Telit certifies ultra-compact xE866 LTE-M and Cat 1 modules with AT&T for data-only applications

Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), announced on Monday that the LE866A1-NA LTE Category 1 (Cat 1) and ME866A1-NA LTE-M modules received certification for operation on AT&T’s LTE nationwide network for data-only applications. Certification means IoT integrators and providers can immediately develop and test their devices with the modules and start taking advantage of the reliability and coverage of AT&T’s LTE Cat 1, LTE-M services.

The certified modules are members of Telit’s xE866 line and can be applied as a pin-to-pin replacement for existing devices based on the family’s modules for 2G and 3G. With the company’s design-once-use-anywhere philosophy, developers can cut costs and development time by simply designing to the xE866 LGA common form factor, giving them the freedom to deploy technologies best suited for the application’s environment.

With download speeds of up to 10Mbps and full cellular mobility, the LE866A1-NA is ideal for telematics, security, surveillance, smart city and other application areas requiring small dimensions, low power consumption and mid-scale data rates.  

The ME866A1-NA delivering high in-building penetration, low power consumption and download speeds of up to 375kbps is ideal for applications in deep indoor environments and others like metering, smart cities, sensors, health monitors, home automation, asset tracking, telematics and wearables.

The ME866A1 is an LTE UE Category M1 device with maximum downlink and uplink data rates of 1Mbps. This line of products supports the new features specified by 3GPP to boost IoT applications, such as the Power Saving Mode (PSM) and the extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX), which allow the devices to wake up periodically to deliver very small amounts of data to the network and then go back to sleep for most of the time, thus allowing longer battery operation.

Enhanced coverage, with up to +15dB in maximum coupling loss (MCL) compared to the other cellular technologies, is also one of the key benefits of this new LTE flavour. LTE Cat M1 devices are therefore optimized in cost, size and power consumption compared to higher UE categories. These advantages make the ME866A1 the perfect platform to enable a quick implementation of LTE technology in IoT/M2M where low cost and low power are more relevant than high speed.

The ME866A1 helps increase the addressable market for LTE technology to include a broad range of new applications and use cases best served with lower maximum data rate, ultra-low power, reduced complexity and cost. Some examples are smart meters, industrial sensors, healthcare monitors, home automation, asset tracker and many more low data rate IoT devices.

The ME866A1 is offered in two different band configurations for deployment in Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile 4G networks; Additional regional variants will follow. It is highly recommended for new designs but also in particular as a migration path for existing GPRS or CDMA devices both new and updated designs benefit from a significant extension in life cycle with LTE Cat M1.

“With new application areas like wearables, fitness and mhealth monitoring, connected law enforcement body cameras, drones, robotics and smart home, low weight, low power and reduced footprint are essential.  The xE866 family remains the industry’s smallest form factor to offer 2G, 3G, Cat 1, LTE-M and NB-IoT variants for integrators to innovate in these areas,” said Yossi Moscovitz, Telit president of Products and Solutions. “Telit modules like these two are designed from the ground up to meet industrial grade quality and performance requirements. Most IoT applications are unforgiving on field failures.  We are proud that our brand has stood for quality and low risk for our customers for 20 years and will remain that way even as low-cost, high-risk commodity brands continue entering the market.”

 


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