Japanese operator KDDI has certified U-Blox’s Sara-R5 module for use on its LTE-M networks.

The module is the first product based on UBX-R5, U-Blox’s own low-power wide-area (LPWA) chipset, to achieve operator certification in Japan.

The Sara-R5 series is 5G-ready and aimed at LPWA IoT applications, such as industrial automation, sensor applications, connected health, metering, asset and vehicle tracking, and telematics. By bringing all the technology building blocks in house and having hardware and software ownership, U-Blox says it can guarantee long-term device availability and provide lifetime support of the entire platform, down to the chipset level.

“U-Blox is an undisputed leader in LTE-M technology globally and we are pleased to see that Sara-R5 is now also certified in Japan,” said Samuele Falcomer, senior product manager at U-Blox. “The Sara-R5 series is unique for the level of security it brings with a root of trust embedded in a hardware-based secure element and a key management system that is highly optimised for low bandwidth LPWA applications.”

The module has three product variants. The Sara-R500S-61B offers simple LTE-M connectivity, while the Sara-R510M8S-61B includes an integrated U-Blox M8 GNSS and a separate GNSS antenna interface, providing reliable and accurate positioning data concurrent to LTE communication. This makes it suitable for mobile applications such as automotive, fleet management, and tracking and telematics. The Sara-R510S-61B is for low-power battery applications such as metering, smart city, connected health, security and surveillance, and remote monitoring.

The module is Microsoft Azure certified and AWS IoT Core qualified. U-Blox certificate lifecycle control facilitates zero touch provisioning to cloud platforms and simplifies the management of IoT certificate renewals.

With headquarters in Thalwil, Switzerland, U-Blox has offices in Europe, Asia and the USA.