nRF9160 cellular IoT module shortlisted for ‘Best IoT Connectivity Solution’ in 2019 Awards of IoT World

IoT World is a major conference and expo for IoT business. Now celebrating its 6th anniversary and preparing to welcome over 12,500 attendees, 400 speakers, and 300 exhibitors and startups, the show is said to provide a place for IoT professionals to network and learn within the growing IoT community. At the next event in Santa Clara, California, from 13 to 16 May 2019, strategists, technologists, developers, and implementers will get an opportunity to connect and put IoT into action across multiple key industry verticals. 

The Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 leverages SiP technology to achieve a size of just 10 x 16 x 1mm in dimension that represents the smallest form-factor ever seen in the cellular IoT module industry to date (up to 3x smaller footprint, up to 2x thinner, and up to 5x less total packaging volume) than competing products. The nRF9160 SiP integrates an Arm Cortex-M33 host processor, GPS, plus all the components required for cellular IoT operation (including a multimode cellular modem and transceiver, RF front end, dedicated application processor, Flash memory, RAM memory, power management, plus crystal and passive components on a single chip).

The nRF9160 SiP is also optimized for low power and takes full advantage of the power savings introduced by the LTE-M and NB-IoT standards and further enhances them with Nordic’s long-term expertise in ultra-low power wireless design. As a result, the nRF9160 supports average power consumption levels well below 10 µA in the lowest duty-cycle wireless IoT applications. For more active applications such as high-resolution asset trackers that might upload data every 20 seconds, for instance, it still consumes as low as 0.5 mA, supporting a battery life of up to 6-months from a 3.7V, 2700 mAh battery source.

 

The nRF9160 is capable of delivering up to 4x the standard LTE range with LTE-M, and 7x the standard range with NB-IoT—and carries all of the benefits of traditional cellular modules. However, the nRF91 Series adopts a completely different approach to these conventional modules by adding a host of completely unique IoT-targeted features never before seen in cellular.

 

These include: the Arm Cortex-M33 processor which is powerful enough to run applications and perform edge computing (extracting useful information from raw data by processing it locally to minimize the amount of data sent over the cellular network and lower power consumption); Arm TrustZone® security; Arm CryptoCell-310 security IP for internet-level encryption acceleration; secure over-the-air updates of modem and application firmware via embedded Flash memory; and built-in support for positioning via an integrated Assisted GPS (A-GPS) capability that combines cellular and GPS technology to deliver fast and accurate positioning.

 

In summary, the nRF9160 SiP combines all the benefits of traditional cellular modules, including teleregulatory and cellular certifications, with ease-of-use, unprecedented integration, and the smallest form-factor ever seen in the cellular industry to date.