Asset tracking is one of the most important use cases for cellular IoT, because following cargo from one place to another requires a network that supports mobility. LTE Category M1 supports mobility at a much lower price point than higher bandwidth cellular technologies, and network operators are hoping to win new IoT customers as they add Cat M1 to their networks. Chipmakers are supporting them with new solutions to enable asset tracking on LTE networks.
LTE chipmaker Sequans has partnered with STMicroelectronics to launch a new LTE-connected tracker platform based on the integration of Sequans’ connectivity chipset and STMicro’s global navigation satellite system (GNSS) chip. The companies call their platform CLOE, for connecting and locating objects everywhere.
“CLOE targets multiple vertical markets with best-in-class performance for all of the important tracking measures: battery life, location accuracy, reachability, mobility, and reporting periodicity,” said Antonio Radaelli, director a STMicroelectronics. “’Componentizing’ ST’s navigation technology and Sequans’ LTE modem technology makes CLOE an ideal platform to build trackers of all types—anything a developer can think of.”
CLOE integrates Sequans’ Monarch LTE Cat M1/NB1 chip and ST’s Teseo III GNSS chip. The Monarch chipset supports both LTE Category M1 and narrowband IoT, and customers can reprogram the chipset over the air. However, only LTE Cat M1 supports the full mobility needed for most asset tracking use cases.
Sequans said the integration of Cat M1 and GNSS will lower the cost of asset tracking solutions without compromising performance. The company said the STMicro solution offers the “lowest time to first fix.” Time to first fix is is a measure of the time required for a GPS receiver to acquire satellite signals and navigation data, and calculate a position solution (called a fix).
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