There are many Internet of Things (IoT) applications because of its wide range and long distance. It is necessary to use Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) technology to provide lower equipment complexity and expand coverage. At the same time, it allows the reuse of existing LTE base stations to reduce the cost of system construction. This article will introduce the product features and application fields of Murata's LPWAN module for your to further understand and adopt.
LTE-M Supports a Wide Range of Cellular Devices and Services
LTE-M is the abbreviation of LTE Cat-M1 or Long-Term Evolution (4G) Category M1. This technology is used for IoT devices to connect directly to 4G networks (mobile network operators - MNO, such as AT&T or Verizon). It does not need a gateway and usually operates on batteries. LTE-M is also a simplified industry term for EMTC (enhanced machine type communication) technology, a LPWAN radio technology standard developed by 3GPP to support a wide range of cellular devices and services (especially machine to machine and IoT applications).
LTE-M technology can support geographic location positioning, GPS free and low-power periodic tracking applications. Its small footprint is very attractive for wearable devices that want to adopt cellular connection. Due to the advantages of standardization, passing PTCRB/GCF certification can improve the global interoperability with global wireless network operators in IoT applications and support low-power operation. The protocol is designed to support a wide range of use cases with low current consumption and extended service life of more than 10 years. With low cost, it can support ubiquitous connections.
LTE-M also supports relatively fast data throughput, mobility, roaming and potential voice services, and supports secure connection of HTTPS and MQTTS. Its mobility can support smooth operation for cell edge and handover scenarios in cellular networks. With the support of all major mobile device, chipset and module manufacturers, the LTE-M network will coexist with 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks and benefit from all security and privacy functions of mobile networks, such as supporting user identity confidentiality, entity authentication, data integrity and mobile device identification. It can be widely used in wearable devices and industrial fields, as well as energy efficiency (smart thermostats, lighting systems), temperature control (HVAC), equipment and building maintenance, security (smart locks, motion sensors or cameras, smart smoke detectors or fire alarms, water leakage, electricity outages detectors), sanitation (water flow, paper consumption, air flow for hand drying, aromatic or clean chemical spray), etc.
NB-IoT Has Lower Transmission Cost
Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is a standard-based LPWA technology, which aims to support a variety of new IoT devices and services. NB-IoT significantly improves the power consumption, system capacity and spectrum efficiency of user devices, especially in terms of deep coverage. It can support more than 10 years of battery life, suitable for a wide range of use cases. It can focus on small capacity data communication such as sensors, with low throughput at a speed of 62.50 Kbps in the upstream and 26.15 Kbps in the downstream. However, as the upstream communication is faster than the downstream, it is suitable for the application of regularly uploading a small amount of information collected by the sensor.
NB-IoT uses a subset of LTE standard but limits the bandwidth to a single narrow band of 200kHz, and adopts new physical layer signals and channels, which can meet the demanding requirements of extended coverage (rural and deep indoor areas) and ultra-low device complexity. NB-IoT technology has a lower transmission cost. The initial cost of the NB-IoT module is expected to be equivalent to that of GSM/GPRS. However, its underlying technology is much simpler than GSM/GPRS, and its cost is expected to decline rapidly with the increase of demand. For some applications that do not require a high network delay, it will be able to provide data connection with a lower bandwidth at lower cost. It has PTCRB/GCF-certified standardization characteristics, improving the global interoperability with global wireless network operators in IoT applications, and NB-IoT can be used to provide additional protection in the case of a possible lack of LTE-M coverage, and vice versa.
Supported by all major mobile device, chipset, and module manufacturers, NB-IoT can coexist with 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks. It also benefits from all the security and privacy functions of mobile networks, such as supporting user identity confidentiality, entity authentication, confidentiality, data integrity and mobile device identification.
LPWA Network Module That Both Supports Cat.M1 and NB-IoT
Murata has introduced several LTE Cat. M1 module LPWA products. LTE Cat. M1 is a licensing standard that requires a license to use the radio frequency band. It is very suitable for the IoT where the cost and power consumption will be minimized even if the speed is very slow. LTE Cat. M1 is particularly suitable for mobile communication. For example, as the device uses the licensed frequency band while moving, radio interference is unlikely to occur, and the speed is faster, making it available for wearable devices in the IoT and other applications.
