NB-IoT and CAT-M1 Cell Modems — The Cellular IoT Product Solutions You’ve Been Looking For
If it can be connected, it will be connected. That’s the driving principle behind the explosion in connected devices representing nearly $128 billion in U.S. market value between now and 2027. The profitable proliferation of these devices is made possible by advances in cellular technology that enable the next generation of IoT products to be better, stronger, faster, and smarter than ever before — even across long distances and challenging conditions.
At Pivot International, we’re the product design, development, manufacturing, and supply chain partner helping companies capitalize on the mushrooming market for cellularly connected products. With nearly fifty years of experience across fourteen industries, 320,000 square feet of manufacturing might, and advanced DFM expertise, we are the go-to partner for helping companies deliver competitive, cost-effective, and scalable IoT innovations to market.
A Two-Pronged Approach
There are many classes of IoT products, each with different use-cases that must be carefully matched to the right cellular technologies. To accomplish this requires a two-pronged approach. First, the use case must be assessed across connectivity, communication protocols, security, identity, and machine learning. Second, a partner must be identified with the technical diversity to provide a wide range of cellular technologies and the experience to match them to product use case effectively.
Our teams at Pivot bring extensive experience with the latest cellular technologies, including LTE, Cat M, NB-IoT, and 5G. And our in-house DFM talent makes us industry leaders in discerning the finer points of product use case and developing it with scalable manufacturing in mind.
Three Primary Challenges
The three primary challenges companies face when matching cellular technologies to use-case are:
- The need to cost-efficiently connect many devices within a large area.
- The need to efficiently manage these devices throughout their life cycle.
- The need to ensure device communication and data security.
For many of the products we develop, Cat M and NB-IoT cellular modems are the optimal solutions to these challenges. (Beware of the many product development partners that may lead you to settle for a viable solution simply because they lack the technical diversity to provide a truly optimal one.)
Let’s take a look at these technologies and why they’re so well suited to the greater majority of IoT devices.
NB-IoT vs Cat-M1
NB-IoT and Cat-M1 are both 3GPP standardized technologies. Although they have areas of overlap, they are complementary technologies with different strengths. As its name suggests, narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT) is a better fit for ultra-low complexity products that don’t require broad bandwidth. On the other hand, Cat-M1’s 1.4 MHz bandwidth makes it a better fit for products of greater complexity and higher cost investment.
The latest NB-IoT and CAT-MI enhancements and new functionalities include:
- Multicast transmission
- TDD support and increased UE differentiation and access control
- Reduced latency and UE power consumption
- Reduced system information acquisition and cell search time
- Improved coverage, capacity, and EU measurement
- Higher peak data rates to serve a broader range of applications
- Lower power class that enables smaller battery form factors
- Extended support of cell ranges of up to 100km
Examples of IoT Applications Effectively Supported by NB-IoT and CAT-M1
Low-cost sensors, smart meters, e-health wearables, and logistical trackers are common use cases for NB-IoT and Cat-M1 and represent just a few of the successful products found in Pivot’s portfolio. The devices are characterized by:
- Low device and deployment cost
- Small form factor
- Long battery life
- Wireless connectivity for challenging conditions
- Strong application and communication security
One of the cellular products our teams at Pivot are proudest of developing is the Zibrio SmartScale, winner of a CES Innovation Award and a Gold Medical Design Excellence Award. This product is the first clinically proven scale of its kind. It enables users to accurately assess deficits in their balance to take precautions to reduce their risk of a dangerous fall.
At Pivot, we operate at the leading edge of technological evolution to fuel our partner’s success in a competitive market. Our one-source, end-to-end product development expertise and company-owned facilities ensure a seamless process and transparency into your project’s status. Our highly collaborative, client-centric approach is part of what makes us a trusted and preferred partner. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help take your IoT innovation from concept through distribution, contact us today.
Range-Challenge Solutions for Consumer and Industrial IoT Innovations
The development of consumer and industrial IoT innovations pose very different use-case challenges that require very different solutions. Further complicating the picture is that for all the differences between consumer and industrial IoT innovations, they share something in common: the need to integrate outstanding design with scalable manufacture.
At Pivot International, we help companies across the globe capitalize on the $128 billion market for IoT innovations. We bring nearly fifty years of experience and broad technical diversity across consumer, industrial, fitness, and medical markets. Using our in-house DFM expertise that spans over fourteen industries, we integrate design and manufacturing to create award-winning products that successfully scale.
To better understand why consumer and industrial IoT innovations require different solutions, let’s take a look at the use-case challenges of each.
