Fierce Electronics Editor Matt Hamblen interviewed Jeremy Gosteau of Sequans at the News Desk at Sensors Converge 2022.
The two discussed Cellular IOT. Jeremy stated that “it is both easy and complex. It is easy since it is available everywhere, and you have connectivity from LTM, cat1, or Urbana UT. You do not have to set up your own infrastructure, there is already an ecosystem which is reliable, secure, scalable, cost-effective. IOT is also complex because an IOT developer needs to put together an application, running an MCU, connecting it through the cloud with cellular connectivity, and putting the antenna up, take a service provider plan and put it all together”.
At Sequans communications, the company tried to make cellular IOT easy. One way they have made it easier is by building a strong partnership ecosystem. They work with antenna partners, genesis partners, various service providers as well as MCO partners. Sequans has been announcing partnerships and has a lot more coming down the line. For the company it is not just about having an integrated MCU capability, because there is not a single MCU that can do it all. There needs to be the right trade off for your own solution between cost, power consumption, interfaces, memory, and processing power”.
“The general strategy is to try and address the long tail of IOT applications for the people who want to use an IOT device, and get it connected through cellular connectivity, but do not have the resources to make it happen.” Jeremy stated. Sequans is trying to make it easier to do so by developing those resources through the company’s partnerships.
When asked to describe the ADR IOT cellular IOT development board and the type of devices it will support, Jeremy said. “Last week Microchip announced and launched this 8-bit AVR MCU based dev kit which is connected cellular networks with Sequans Monarch II GMO 2S. The dev kit is 60 dollars and is all included - a SIM card, the 8-bit based 8 bit AVR MCU, and a sensor secure element which helps crypto authentication to make the whole connection secure.” The IOT devices that it will be used for are streamlined cost effective devices like asset trackers as well as medical devices.