Quectel Launches New Compact, Low-Power Yet High-Performance Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Modules
New small-footprint modules take aim at the Internet of Things (IoT), with ruggedized and wide-temperature variants.
Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity specialist Quectel has announced four new models with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, balancing performance with a low power draw and small footprint for portable applications.
"Adding the Quectel FCU741R, FCS950R, [HCM111Z,] and HCM010S to our portfolio enables developers and designers to select the module that best suits the needs of their use case," says Quectel's Norbert Muhrer, president and chief sales officer, of the company's latest communication modules. “The combination of low power, efficient design, compact size and high-performance makes these modules ideal for many IoT use cases."
The first in the new range is the Quectel FCU741R, a Wi-Fi 4 module with dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz operation and a maximum data rate of 150Mbps. There's a USB 2.0 interface on board, the company has confirmed, and a choice of first-generation radio-frequency coaxial connector of a pin antenna interface using surface-mount technology (SMT) for antenna connectivity — the latter ideal, the company says, for devices which need to be rugged, aided by the part's wide operating temperature range of -20-70°C (-4-158°F).
The Quectel FCS950R sits higher in the family with support for Wi-Fi 5 to a peak 433.3Mbps throughput and Bluetooth 5.2. As with the FCU741R, it supports surface-mount installation and the same broad temperature range — and includes what Quectel claims is an "advanced package [with] laser-engraved label" for improved heat dissipation.
The Quectel HCM010S drops Wi-Fi in favor of concentrating solely on Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy (BLE), with support for Bluetooth Mesh connectivity. There's an integrated Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller running at up to 80MHz, 64kB of static RAM (SRAM), and 768kB of flash storage, plus 20 accessible general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins including I2C, SPI, I2S, and UART buses. This, interestingly, boasts an industrial-grade temperature range of -40-105°C (-40-221°F) — noticeably wider than the Wi-Fi parts.
The last model in the new range is the Quectel HCM111Z, which supports Bluetooth 5.3 Low Energy (BLE) and includes an Arm Cortex-M3 core running at up to 48MHz, 48kB of static RAM (SRAM), and 512kB of flash storage, but which drops to just 13 accessible GPIO pins — the trade-off being a smaller footprint than the HCM010S.
All four parts have launched now, with availability in-channel expected in the coming weeks; pricing starts at $3.60 per unit for the FCU741R, $5.36 for the FCS950R, $4.73 for the HCM010S, and $2.12 for the HCM111Z, all in 3,000- or 4,000-unit tray quantities.