Protocols for Consumer IoT Innovations
When companies are ramping up their efforts to bring a consumer IoT product to market, two of the most common technologies they’re likely to use are Wi-Fi and BLE.
Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that relies on an ethernet connection, modem, or a mobile phone with a data package. Wi-Fi connects multiple devices to the internet without the use of cables (wires). Its range is limited by multiple factors, including antenna type, frequency, power of transmission, and location.
BLE (short for Bluetooth Low Energy) is a wireless personal area network technology designed for novel applications in healthcare, fitness, entertainment, security, beacons, and more. Despite its name, it is a different technology from Bluetooth Classic.
Using low-bandwidth, low-power, and low-cost NB-IoT protocols, Wi-Fi and BLE easily overcome common use-case challenges related to most consumer IoT products. As long as these products remain within a relatively short distance of communication infrastructure, they can operate for long periods, even without being plugged into an AC outlet or charger.
Protocols for Industrial IoT Innovations
For many industrial products, Wi-Fi and BLE are inadequate for solving complex use-case equations. For one, industrial IoT products are often deployed in remote locations well outside the signal range of cell towers. (Or in places — factories or forests, for example — that pose barriers to unobstructed signal access.) This can make these IoT innovations difficult, impractical, or expensive to regularly access, posing challenges related to range, battery life, and maintenance. To overcome these challenges, a wide-area, low-power solution must be found.
LoRa (short for Long-Range access) is this solution.
Benefits of LoRa
LoRa enables successful deployment of IoT innovations that require long-range connection, extended operability (battery life), and infrequent maintenance in challenging conditions. LoRa-supported IoT communications enable access to cell signals from as far as ten miles away and penetrate through objects that other protocols can’t breach. And LoRa is the ultimate protocol for extending battery life. Its ultra-low power requirements mean a device can run on a single charge for as long as five years.
Compared to other protocols, LoRa is exceptionally energy-efficient and resistant to interference. (Between its small receiving bandwidth and coding scheme, LoRa can achieve receiver sensitivity as low as -140dBm.) These characteristics make LoRa the go-to solution for IoT innovations with low power requirements, limited data collection, and long-range communication.
The market opportunity for IoT innovations has never been greater. And with the proliferation of IoT innovations, creating one that differentiates itself from its competitors (and goes from concept to distribution without a hitch) is a steeper challenge than ever. Pivot’s one-source model and DFM expertise ensure a seamless process, impact-making design, and expedited time-to-market. If you’d like to learn more about how we can turn your product vision into a profitable reality, contact us today!
Three Keys for Capitalizing on Cellular Technology
Cellular technology continues to evolve with the demands of the digital age, inspiring startups to enterprise organizations alike to identify and seize emerging opportunities in this product sector. And between the appearance of 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and the pandemic-accelerated societal shift to virtual communication, the market for cellularly connected innovations is not only increasing but exploding. (The global wireless connectivity market is expected to reach $127.9 billion USD by 2027, with a CAGR growth rate of 12.5% in the forecast period from 2019 to 2027.)
At Pivot International, we are a worldwide leader in helping companies design, develop, manufacture, and distribute innovative product solutions. As leaders in the global supply chain with nine company-owned subsidiaries across three continents, we are uniquely positioned to help our partners capitalize on the market for cellular technology products.
Deploy the Power of DFM
DFM (Design For Manufacturing) is crucially important for ensuring a superior product design, optimizing UX, and scalable manufacture of cellularly connected products. (It doesn’t matter how revolutionary your product may be if you can’t cost-effectively manufacture it as scale.) Working with a partner with in-house DFM expertise means that your product will be developed with supply chain and manufacturing in mind from its inception. Providing the missing link between design and manufacturing with in-house DFM is what sets Pivot apart. This core competency has played a central role in the multiple award-winning products we have helped our partners successfully bring to market.
Move toward use-case and back again
The degree of specialization required for successfully moving from product conception to concrete use case (and working backward from there) is often underappreciated and overlooked. However, this specialization is essential to mapping a product pathway that is based on how the product will be used and implemented. (This includes the question of how it interfaces with connectivity services.) By working with a team with a comprehensive understanding of what will become your product’s “natural habitat” and then reverse-engineering the product development pathway in accordance with it, you’ll create the best, shortest, and most cost-effective way forward. (This approach helps to streamline the path between conception and distribution and helps to expedite time-to-market.)
