Qualcomm Looks to the Skies with a Skylo Partnership for New Satellite IoT Modem Chips
A high-end cellular-and-satellite modem chip is due to be joined later this year by a "cost-optimized" alternative for static projects.
Qualcomm has announced a collaboration with non-terrestrial network (NTN) provider Skylo on a pair of low-power satellite modems focusing on providing Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity in currently-disconnected regions: the Qualcomm 212S and 9205S.
"Earlier this year Qualcomm Technologies announced the Qualcomm Aware platform, a revolutionary solution that allows companies to better monitor and track valuable assets virtually anytime and anywhere around the world," says Qualcomm's Jeff Torrance by way of background on the launch. "Our Qualcomm 212S and Qualcomm 9205S chips take our IoT tracking and monitoring capabilities one step further, providing connectivity and coverage even in the most remote areas. These products also further showcase our ability to bring and scale superior innovations to even the most challenging and complex IoT environments."
"We're proud to collaborate with Qualcomm Technologies to provide satellite connectivity on these groundbreaking new IoT modems to help off-grid devices have coverage in challenging cellular environments," adds Skylo co-founder and chief executive officer Parthsarathi Trivedi. "As a leading NTN service provider, we'll help to deliver satellite connectivity through the Qualcomm Aware Platform using our network of satellite operators to power a range of IoT use cases with optimized integrations through the Qualcomm 212S and 9205S modems for stationary and in-transit uses."
The Qualcomm 212S is the company's first NTN-only modem designed for the IoT and with support for the 3GPP Release 17 standard for Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) over NTN satellite communication systems, and is described by Qualcomm as "cost-optimized […] with just the essentials for off-grid, stationary IoT applications." The part includes an Arm Cortex-M3 core running at up to 204MHz, runs the FreeRTOS real-time operating system, includes a four-channel analog to digital converter (ADC), two SPI buses, two I2C buses, three UART buses, and 26 general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins. What it lacks is a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver — hence the company's focus on "stationary" applications.
The Qualcomm 9205S, by contrast, is a more powerful beast. In addition to an Arm Cortex-A7 application-class processing core running at up to 800MHz, the part includes both 3GPP Release 17 satellite communications capabilities and more traditional cellular capabilities Release 14 LTE Cat-NB2 and Cat-M1 and Release 12 EGPRS MSC12. The higher-end modem also includes a GNSS receiver compatible with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou constellations, USB 2.0 connectivity, an audio codec with support for voice calling, and runs the ThreadX operating system.
Both parts are designed to integrate with Aware, Qualcomm's edge-to-edge platform for the Internet of Things — announced back in February as the company's attempt to make it easier to build around its hardware products through an architecture which puts quality application programming interfaces (APIs) front and center, though one which also comes with a service model designed to create a "recurring subscription-based revenue" stream for the company. As Aware-compatible devices, the two NTN modems should be supported through "blueprints" — individualized designs customizable for specific use-cases to speed development.
More information on the Qualcomm 212S and Qualcomm 9205S are available on their respective product pages; the 9205S is shipping now, with the 212S due to hit general availability later this year.