Particle Takes Pre-orders for its Cellular Tracking SoM, Evaluation Kit, and Tracker One Asset Tracker

Tracker Som Evaluation Kit

Earlier this year, Particle announced its Tracking System turnkey solution comprised of Tracker SoM LTE IoT module, Tracker One asset tracker with enclosure, as well as Particle Tracking Services software suite with geolocation services, fleet management, and an open device firmware application framework to integrate with off-the-shelf IoT sensors and enable OTA firmware updates. The hardware devices were expected for June/July 2020, and the company has now started to take pre-orders for Tracker SoM, its evaluation kit, and Tracker One for respectively $79.99, $99.99, and $127.99. Shipping is expected to start in August 2020. We already covered Tracker SoM in our initial article with the full specifications, but basically, it’s a Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 powered module with 8MB flash, ESP32 for WiFI (including support for indoor location),  U-blox Neo-M8U GNSS module, and a choice of Quectel BG96 LTE CAT M1 module for the US or Quectel EG91-X CAT 1 module […]

Stinger96 (NB-IoT + eMTC) and Avenger96 96Boards STM32MP1 SBCs Giveaway

96boards Avenger96 & Stinger96 SBC Giveaway

96Boards,  Arrow Electronics, STMicro, and Shiratech have joined hands to organize a giveaway event with up to 500 Avenger96 or Stinger96 boards going to lucky winners. I’ve already covered STM32MP1 powered Avenger96 SBC compliant with 96boards CE Extended specification, but I’ve never heard about Stinger96 board, so before going into the giveaway rules, let’s have a closer look at this new 96Boards board designed by Israel based Shiratech. Stinger96 96Boards NB-IoT + eMTC SBC Specifications: SoC – STMicro STM32MP157 dual-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 650 MHz (4158 CoreMark) with Arm Cortex-M4F MCU @ up to 200 MHz (673 CoreMark), 708KB internal SRAM System Memory – 256M x 32-bit DDR3 (1GB RAM) Storage – 8Gbit SLC NAND Flash, MicroSD card slot Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet header (via Microchip KSZ9031RNX) GPS, NB-IoT & eMTC (LTE Cat M1) IoT cellular connectivity with 2G fallback via Quectel BG96 module, SIM card slot, and […]

Particle Tracking System Offers Software, Hardware LTE IoT Module and Tracker in Turnkey Solution

Trakcker SoM

Particle’s first cellular M2M module was launched in 2015 when the company was still called Spark IO. Since then they’ve offered new modules and boards supporting recent standards like NB-IoT and/or LTE Cat-M with product likes Boron and  E series castellated modules. The company found out that most of their customers used their boards for asset tracking despite many off-the-shelf products already available, and the main reason was the ability to customize the solution. To help their customers, the company has now launched the Particle Tracking System combining a software suite with LTE IoT system-on-module and Tracker One reference product to ease the development and deployment of customized asset tracking solutions. Particle Tracking System is comprised of three main components relying on the existing Particle IoT platform: Particle Tracking Services software suite with geolocation services (mapping and geodatabase), fleet-wide device management, an open device firmware application framework to integrate with […]

Thundercomm Announces Qualcomm based Modules for Smart Speakers, LTE IoT, Smart Retail, and 5G Applications

TurboX C865 Snapdragon 865 SoM

Based in California in the US, Thundercomm Technology Co., Ltd. (aka Thundercomm) is a provider of IoT products & technologies for OEM/ODMs, enterprises and developers. The company introduced several Qualcomm based “TurboX Systems-on-Module” for smart speakers, LPWAN IoT devices with NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 connectivity, smart retail applications, and 5G powered devices. TurboX C404 and C405 SOMs for Smart Speakers and Soundbars Key features and specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon C404 / C405 with CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @, 1.4 GHz GPU (C405 Only) – Qualcomm Adreno 306 GPU @ 600 MHz DSP -2x Hexagon QDSP6 v66 – Low Power Audio Subsystem & Audio Compute DSP System Memory & Storage – 1GB LPDDR3 + 8GB eMMC flash in eMCP package; SD card signals Connectivity 2×2 MIMO WiFI 5 802.11 a/b/g/ac + Bluetooth 5.0 + FM via WCN3999 Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII) Display Interfaces (C405 Only) 4-lane MIPI DSI port […]