Factor use-case findings to evaluate and predict your product’s market value
No product can be successful without the ability to predict in advance the difference between cost and investment, as well as market demand and sales. (This second set of variables can be particularly tricky for companies to accurately distinguish between.) When you work backward from use-case to map out every aspect of a product’s path, it’s much easier to reliably determine the costs of development and manufacture vs. market value. Due to the pandemic-driven supply chain disruption of 2020, the need for this and other sophisticated forecasting approaches and risk management strategies has never been more apparent.
Pivot creates customized success-solutions for our partners. Our portfolio of internationally-acclaimed innovations only attests to our reputation. When you’re preparing to develop a new cellular technology product, you’ll want to vet many partners to find the fit that’s best for you and your company. With nearly a half-century of experience and a worldwide reputation for helping companies successfully scale, we are confident that we are the partner you’re looking for. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you capitalize on the booming market for products with cellular connectivity.
Top Three Technology and Operations Trends in 2021
As companies navigate for market position in 2021, they’ll need to focus on exploiting three rapidly growing trends. Let’s look at how understanding these trends can help your company capitalize on market demand and harness disruptive change to drive growth.
IoT Gets Smarter With AI-enabled Devices
As both consumer and industrial demand for IoT continues to skyrocket, deep AI integration will fuel next-generation IoT technology, or what is being heralded as the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). Advances in AI, including deep learning and computer vision, will drive an exponential upgrade in IoT software and hardware applications and hasten the transition to Industry 4.0.
AIoT is expected to enjoy wide adoption across multiple verticals. Because COVID-19 has accelerated demand for telehealth, healthcare likely represents one of the largest verticals of opportunity. At Pivot International, we have witnessed a massive upsurge in demand for IoT-enabled medtech and home-health devices. In the last six months alone, we’ve helped multiple partners successfully capitalize on this trend to bring award-winning medtech to market. Our extensive medtech experience and 320,000 square feet of global manufacturing capability help our partners achieve first-to-market advantage.
Digital Identity Goes into Hyperdrive
Digital identity and its central role in the digital economy are perhaps among the world’s most significant technology trends for both public institutions and the private sector. Digital identity refers to a set of validated digital attributes and credentials — name, date of birth, biometric markers, and so forth — for the digital world.
On the surface, digital identity is simple. It means an end to carrying around a driver’s license, credit cards, and other forms of physical ID. But looked at from a product development perspective, the picture becomes more complex.
For one, digital identity poses steep challenges related to biometric security and the preservation of “self-sovereignty” that must be overcome with innovative blockchain applications. Second, developing a digital-identity product necessitates a partner that specializes in both software development and optics technology. (Digital identity requires the optical capture and subsequent encryption of biometric data.)
The race is on for digital identity solutions, and as companies scramble to lead the charge, they’ll need partners with expertise across optics, IoT, AI, blockchain, and other digital applications.
Building Antifragility Becomes Mission Critical
COVID-19 has caused many companies to realize that they need a model for productively harnessing the energy of disruption to drive growth. This new model, known as antifragility, was developed by Nassim Taleb, Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and co-editor-in-chief of the academic journal Risk and Decision Analysis.
As Taleb explains, “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resist shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better”. Building antifragility is the name of the game for the new supply chain era, and developing greater agility is the shortest path to this goal.
In 2021, antifragile operational trends will move companies toward decentralized decision-making, distributive organizational structures, and dynamic resource allocation. These practices allow for rapid innovation in response to urgent needs, emerging market opportunities, and imminent threats.
If your company is seeking a proven partner for developing a successful product, Pivot brings nearly a half-century of experience across over fourteen industries, including specialization in IoT, optics, medical, sensors, security and defense, and more. If you’d like to learn more about how Pivot can support your growth objectives, contact us today for a no-cost consultation!
Steady Growth in Worldwide IoT Market Continues to Drive Search for Global Product Engineering and Electronics Manufacturing Services
Consumers around the world are embracing smart-home technology like never before. According to Business Insider, the number of intelligent home devices is predicted to reach 193 million by 2020. From washers and dryers to cameras and alarm systems, smart devices are making domestic spaces more convenient, efficient, and secure.
In this article, we shed light on IoT market growth and the resulting need for global product engineering and electronics manufacturing services.
Reducing Costs and Conserving Energy
Smart home IoT devices can manage several domestic tasks at once. In addition to this convenience, smart home technology also helps users cut down on utility bills by conserving energy. The heating and cooling of smart homes can be programmed according to the homeowner’s work schedule. Motion sensors can even automatically adjust room temperature in response to a human entering or exiting.
Smart Devices as a Focal Point of Home Life
Consider how the Amazon Echo works as a nerve center: the central point for a consumer’s other home devices. Nest’s Learning Thermostat can operate alongside Alexa, and the August Smart Lock is compatible with the Apple Homekit.
