Internet of Things

Alpha Micro and The Antenna Company have signed an agreement to distribute cellular and short range connectivity produces in the UK and Ireland. Described as a strategic partnership and distribution agreement, the two companies will collaborate to reduce time to market for products in development, said wireless connectivity specialist, Alpha Micro. The Antenna Company is headquartered in the Netherlands and ...

Skylo Technologies, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) service provider, has secured $37 million in funding from investors co-led by Intel Capital and Innovation Endeavors. Other investors included BMW i Ventures, Next47, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and the UK’s Seraphim Space. As part of the investment, the Intel Capital Managing Director, David Johnson, joins the Skylo board. “As lead investors, we recognise the ...

Infineon has introduced a ~10 x 20mm antenna-inclusive Bluetooth 5.0 (core spec) module that consumes 1.3mA receiving (-95dBm) and 3mA transmitting (0dBm). Called CYW20822-P4TAI040, it sleeps at 2μA when retaining 32kbyte of ram, or hibernates at 800nA – the latter rising to 950nA hibernating with the wake-up receiver enabled. At maximum transmit power (+4dBm) up to 250m of range can be ...

NXP has fleshed out the MCX A microcontroller series it announced in 2022. The ‘A’ series is the lower-cost branch of the MCX family, and like other MCX MCUs, the devices are built around an Arm Cortex-M33 core – this is the security-enabled M3. The first parts are MCX A14x (48MHz core) and MCX A15x (96MHz core), which come in ...

NGK Insulators has teamed up with Rohm to produce a complete energy storage evaluation kit for IoT devices including shelf-edge labels. Called REFLVBMS001-EVK-001, it measures 56 x 32 x 1.6mm and the components, including the battery, stand a maximum of 1mm above the PCB. It can accept power at 4.5 to 5.5V, and outputs up to 500mA at one of ...

U-blox is sampling a module that combine LTE-M cellular communication (23dBm output) and GNSS for precise location finding. SARA-R520M10 is the super-set device, combining on-board an LTE-M and NB-IoT IC (v2 of UBX-R5) with the company’s M10 GNSS receiver IC, allowing concurrent communication and location-finding in a 16 x 26 x 2.2mm package. Cellular coverage is global, and the module ...

The judges admired this “highly integrated SoC for Bluetooth with innovative steps in power harvesting”. One recognised that it addresses a large issue for the industry with potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Another described it as an essential step to “substantially reduce the consumption of single-use batteries. It feels like a battery-less future is now within sight.” Shortlist * ...

Renesas Electronics has introduced a 64bit MCU for 5G IoT edge devices and Gigabit Wi-Fi 7 gateways, part of its RZ/G Series. RZ/G3S can stand-by for 10µW, run Linux, and provides a PCI Express interface “that enables high-speed connectivity with 5G wireless modules”, said the company. “Additionally, the device boasts enhanced security features such as tamper detection to ensure data ...

E-peas has created an energy harvesting IC specifically for hand-held remote controls and wireless keyboards equipped with small solar cells. A cold start is possible from an input voltage as low as 275mV if 5µW of power is available. There are two versions, which optimise loading of the photovoltaic source in two different ways to get the best out of ...

The next edition of the 3GPP 5G Advanced standard (Release 19) is expected to bring ambient IoT within 6G to increase connectivity from billions of devices to trillions. Voting in December, the telecom companies and mobile operators that make up 3GPP membership will define what is to be in the latest standard. “Ambient IoT will almost certainly be part of ...