Nordic Semiconductor’s cellular IoT SiP certified by China Telecom for use on NB-IoT network
Certification of the nRF9160 SiP provides IoT product developers access to world’s largest NB-IoT network
Nordic Semiconductor today announces that its award-winning nRF9160 low power System-in-Package (SiP) with integrated LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GPS has been certified for use on China Telecom’s NB-IoT network. According to global industry body, the GSMA, China Telecom currently serves over 50 million customers through more than 400,000 NB-IoT base stations, equal to nearly 98 percent national coverage. Certification enables NB-IoT connectivity for China Telecom customers deploying the nRF9160 SiP in their product designs.
NB-IoT is undergoing remarkable growth around the world, but nowhere more so than in China
Bjørn Åge "Bob" Brandal, Nordic Semiconductor
Low power SiP
The nRF9160 is a low power SiP, certified for global cellular IoT applications, comprising a multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT modem with integrated RF front end (RFFE), GPS, and power management in a compact package. The 64 MHz processor includes 1 MB Flash and 256 KB RAM, a range of analog and digital peripherals, automated power and clock management, Arm TrustZone™ for trusted execution, and Arm CryptoCell 310 for application layer security. The processor communicates with the LTE modem through a BSD secure sockets API and supports the application layer protocol (for example CoAP, MQTT or LWM2M) and the application itself. The nRF9160 SiP’s LTE modem supports both SIM and eSIM, offers 700 to 2200 MHz LTE band support, 23 dBm output power, and single pin 50 Ω antenna- and UICC-interfaces. The LTE stack layers L1-L3, IPv4/IPv6, TCP/UDP, TLS/DTLS are part of the modem firmware.
The SiP is supported by the nRF9160 DK, a precertified single board development kit and the nRF Connect SDK, a software development kit which includes application layer protocols, application examples, and LTE modem firmware offered as precertified and precompiled downloads. Target applications for the nRF9160 SiP include asset tracking, smart city, smart agriculture, industrial, smart metering, wearables, and medical solutions.
Major NB-IoT growth
“NB-IoT is undergoing remarkable growth around the world, but nowhere more so than in China,” says Bjørn Åge “Bob” Brandal, Nordic Semiconductor, Director of Sales & Marketing – APAC. “Tens of millions of new NB-IoT connections are coming on line every year driven by demand from public and enterprise services, particularly in smart water and gas metering, but also more and more in consumer applications like trackers and wearables and other applications where Nordic Semiconductor’s unprecedented integration, small size and ultra-low power really makes a difference.
“China Telecom is recognized as the pioneer of NB-IoT services in the country, and now developers designing with Nordic’s nRF9160 SiP will be able to take advantage of this impressive scaled network.”
China Telecom’s nRF9160 SiP certification follows that of Deutsche Telekom (LTE-M network in Germany and NB-IoT networks in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia), Verizon and AT&T (LTE-M networks in the U.S.), Vodafone (NB-IoT networks in Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, The Netherlands, Turkey, U.K. and Ukraine), and Telstra (LTE-M network in Australia).