Sony Announces Launch of New Low Power Cellular IoT Chipset for NB-IoT Networks - ALT1255

By Tiera Oliver

Associate Editor

Embedded Computing Design

March 08, 2021

News

Sony Announces Launch of New Low Power Cellular IoT Chipset for NB-IoT Networks - ALT1255

New chipset completes Sony's Altair Cellular IoT solution portfolio to address NB only and NB/2G applications.

Sony Semiconductor Israel, a provider of cellular IoT chipsets, announced the launch of the Altair ALT1255, a new low-power NB2 chipset. The ALT1255 is 5G ready, designed with an integrated SIM (iSIM), user MCU, rich application layer, and GSM/GPRS fallback modem. 

The ALT1255 chipset allows device manufacturers to develop low-power, cost-sensitive connected devices at a global scale to monitor, manage, and control critical infrastructure, medical devices, logistic trackers, and LPWA applications.

Per the company, the ALT1255 platform is now commercially available and has been selected by key module players. 

The ALT1255 was developed in-house by Sony Semiconductor Israel, based on the LTE-M/NB ALT1250 chipset, and leverages its NB/2G technology. The chipsets share software architecture, modem application and networking layer, and APIs for ideal integration within the Altair product family.

Also per the company, the ALT1255 built-in iSIM removes barriers related to cost, size, and power, as well as adds an additional layer of security. The GSM/GPRS modem fills the gaps in LPWA network coverage and allows future-proof technology deployment in countries with mixed 2G/NB coverage. In addition, ALT1255 integrates a low-power ARM Cortex-M4 MCU, separated from the modem functionality and designed to run a variety of IoT and sensing applications, as well as an adaptation layer to interconnect within the existing ecosystem.

The solution provides secure cloud connectivity, utilizing communication protocols such as power-efficient COAP and LWM2M.

As part of Sony's Altair family of products, the ALT1255 is trusted by carriers, iSIM ecosystem partners, and developers designing IoT devices.. The chipset has received the Global Certification Forum (GCF) certification, which allows customers to accelerate module and device certification.

For more information, visit: https://altair-semi.com/products/alt1255/

Tiera Oliver, Associate Editor for Embedded Computing Design, is responsible for web content edits, product news, and constructing stories. She also assists with newsletter updates as well as contributing and editing content for ECD podcasts and the ECD YouTube channel. Before working at ECD, Tiera graduated from Northern Arizona University where she received her B.S. in journalism and political science and worked as a news reporter for the university’s student led newspaper, The Lumberjack.

More from Tiera