Qualcomm has revealed two LTE modems aimed at powering the likes of smart meters, wearables and security-based IoT products.
The MDM9207-1 and MDM9206 are expected to begin shipping from next year. The former offers Category 1 LTE connectivity, with a downlink speed of up to 10MBps. The modem will also have a battery life of more than 10 years and support the likes of LTE FDD, LTE TDD, DC-HSPA, GSM and TD-SCDMA.
The MDM9206 will support forthcoming narrowband IoT technology, with 3GPP currently thrashing out the specifications of the technology as part of Release 13. NB-IoT is widely expected to support operator efforts to power the likes of smart cities and will compete with technology such as Sigfox and LoRa.
Qualcomm said that chipset would begin shipping once the specifications of NB-IoT are agreed. The technology supports in-band deployment, meaning operators can fuel IoT networks with existing spectrum resources.
Anthony Murray, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, IoE, Qualcomm Technologies, said: “Qualcomm Technologies continues to expand the capabilities of LTE to accelerate progress in IoT today with the MDM9207-1 and MDM9206.
“These modems demonstrate our continued commitment to the expansion of existing LTE commercial device capability in addition to new standards-based Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies that will lead to global cellular solutions with longer range, lower power and lower complexity, such as LTE Cat-M (eMTC) and NB-IOT.”