Last month, u-blox launched two new products: an all-band high-precision GNSS platform including all available GNSS satellite signals, and a combined 3GPP-compliant terrestrial-network and non-terrestrial-network IoT module, both of which address the global satellite IoT market.
In an interview with EE Times, Andreas Thiel, co-founder and executive director at u-blox, said these products address two key trends in the market for positioning technologies and services: One is the push for enabling high-precision GNSS positioning for many users and in many more products, including automotive, industrial and consumer electronics; and the other trend is the rise of satellite IoT.
In this interview, Thiel explains the "democratization" of precision GNSS and how its X20 GNSS platform addresses applications that require centimeter-level position accuracy in challenging environments, as well as time-synchronization applications for critical infrastructure systems.
He also highlights that with demand for guaranteed global reach escalating, particularly for IoT applications such as asset tracking in remote or maritime environments, the use of satellite IoT helps bridge this gap.
We also discuss what it will take for the IoT world to fully embrace 5G. He asks, "When will 5G reach a pricing level that you can move this from LTE to 5G?" adding that he looks forward to this being more commercially viable.
Watch the online video interview with Andreas Thiel below:
One billion 5G RedCap connections by 2030
On the latter point, this could happen in the next five years, according to a separate report put out this month by Omdia. It said that 5G RedCap (short for 5G Reduced Capability) will surge by 66% CAGR to reach 963.5 million connections by 2030. "These findings highlight the growing influence of 5G technology on IoT use cases, as well as the industry's increasing readiness for RedCap and eRedCap solutions," Omdia said in its announcement.
Alexander Thompson, senior analyst for IoT at Omdia, said, "5G RedCap was specifically designed for IoT applications, and in just a year since the first module launches, we've already seen small-scale deployments and trials begin to take shape. We expect 5G eRedCap to follow a similar path, addressing use cases that demand reduced complexity and lower-performance thresholds."
eRedCap was introduced in the latest 3GPP Release 18 and is designed to offer further reduced capabilities and lower data rate requirements, making it suitable for cost-effective IoT applications. Omdia predicts this evolution will follow the path of RedCap but with a slight delay of a year or two, helping bridge the gap as industries transition from 4G to 5G technologies.