Actility subsidiary Abeeway has selected Sequans low-power LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular IoT connectivity for critical asset tracking.

French firm Sequans Communications specialises in 4G and 5G cellular IoT chips and modules. Abeeway, a subsidiary of LPWAN firm Actility, has adopted Sequans’ Monarch 2 GM02S module to provide low-power cellular IoT connectivity for a version of the Abeeway Compact Tracker. This now combines LTE-M and NB-IoT connectivity from Sequans with GPS, wifi sniffer, Bluetooth and LoRa technologies in one tracker.

“To enable truly ubiquitous coverage for the Abeeway Compact Tracker, we knew we must have cellular, and Sequans’ Monarch 2 GM02S module provides not only highly reliable LTE-M and NB-IoT connectivity, but also ultra-low power consumption which, when combined with Abeeway’s patented low-power GNSS technology, enables Abeeway trackers to provide unparalleled battery life for industrial tracking applications,” said Olivier Hersent, CEO of Actility. “In Monarch 2, Sequans gave us all the advanced capabilities required for critical asset tracking and stolen vehicle recovery, and the Sequans team gave us excellent support throughout the entire integration process. Abeeway trackers already provide support for unlicensed low-power networks (LoRaWan), and our partnership with Sequans enabled us to add support for best-in-class licensed cellular so that we can provide technology-agnostic LPWAN connectivity, which can operate on LoRaWan or any LTE-M or NB-IoT cellular network. Customers can always select the most efficient mode of operation.”

The Abeeway Compact Tracker is designed for heavy-duty tracking and provides indoor and outdoor geolocation with low power consumption. Its compact and robust form factor can resist harsh outdoor conditions, enabling seamless asset tracking and management in virtually any industrial environment. It provides real-time tracking and status monitoring of many types of industrial assets, including vehicles, machines, equipment and livestock, and provides geofencing and anti-theft features.

“Abeeway has delivered a state-of-the-art industrial tracker, and we are pleased that our Monarch 2 technology is part of it,” said Olivier Pauzet, executive vice president at Sequans. “When we designed Monarch 2, it was with IoT companies like Abeeway in mind. Monarch 2 enables the Abeeway Compact Tracker to operate seamlessly anywhere with industry-leading low power consumption and integrated eSIM capability for remote provisioning and roaming.”

The Abeeway Compact Tracker with multi-mode connectivity, including LTE-M and NB-IoT, is expected to reach mass production in mid-2024.

The Monarch 2 GM02S (sequans.com/products/monarch-2-gm02s) is a dual mode LTE-M and NB-IoT module that can dynamically switch between LTE-M and NB-IoT on demand and delivers features such as low power consumption at 1µA in deep sleep mode, and global band support.

Actility (www.actility.com) provides its ThingPark platform and network technology to deploy, operate and maintain public and private wireless IoT networks within a unified, scalable and versatile network infrastructure.

Founded in 2003, Sequans (www.sequans.com) is based in Paris, France, with offices in the USA, UK, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan and China.