u‑blox is featuring a live Narrowband IoT (NB‑IoT / LTE Cat NB1) demo at the MWC Americas being held in San Francisco from September 12-14. The demo is featuring u-blox’s SARA‑R410M-02B configurable LTE Cat M1/NB1 multimode module with worldwide coverage. NB-IoT is a highly efficient type of spectrum and the globally preferred standard for IoT due to benefits like cost savings, extended battery life and the ability to support a large number of connected devices.
u-blox has partnered with Bluvision, a provider of highly scalable end-to-end IoT platforms, to display Cold Chain Temperature Monitoring and Condition Monitoring using Bluvision’s BluCell. It is a narrowband gateway that uses Bluetooth to wirelessly monitor hundreds of beacons, each measuring temperature, vibration analysis, door openings, location and movement. It is connected via the u-blox SARA-R410M-02B to T‑Mobile’s network, expected to be the first NB-IoT network in North America.
The SARA-R410M is a configurable LTE Cat M1/NB1 multimode module with worldwide coverage. Measuring just 16 x 26 mm, it offers both LTE Cat M1 and Cat NB1 in a single hardware package, as well as software based configurability for all deployed global bands. It provides enormous efficiencies in logistics and SKU management. Customers can easily respond to changes in business or market conditions, since supported frequencies and operator configuration decisions can now be made at “zero hour” or even later in the field.
For the demo, Bluvision’s BEEKs beacons with sensors for temperature, vibration, magnetic fields and ambient light are attached to a cooler. The beacons transmit telemetry data, which includes real-time and historical temperature log for the cooler and the vibration data from the compressor motor in the cooler, to the Bluzone cloud solution.
The u-blox module is expected to be certified and available in early 2018 for T-Mobile’s NB-IoT network, which is expected to launch nationwide in mid-2018.
