Verizon Wireless certified new LTE Category M1 modules to connect “internet of things” devices with low bandwidth requirements. LTE-only chip makers Sequans and Altair both announced new modules that use their chipsets at CES 2017.
Category M1, or Cat M1 for short, is the name of the technology Verizon Wireless says will make its LTE network roughly as affordable as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Z-Wave for IoT connections. Cat M1 modules use a maximum of 1.4 megahertz of bandwidth and both uplink and downlink speeds are capped at 1 megabit per second. Cat M1 is expected to improve the economics of IoT for use cases like smart energy meters, industrial IoT sensors, asset trackers, smart city controllers and consumer wearables. Sequans CEO Georges Karam expects modules based on his company’s Cat M1 chipset to sell for less than $10 each.
Sequans said three LTE for IoT connectivity devices using its Monarch Cat M1 chipset are launching on the Verizon Wireless network. These include NimbeLink’s Skywire embedded modem, which manufacturers can build into devices. NimbeLink has posted design files product developers can use to plan cellular access for IoT products on the Verizon Wireless network. The carrier has also certified a router made by Encore Networks and a sensor suite made by Link Labs, both of which are based on Sequans’ Monarch Cat M1 chipset.
“In addition to these latest Verizon-certified devices, we have more than a dozen other Monarch customer designs in progress, including recently announced designs by SIMCom, Fibocom, and PyCom,” said Karam. The company said the three module vendors represented more than one-third of the machine-to-machine module market by volume in 2016.
Module maker Sierra Wireless is using Altair’s ALT-1210 Cat M1 chipset for its newest IoT module, which is also designed to operate on the Verizon Wireless LTE network. Altair, which is owned by Sony, says its Cat M1 chipset can support some use cases for more than 10 years without recharging.
“With the commercialization of Cat M1 [low-power wide area] technology, LTE is now a superior option for many IoT applications that were previously restricted to short-range technologies due to cost, coverage and battery life,” said Dan Schieler, SVP for embedded solutions at Sierra. The company said its embedded modules measure 22 millimeters by 23 millimeters and are interchangeable across 2G, 3G, 4G and low-power wide area technologies.
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