Sequans Communications S.A. announced that its second-generation LTE Cat 1 chip platform, Calliope 2, will soon be sampling. Calliope 2 is designed for the cost-effective support of IoT applications that require VoLTE and a data rate higher than 100 kilobits per second that cannot be supported by LTE-M or NB-IoT technologies. Typical Calliope 2 applications include wearables and hearables with music streaming and voice support, and smart city/smart home IoT devices such as security cameras, alarm panels, and utility meters, needing high throughput, and data aggregators where the speed of up to several megabits per second may be required.
Advancements in Sequans Calliope 2 technology remove the cost and power consumption barriers that have thus far inhibited widespread deployment of Cat 1 for IoT. These advancements include 1) higher integration that has lowered the Cat 1 module cost closer to the level of LTE-M module cost, and 2) significantly improved power consumption, in both active and low power modes, lowering the power profile close to the LTE-M power profile, and thereby significantly extending the battery life of Cat 1 IoT devices.
In addition to cost and power improvements, Calliope 2 delivers advanced features such as an EAL5+ secure enclave for ieUICC and integrated VoLTE with support for emergency voice calling and streaming audio.
Calliope 2 is 5G-ready, compliant with the 3GPP Release 15 massive IoT standard. Its user application software and interfaces are compatible with Sequans’ Monarch 2 LTE-M/NB-IoT platform, allowing easy migration among Cat 1, LTE-M, and NB-IoT massive IoT technologies. Cat 1 networks are today available worldwide, enabling Calliope 2 to support any IoT application or device, even in those regions where LTE-M is not yet available.
Calliope 2 feature highlights include: 3GPP Release 15; Up to 10 Mbps DL, and 5 Mbps UL; Interfaces include USB 2.0, 4xHS-UART, SPI, PCM/I2S; Advanced low power features eDRX and PSM with rock bottom at 1µA; Comprehensive VoLTE voice engine including HD-quality voice (EVS); Baseband, RF, power management and memory integrated into one chip platform; Compatible with Sequans Monarch 2 LTE-M/NB-IoT platform for easy migration among Cat 1, Cat M, Cat NB1/NB2; EAL5+ security for iSIM; Streaming audio
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