u‑blox, a global provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies, announced that its modules will be at the core of two new developer boards. The boards, which are designed and produced by Seeed, one of China’s distributors of microelectronic components for the international developer and maker communities, deliver cellular communication and positioning capabilities for a wide range of applications in the Internet of Things.
The first of the two development boards is a Raspberry Pi HAT designed to augment Raspberry Pi computers with cellular communication as well as cellular-based positioning services. The board will be released in multiple variants USA AT&T, USA Verizon, Europe based on the u‑blox LARA‑R2 LTE Cat 1 module series.
The second board, the WIO LTE Cat M1 / NB1 tracker, provides the essential hardware to make low-power location tracking devices for people, pets, and assets. It can be programmed using the Arduino IDE and is also Espruino (JavaScript) compatible.
The board uses the u‑blox MAX‑M8Q GNSS module to determine position, integrating signals from multiple GNSS satellite constellations, and connects to the cellular network using the u‑blox SARA‑R4 LTE Cat M1 / NB1 module. Developers and businesses can customise the standalone board and have it manufactured through Seeed’s services to create solutions tailored to their specific needs.
“Seeed is among the top three designers and distributers of products that target makers. Based in China’s Shenzhen, also known as the “world capital of hardware innovation,” Seeed is ideally positioned to deliver a pioneering and affordable offering to both the domestic and the global maker community,” says Michael Ammann, senior principal at u‑blox.
“We are pleased to collaborate with u‑blox on the development of these two IoT boards. The fact that the mobile communication networks that these new products rely on are only now being rolled out could have been an obstacle,” says Ye Xiaobo, product manager at Seeed. “But thanks to good documentation and support, we are excited to give our customers the opportunity to develop new applications that benefit from the low power consumption and low-cost data plans they need.”
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