u-blox LEXI-R10 Global and SARA-R10 LTE Cat 1bis cellular modules

u-blox has expanded its range of R10 modules for the fast-growing LTE Cat 1bis cellular connectivity market. The latest additions strengthen the company’s LTE Cat 1bis portfolio, serving both the IoT and users migrating from legacy 2G/3G cellular connectivity.

The LEXI-R10 Global provides an ultracompact 16 x16 mm LTE Cat 1bis solution that can be used worldwide in size-constrained IoT applications such as people or pet trackers and wearables. It is being billed as the world’s smallest singlemode LTE Cat 1bis module with indoor location and a US MNO certified core.

Meanwhile, the SARA-R10 series brings the same capabilities as the LEXI-R10 Global to u-blox’s SARA form factor. With 2G and 3G sunsets continuing globally, the series offers product designers using 2G and 3G u-blox SARA modules a straightforward upgrade path to 4G LTE.

One of the variants is the SARA-R10M10, an ultrasmall LTE Cat 1bis module with embedded GNSS capable of concurrent communication and tracking. It is suitable for asset tracking and telematics applications that demand continuous connectivity as well as indoor and outdoor positioning anywhere in the world, due to the blend of GNSS, Wi-Fi scan and global LTE coverage. It is also 50% smaller than u-blox’s previous LTE Cat 1bis combo, the LENA-R8M10.

The two modules give product designers a 4G cellular connectivity solution for IoT applications that require medium data rates, worldwide portability, ultralow power consumption and compact sizes. They offer the option to embed an eSIM and also include an integrated Wi-Fi Sniffer, providing indoor localisation via the u-blox CellLocate service based on both a Wi-Fi and cellular networks.