronics manufacturer, showcased advanced wireless and next-generation subscriber identity module (SIM) solutions from its offering to support cellular IoT deployments, plus its pioneering V2X communications capabilities at MWC Barcelona 2023 held from 27th February to 2nd March 2023.
Supplied in a 15.4 mm x 18.0 mm x 2.5 mm form factor land grid array (LGA) package, the Murata Type 1SE (LBAD0ZZ1SE) is a highly compact cellular IoT module supporting Cat-M1 and NB1. This module is targeted at use in smart metering, home/building automation, asset tracking, agricultural automation and smart city applications. It features an STM32L462RE ultra-low power microcontroller unit (MCU) from STMicroelectronics, with an Arm Cortex® M4 processing core plus 512 kB of flash and 160 kB of SRAM memory resource integrated. There is also a further 1 MB of serial flash included on the module. As no additional carrier or regulatory certification is needed, this highly convenient solution presents engineers with a way of minimising the time needed to complete development projects and also keeps down the costs involved too. Extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) and power saving mode (PSM) functionality are pivotal in augmenting its energy efficiency properties.
Incorporated directly into Murata’s Type 1SC cellular IoT modules, which complements the Type 1SE offering and will also be on display at MWC, is game-changing integrated SIM (iSIM) technology. This allows significant board space savings to be gained, as well as meaning that less power is consumed (due to faster network attach and continuous SIM presence detection being eliminated) - something that is invaluable to battery-driven IoT nodes. As a result, the Type 1SC is the smallest cellular IoT module currently available. Another key attribute of iSIM is that it avoids the use of credit-card sized plastic SIM carriers (which have an environmental impact when disposed of, especially with large scale deployments). Finally, this approach provides greater mobile network operator flexibility, with a profile being digitally delivered by the chosen operator at whichever point is most appropriate (during module production, module distribution, IoT device manufacturing, or device shipment).
Another MWC highlight will be the Murata Type 2GD. This is an ultra-small, ultra-low power multi-protocol 5G IoT module. It is compliant with both LTE-M1/NB2, as well as having future compatibility with 3GPP release 17. Featuring sub-GHz and 2.4GHz transceivers, it offers support for Wi-Sun, U-Bus Air, and wM-Bus protocols. A GSMA-conforming iSIM is incorporated into each unit when requested.
Alongside its cellular IoT/5G product offering, Murata underlined its expertise in automotive - with a V2X demo that shows how the technology can help to make roads safer and improve traffic flows. For this highly engaging demo, the company’s Type 2AN wireless modules is used in conjunction with AEC-Q100 qualified V2X chipsets from IC partner Autotalks.
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