Sony’s Altair Semiconductor said it has successfully completed a trial with Raspberry Pi to provide LTE connectivity on the system for the first time. Altair makes LTE modems and has been a pioneer in the development of low-power, inexpensive connectivity chips for “internet of things” applications.
Qualcomm and Sequans are Altair’s primary competitors in this market, and both are also working with Raspberry Pi or with similar computer-on-a-chip solutions. But Altair says it is first to actually connect its modem to a Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry Pi is a tiny, inexpensive computer popular with makers and other innovators in the IoT space. To date, most Raspberry Pi connections have used Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
“Users will only benefit by having the choice of using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or LTE,” said Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton. “We are dedicated to providing low-cost, high-performance computers to connect people, enable them to learn, solve problems and have fun. Altair has long been regarded as an LTE connectivity leader, and we are pleased to collaborate on this trial, which is the first of its kind.”
LTE connectivity should create more opportunities for programmers to develop Raspberry Pi applications for objects that move. Altair said it will also enable higher bandwidth applications, like video streaming by a surveillance camera.
“The integration of Altair’s LTE chipset with Raspberry Pi makes it one of the most portable, affordable, and practical connectivity solutions on the market,” said Eran Eshed, co-Founder of Altair. “More than 10 million Raspberry Pis have been sold to date, and we’re pleased to debut this proof-of-concept to extend its range and value.”
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