LTE Cat. M1 is suitable for applications that upload a small amount of information on a regular basis. It provides 1 Mbps upstream and 1 Mbps downstream speeds and can achieve higher communication speed than NB-IoT, with a higher data rate and supporting mobility and network voice. However, it needs more bandwidth than NB-IoT, and cannot be put into the protection band like NB-IoT.
Murata's Type 1SE (LBAD0ZZ1SE) module can support both Cat. M1 and NB-IoT. It meets the certification standards in Japan and supports Truphone eSIM technology. It supports low frequency bands such as LTE bands 5, 8, 12, 13, 14 (CAT M1 only), 17, 18, 19, 20, 26 and 28, as well as medium frequency bands 1, 2, 3, 4 and 25. It adopts the Altair ALT1250+ST STM32L462 chipset, with built-in STMicro MCU, MVNO compatible eSIM and antenna connector. The size is only 15.4 x 18.0 x 2.5mm (max). It is packaged in a LGA metal case, supports a UART host interface and ADC, GPIO, I2C, JTAG, PWM and SPI peripheral interfaces.
The antenna configuration of the Type 1SE (LBAD0ZZ1SE) module adopts a U.FL connector. The interface voltage is 3.3V, the power supply voltage is 3.3-5.0V and the working temperature is - 40℃- 85℃. It is optimized for the output power of Class 3 LTE and is ROHS compliant, supporting X-CUBE-CELLULAR software functions and ultra-low sleep mode current. Low power consumption enables it to realize up to 10 years of battery life. The sleep current is only 3μA, the eDRX current is <50μA @ 8 hyper frames, the PSM current supports configurable dormant window, and the maximum transmission power is +23dBm. It has passed FCC/IC/RED/TELEC and GCF/PTCRB certification, supports an OTA firmware upgrade, can connect with certified Truphone operators worldwide, and supports various certifications to speed up the development process.
Provide a Complete Software and Hardware Development Environment
The Murata Type 1SE (LBAD0ZZ1SE) module has a built-in MCU, which can support ultra-low current consumption of microcontrollers in sleep mode, and adopts a high-performance Arm® Cortex®-M4 32-bit RISC core with an operating frequency up to 80 MHz to realize a full set of DSP instructions and a memory protection unit (MPU), enhances the security of applications, has an embedded AES hardware accelerator, supports a wide range of enhanced I/O and peripherals, connects to two APB buses, two AHB buses and a 32-bit multi-AHB bus matrix, and provides a fast 12 bit ADC (5 Msps), two comparators, an operational amplifier, an internal voltage reference buffer, a low-power RTC, a general-purpose 32-bit timer, a 16 bit PWM timer dedicated to motor control, four general-purpose 16 bit timers and two 16 bit low-power timers, and uses STMicro's X-Cube Cellular operating system.
Murata's Cat. M1/NB-IoT module is matched with the evaluation kit from the business partner STMicro. The STMicro Discovery Kit B-L462E-CELL1 is a turnkey development platform for cellular IoT devices, including a low-power Discovery main board powered by a LBAD0ZZ1SE module, a global coverage antenna and a fan out board. The LBAD0ZZ1SE module includes a STM32L462REY6TR microcontroller, a LBAD0XX1SC-DM ultra-small LTE Cat M/NB modem, and a ST4SIM-200M GSMA certified embedded SIM with a prepaid cellular connection data plane. The ST4SIM-200M can also be used as an embedded security element (eSE) for applications.
The STMod+ and expansion pin connection of the B-L462E-CELL1 board provides unlimited expansion capacity and many special additional board options. In addition, the fan-out board supports additional boards using mikroBUS, ESP‑01, Grove I2C, Grove UART and breadboard. The kit also includes a ST-LINK debugger/programmer and comes with a comprehensive STM32Cube software library and packaged software examples to demonstrate end-to-end connection and provide a complete software and hardware development environment.
Conclusion
IoT applications have gradually entered people's lives. Many long-distance and wide-ranging IoT devices need to use a LPWA network module that supports Cat. M1 and NB-IoT to improve the operation efficiency and service life of IoT device. Murata's Cat. M1/NB-IoT LPWA network module will be one of the best choices for relevant applications.