This kind of connectivity and seamless interface saves consumers time and spares them the hassle of learning to use multiple devices. This kind of unified functionality makes for easy adoption and spurs market growth.
Smart Appliances
By making continual upgrades to their products, IoT companies are offering their consumers the latest tools for their home. Smart ovens can help users cook meat with precision. Smart TVs can make accurate recommendations tailored to individual users. Automation technology has the potential to make the user’s home life easier and also entertaining.
Smart Analytics
Smart home technology also allows users to examine their habits, such as how often they watch TV, spend time on the internet, use hot water, run their air conditioner, and so forth. Having easy access to these data-derived insights can help smart home users make positive changes and energy-saving habits to their lifestyle.
“Continued growth”
Andrew Meola writes, “The continued growth of the IoT industry is going to be a transformative force across all organizations. By integrating all of our modern-day devices with internet connectivity, the IoT market is on pace to grow to over $3 trillion annually by 2026.”
Given these figures, it’s safe to say that the growth of smart home technology will continue to rapidly accelerate. For companies poised to capitalize on these opportunities domestically and abroad, it’s simply a matter of finding the right global product engineering and electronics manufacturing partner.
As a product design, development, and manufacturing firm, Pivot International is behind some of the most innovative IoT product solutions on the market for consumers and suppliers alike. For businesses seeking a single-source firm for custom-designed enterprise-efficiency solutions, Pivot ranks first in customer satisfaction. Our client-centric strategy has resulted in compounded annual revenue growth of more than 100% over the last five years and has made us an industry leader. If you’d like to learn more about how Pivot can help your business develop, manufacture, or leverage IoT solutions to capitalize on this expanding market, reach out today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Internet of Things (IoT) as a Product Solution
In a digital and data-driven world where connectivity is key to competitive advantage, businesses are increasingly turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) as a product solution. Though this component’s availability has greatly risen and the cost has been greatly reduced in the last five years, there remain obstacles to easy adoption.
What key considerations should those seeking and supplying IoT product solutions keep in mind to ease adoption and successfully address their most pressing problems? These four top the list.
- Zero in on a quantifiable problem. Use cases are invaluable to customers and suppliers alike in terms of basing specific IoT solutions on concrete, real-world needs, and pain points. For example, businesses that want to manufacture wearable fitness monitors or greenhouse systems aren’t seeking to construct the entire system. These businesses want to purchase the network and cloud portions of their IoT solutions from other companies so they are free to focus on their core differentiation.
- Find the optimal threshold for analysis at the edge. Many businesses start out with the assumption that they’ll integrate sensors into various devices, gather the data that these devices collect, and push this data to the cloud for processing. What this assumption overlooks is that the real-world, physical interface means that a certain amount of data processing will need to be done at the edge. There are all kinds of good reasons for businesses to analyze at the edge rather than immediately or automatically pushing data to the cloud, and businesses and vendors alike need to get clear about where the optimum threshold lies in respect to their needs.
- Look for devices and equipment optimized for edge processing. Businesses need to look for equipment that takes into account the demands and limitations of edge processing. The best IoT solutions are customizable to provide the right data at the right time in a way that is easily accessible by the right people. The more devices and equipment are optimized for edge processing, the more user-friendly they tend to be. This way, solutions can be provided that don’t generate a whole new set of problems by not being optimized for the cloud.
- Evaluate security. Though all IoT businesses and vendors rely on encryption to ensure security, it’s also important to look for products and providers that incorporate identity and authentication safeguards. For example, a business needs the ability to evaluate whether the network, the equipment, and the human user accessing the data are all subject to trustable security measures.
The multiplicity of components that make up IoT solutions means that many businesses aren’t in a position to go it alone and are dependent on a partnership with a single-source product development firm to develop, manufacture, integrate, or operationalize these components.
As a product design, development, and manufacturing firm, Pivot is behind some of the most innovative IoT product solutions on the market for consumers and suppliers alike. For businesses seeking a single-source firm for custom designed enterprise-efficiency solutions, Pivot ranks first in customer satisfaction. Their client-centric strategy has resulted in compounded annual revenue growth of more than 100% over the last 5 years and has made Pivot an industry leader. If you’d like to learn more about how Pivot can help your business develop, manufacture, or leverage IoT solutions to give your business a greater competitive edge, reach out today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
How Logistics is Impacted by the Internet of Things
The IoT, or “Internet of Things” is one of the most important and revolutionary developments in our modern everyday lives.
