Quebec, QC, Canada, September 6th, 2017 – Nutaq Innovation, a wholly owned subsidiary of NuRAN Wireless (CSE: NUR) (OTC: NRRWF) is pleased to announce a collaboration with u-blox (SIX:UBXN), a global leader in wireless and positioning modules and chips for the automotive, industrial and consumer markets, on a joint NB-IoT demonstration to be presented at Mobile World Congress Americas, held in San Francisco, on September 12 to 14, 2017.
The joint demonstration will consist of u-blox’s C030-N211 application board, which transmits data through a NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) network realized with the Nutaq PicoLTE network-in-a-box. This demonstration will be presented at the u-blox booth #N352 located in the M2M zone at the Moscone Center, the Mobile World Congress Americas venue.
“Nutaq’s PicoLTE network-in-a-box is a great addition to the NB-IoT version of our C030 application board, the C030-N211, because it allows IoT developers to test and validate applications in regions of the world, where NB-IoT is not yet available, or to conduct pre-testing on a private network,” said Rado Sustersic, Product Manager Cellular at u-blox.
Unlike traditional cellular applications, IoT applications require devices to transmit small bursts of data infrequently. As a lot of IoT devices operate in remote, temporary, or mobile locations, they often rely on off-grid power and because they are generally unattended, they have to be able to rely on backup battery power for some time if grid power stops working. These conditions make the optimization of the IoT devices’ power consumption a must. From PHY to end-applications, the power consumption has to be optimized to increase the device’s autonomy to a minimum of ten years. The economic aspect also has to be considered in IoT, as most applications require the deployment of a large number of nodes, thus making the cost of the modem significant. The ideal modems used for IoT applications should be much less expensive than traditional cellular modems. Both LTE Cat M1 and NB1 technologies were designed and standardized by the 3GPP in Release 13 to address and meet those specific and challenging requirements.
The Nutaq PicoLTE is a software-defined radio that can be used as a network-in-a-box (eNodeB + EPC) to implement small scale private networks for customers wishing to use the PicoLTE with NB-IoT and Cat-M1 devices for development, test and validations purposes. NB-IoT and Cat-M1 are two radio technology standards designed to provide connectivity with low power wide area (LPWA) networks through the cellular telecommunication bands. As these technologies are not yet deployed on most networks, device validation as well as end-to-end system validation is difficult, and even when NB-Iot and Cat-M1 are deployed on the public networks, testing on them is far from ideal due to very little control over the Radio Access Network (RAN) and EPC parts. By using the PicoLTE, a customer is able to test many features without using an operator’s network, thus providing a flexibility and level of customization that would otherwise be impossible to achieve and at a fraction of the cost of the other alternatives like traditional test equipment or creating from A to Z a private network using original equipment manufacturers (OEM) components.
“The Internet of Things represents the 30 billion vehicles, appliances, sensors and other objects that are expected to be connected by 2020. By comparison, there are 7.22 billion active mobile devices now worldwide according to GSMA so we’re talking about a market that is 4 times larger. With over 30 years of experience in radio hardware design and a high level of expertise in Software-Defined Radio, we’re confident that Nutaq will benefit from this tremendous business opportunity that is IoT by filling a gap in the test & measurement market of IoT with its PicoLTE.” explained Martin Bedard, Co-CEO and Co-President of NuRAN Wireless.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles (also referred to as “connected devices” and “smart devices“), buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enable these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit in addition to reduced human intervention.
About u-blox
u-blox (SIX:UBXN) is a Swiss based company trading at an approximate 1.2 Billion CHF market capitalization. u-blox is a global leader in wireless and positioning modules and chips for the automotive, industrial and consumer markets. u-blox solutions enable people, vehicles and machines to locate their exact position and communicate wirelessly over cellular and short range networks. With a broad portfolio of chips, modules and software solutions, u-blox is uniquely positioned to empower OEMs to develop innovative solutions for the Internet of Things, quickly and cost-effectively. With headquarters in Thalwil, Switzerland, u-blox is globally present with offices in Europe, Asia, and the USA. (www.u-blox.com)