GSM/GPRS module from U-blox

U-blox has announced its entry into the rapidly expanding embedded GSM/GPRS market with the launch of LEON, a new surface-mount GSM transceiver module.
February 3, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
602 U-Blox has announced its entry into the rapidly expanding embedded GSM/GPRS market with the launch of LEON, a new surface-mount GSM transceiver module. When combined with the company's standard GPS modules, U-blox claims OEMs now have a one-stop solution that merges GPS positioning and tracking with the power to communicate over the world's largest mobile network. The module is ideal for cost-sensitive industrial applications such as fleet management, asset and personnel tracking, vehicle recovery, point-of-sales terminals and metering.

LEON operates as a standalone GSM transceiver module or together with U-blox's GPS modules via a simple I2C interface, allowing for a simple interface of both modules via one single UART. It is the first of a series of cellular surface-mount modules from U-blox. The company says that the modules' small footprint of only 18.9x29.5x2.84mm and SMT pads on only two sides of the package results in simple mounting, cheaper PCB layout and easier quality control as compared to ball-grid or land-grid array solutions. LEON features a low current consumption (1.6 mA in standby mode), and wide operating temperature (-30°C to +85°C). The module supports GPRS Class 10 as well as voice communications, (such as for emergency services) and comes equipped with embedded TCP/IP stack and AssistNow client.
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road design as a primary aid to speed enforcement?
    January 30, 2012
    Letty Aarts, senior researcher, SWOV institute for road safety research, the Netherlands, discusses how road design can act as a primary aid to speed enforcement
    Read More
  • Tunnel simulators vital for real world tunnel management
    January 23, 2012
    Guillaume Ponsar, tunnel safety engineer with Egis Road Operation, writes about the advantages to be gained from the use of tunnel simulators. Major tunnel disasters over the last decade and more have shown how swiftly and badly a simple crash or fire may evolve should the wrong actions be taken by control room operators or traffic managers. Global safety issues and the reactions of operations staff have now become the principal concerns for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service providers. As a result, n
    Read More
  • Electric park brake technology gaining momentum in North America
    April 19, 2012
    TRW, a specialist in active and passive safety, says it has been awarded new business for its next-generation electric park brake (EPB) technology with two major North American based vehicle manufacturers. The system functions as a conventional hydraulic brake for standard service brake applications, and as an electric brake for parking and emergency braking. TRW launched the first integrated caliper EPB system in 2001 and is bringing the wide range of functional and ancillary benefits of EPB to the North A
    Read More
  • Debating road user charging systems
    January 26, 2012
    Are pre-launch trials of charging systems the way to improve public acceptance? Or is the real key a more robust political attitude? Here, leading system suppliers discuss the issue. The use of distance-based Road User Charging (RUC) is now well established, at least for heavy goods vehicles on strategic roads. However demand management for all vehicles, whether a distance-based charge or some form of cordon scheme, has yet to make significant progress. This is in spite of the logic and equity of RUC being
    Read More

Highlighted Content