For those who might need a refresher, the IoT refers to the idea that Internet connections no longer have to be via a traditional desktop or laptop computer; connections are now embedded and available in objects like phones or tablets or Kindles, enabling these devices to send and receive data.
And with that newly available technology come new opportunities and new challenges. This means that the logistics of manufacturing companies have had to change with the times in order to keep up. Here are a few areas in which those changes have occurred.
Supply chain efficiency
We know that maximizing the efficiency of your supply chain is an effective way to maintain profitability, but to keep levels of productivity high, that maximization can’t just be in one area of the chain; it has to be comprehensive.
This is where IoT mobile devices such as radio frequency identification (or RFID) and barcode scanners are becoming a big influence on supply chain-related operations. Many companies who have integrated this technology into their operations have seen a vast increase in shipping accuracy, inventory control and order processing, all while reducing labor costs.
Warehousing innovations
The warehouse is the hub of a business’s transportation system, so the efficiency of that warehouse has a direct impact on a business’ expenses.
And thanks to IoT devices that track inventory, maintain warehousing equipment and report on delivery and transportation vehicles, the assets stored inside of a company’s warehouses now have a voice for the first time.
And that’s not all; thanks to the cloud compatibility of these IoT devices, information can be captured and shared across the cloud, making sure that your products are where they’re supposed to be on time and on (or even under) budget.
Fleet management
As we alluded to above, IoT logistics can be a lynchpin of your fleet management systems, and that’s an aspect of your business that you can’t afford to neglect.
There are a lot of factors to consider when you think about the management of the vehicles you use to get your products where they need to go, whether those vehicles move by road, sea, air or rail.
There are maintenance schedules to consider, keeping track of everyday usage of all of your vehicles and creating the best possible routing, all of which have to be done with maximum efficiency and without sacrificing speed.
With mobile scanners and computers and the aforementioned RFID systems, you can now have full visibility of your entire fleet, which allows your company more control than ever before.
And there’s a time-saving factor to consider here, as well. Without the hard copies and manual labor that fleet management required in the past, there’s a decrease in the time spent on administrative tasks and an increase in the speed at which information can be transferred. And the best part is that that information will be transferred to a central database, where it can be easily accessed by your IoT devices.
For more on the IoT, read our post “3 Ways the IoT is Transforming Manufacturing.”
How the IoT is Changing Product Design
We live in an extremely connected world. Our devices are connected to each other, our cars, and even our homes. It’s an exciting time – but what does all this interconnectivity mean for the future of product design?
It means that product designers now have opportunities and capabilities for design that were unimaginable a decade ago. The most important attribute of the Internet of Things (IoT) is that it’s enabled products to talk to each other. This has opened many doors for designers.
Consumers Want Smart Products
Now that devices can talk to each other, consumers’ expectations have risen to a whole new level.
Products like washing machines and dryers are being designed to collect information about their user. Some of the most influential product design trends include increased product interactivity and more features geared toward a more specific consumer demographic. Now that devices can talk to each other and our cars and houses, designers will need to consider how their products can be interactive too.
Design Will Shift to Focus on the User Experience
Consumers have shifted from wanting products to wanting experiences, and that’s been made possible by the IoT and the interconnectivity of products. When products are able to interact with the consumers who are buying them, the experience the user creates is unique to them and has more meaning to them. Therefore, they value it more. The more interactivity designers can incorporate into their products, the more personalized they can be made to the individual consumer.
Technology Provides Better Feedback
You want to design your product with the consumer in mind. Before the IoT, the best way to get consumer feedback was through surveys or focus groups. Social media has made it much easier to get feedback on products as well as profile your ideal customer. It’s much easier to find out what consumers want and how they want it.
Online reviews are also a great way to get feedback. Some online review sites even allow you to connect with reviewers so you can ask follow up questions or get more details about why they liked (or didn’t like) a certain product. Companies often get instant feedback when a product that is connected to the IoT isn’t working, which is helpful when it comes to potential design changes as well as customer service.
Adaptability is Key
Suketu Gandhi said in the Spring 2016 issue of MITSloan Management Review that our current level of innovation is about creating new products, but innovation of the future will involve creating products that are adaptive and constantly changing and delighting the customer. This adaptability needs to be central to the design of the product.
The IoT is forcing product designers to go to the next level of consumer experience. Not only will products be able to talk to other devices, as well as consumers, but they will also be able to adapt to consumers’ needs based on the data they collect.
At Pivot International, we offer many design and product development services. To learn more about how we can help you create innovative products contact us today.
