Skip to main content

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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Home based real time travel information drives reduction in car use
    January 20, 2012
    David Crawford investigates a new approach to discouraging car use - the 'kitchen as travel centre'. ITS technology working together with UK planning legislation is driving an innovative 'kitchen as travel centre' approach to home design which is boosting public transport as an alternative to car use. The combination is already proving powerful enough to assuage environmentalist opposition to major urban developments. It is also being seen as a way of delivering wider social and community benefits inside an
  • Cohu's 3960HD Helios camera system
    July 30, 2012
    Cohu's 3960HD incorporates a day/night 720p/30fps HDTV camera with an integral x18 optical zoom lens which provides consistent image resolution throughout the zoom range. The camera uses true day/night technology, using a removable IR cut filter that creates exceptional low light sensitivity (as low as 0.01fc).
  • Speeding ambulances through borders
    October 26, 2016
    David Crawford sees hope for stricken patients on the wrong side of the border. In treating patients with heart or stroke conditions, speed is of the essence.
  • Corporate car sharing fleets set to reach 85,000 vehicles in 2020
    February 24, 2014
    A recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan estimates the number of vehicles in car sharing fleets to stand at around 2,000 in 2013 and forecasts that by 2020 there could be between 75,000 and 100,000 of such vehicles in operation, as providers such as OEMs, leasing arms, rental companies, car sharing organisations (CSOs) and technology providers continually enter the market and expand geographically with competing solutions. With more than half of European automobile sales now accounted for by fleet sales, set