Giveaway Week – WisCellular NB-IoT & eMTC GPS Tracker

WisCellular NB-IoT Board with Antennas

Rak Wireless WisCellular is an NB-IoT & eMTC Arduino shield based on Quectel BG96 module with 2G fallback that is similar to the company’s previous-generation WisLTE board, except it is certified for the global markets. I received a beta sample last year and went through the instructions to use it with a Hologram SIM card, but sadly I never managed to make it work, and eventually learned the Hologram SIM card did not support NB-IoT in Thailand. So I would have had to buy a local SIM card, but at the time, they didn’t sell those, and the only way to get an NB-IoT SIM card was to buy a development kit. Before going ahead with the purchase, I asked about coverage in my area but never managed to get a definitive answer so I gave up. So instead of keeping it in a drawer at home, I’d better just […]

Nordic Thingy:91 Cellular IoT Prototyping Platform Comes with 16 Sensors

Nordic Thingy:91

Nordic Semiconductor launched the Nordic Thingy:52 back in mid-2017 in the hopes of bringing app and web developers into the hardware ecosystem as fast and easy as possible.  The Nordic Thingy:52 was a Bluetooth 5 IoT sensor development kit based on the company’s nRF52832 WiSoC. Although the Nordic Thingy:52 kit is still very much available for purchase and support always available, Nordic Semiconductor has gone further launching a new development kit called the Nordic Thingy:91 targeting cellular IoT applications. The Nordic Thingy:91 is a cellular IoT prototyping platform with support for LTE-M, NB-IoT plus GPS option. Even though IoT connectivity standards like LoRaWAN, BLE, WiFi, ZigBee, and others are very much growing and expanding, Nordic Semi is fully backing cellular technology, something that has very much been available and most likely will still keep been available, and the adoption of 5G is another testimony to that. Cellular is here, and […]

Icarus IoT Board Features nRF9160 GPS + NB-IoT SiP in Adafruit Feather Form Factor

The new Icarus IoT board from Actinius, uses the Nordic nRF9160 SiP, a powerful yet low power system in a package designed for use with GPS and LTE-M & NB-IoT cellular data, also found in Ruuvi node which we covered a few months ago. The board’s purpose is for mobility and ease of project tracking anywhere, and can be found in application scenarios such as fleet management and security, cargo tracking, or asset monitoring, and many more. The board has power inputs for solar panel, USB or LiPo/Li-Ion Battery, which widens the boards mobile nature, and on-site, in-the-field capability. Since the form factor follows Adafruit Feather, the Icarus board benefits of additional component options for prototyping and DIY electronics projects. The nRF9160, by Nordic Semiconductor, is a SiP (System in a Package) that carries an extensive line of embedded software and hardware. As we had reported the nRF9160 SiP low-power […]

Gateworks Introduces GW16126 Mini-PCIe Cat M1 Modem and Bluetooth LE Radio

LTE Cat M1 mini PCIe card

Gateworks has launched another mini PCIe card providing IoT connectivity for their NXP i.MX 6 and Cavium Octeon TX powered SBC’s. Last month we covered GW16130 Mini PCIe satellite modem, and the company has now announced GW16126 mini PCIe card with a Cat M1 (eMTC) modem and a Bluetooth Low Energy radio for the US market, and other regions or countries where LTE Cat M1 networks have been deployed. Gateworks GW16126 mini PCIe card specifications: LTE Cat M1 Module – U-blox SARA-R410M-52 LTE CAT M1 cellular modem with up to 375 kb/s upload and 300 kb/s download; LTE Bands 2,4,5,12,13 SIM card – nano-SIM socket with hologram starter SIM included with free 1MB/month starter plan included BLE module – u-blox NINA-B301 Open CPU Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy Radio based on Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 chipset, Zephyr RTOS with Bluetooth HCI UART Host Interface. BLE Rates up to  2Mbps Antennas – 2x […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC