Today we’ve brought you some very exiting news…you may already have seen it. On our website, we promised you an update on the xPy….well, here goes: today we are kicking off the most disruptive module Pycom has ever produced… The FiPy, the world’s first Five network module.
In addition to WiFi, BLE, LoRa and Sigfox, we’ve added the latest cellular technology for IoT: LTE-M. But, we didn’t just go for one frequency type either. Nope, we partnered with the leaders in their field, Sequans, and are now proud to confirm that our module will have both CAT NB1 and CAT M1. They’re great partners and there’s a Press Release on that out in the Ether too.
FiPy is flanked by two application boards the Pysense and the Pytrack…obvious names we guess. Pysense contains 5 sensors (ambient light, pressure sensor, humidity, 3-axis 12-bit accelerometer and a Temperature sensor) and Pytrack is as the name indicates a tracking board featuring a super accurate GNSS + Glonass GPS as well as a 3-axis 12-bit accelerometer.
So, whilst 2016 has been an incredible year for Pycom, we still haven’t quite reached our goal of listing a complete catalogue of Micropython IoT multi-network modules. We started life with WiFi, boosted that with BLE, progressed to LoRa, complimented with Sigfox, and now must finish the year with LTE-M.
The complete range of such networks are key to any IOT developer and therefore when we talk about finishing the job, at a minimum we mean finishing the catalogue.
You may be wondering why are we launching a new Kickstarter project having only recently shipped the LoPy campaign. The reason is very simple: we have an incredible opportunity to launch cellular in combination with all the other LPWAN networks in April 2017 and ensure our dev community has all the tools to do the job on ONE inexpensive board.
There’s consensus in our industry that the LTE-M networks will roll-out through 2017 and as opposed to other LPWAN networks there’s no need for new infrastructure. Lots of mobile network operators are participating in LTE-M including the below and we’re sure more will follow shortly.
Participating operators, many of whom are already customers of Pycom, include:
AT&T Mobility · Bell Mobility · Bermuda Digital Communications · China Mobile · China Telecom · China Unicom · Etisalat · KDDI Corporation · KT Corporation · NTT Docomo · Orange · SingTel Mobile · Singapore · Telecom Italia · Telefónica · Telenor Group · TeliaSonera · Telstra · T-Mobile Austria · Verizon Wireless · Vodafone
The Sequans Monarch chip that we are using the LTE-M, is the world’s first dual Cat M1/NB1 chip. It is purpose built for narrowband IoT applications, including sensors, wearables, and other low data, low power M2M and IoT devices. The chip complies with the ultra-low-power and reduced complexity feature requirements of the 3GPP release 13 LTE Advanced Pro standard, defining narrowband, low data rate LTE technology for machine type communications.
Much development for the FiPy will benefit from our existing work. In addition, building a new module will not hinder any of the development plans we have in place to complete and continue upgrading all our modules. In fact, quite the opposite as each of our modules are complimentary in many forms.
So why Kickstarter I hear you ask? Quite simply because we need the support of as many developers as possible to help bring this module to life at a launch price of €33 (Early Bird).
You see, we do not only take quality seriously at Pycom, we also want to launch our modules at low prices. For us, cutting edge technology needs to be super affordable and we do so by some clever hardware design and partnering with like minded partners like Espressif, Sequans, Sigfox and our manufacturing partners In-Tech.
So, we get to deliver super cool tools to our developers! That’s why we setup Pycom.
We hope you will continue to back our initiatives and perhaps by backing our FiPy campaign.
Support the FiPy kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1795343078/fipy-the-worlds-first-5-network-iot-dev-board
Best wishes
The Pycom Team