This Week's Focus: IoT Technology Focus
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IoT Platform Release Provides 
Improved Wireless Capabilities

Ayla Networks has announced new capabilities to its IoT platform. This new Ayla IoT platform release overcomes restrictions on choosing wireless modules to connect to the Ayla IoT cloud and streamlines the creation of enterprise applications that use IoT device data.
A new Ayla portable software agent significantly cuts the time needed to get to market with IoT initiatives, by allowing you to select essentially any cellular or Wi-Fi module and have it connect easily to the Ayla IoT cloud. For makers of IoT solutions and service providers, the Ayla IoT platform has added new application enablement capabilities that make it faster and easier to build both mobile and web-based enterprise applications that take advantage of IoT data.

To connect to an IoT cloud, devices use an embedded cellular or Wi-Fi module, comprising both a hardware chip and a software agent, that provides wireless cloud connectivity. Until now, IoT software agents had to be built and certified to work with a specific chip and module type. That's an expensive process that could take a year or more and involve significant certification overhead.



Designing a Debug and Test Tool 
 
By William Holt, Sequim Tek
During a career largely spent developing mixed signal IC products, I often longed for a personal, simple to use, analog and digital pattern generator tool. Numerous occasions arose where it was necessary to check the performance or parameters of an IC, a breadboard or an application board. Sometimes the setup was trivial: a few supplies and a signal generator or two. And sometimes the setup was quite complex.
I had a few tools for the tougher problems but there was usually something not quite matching up---logic or interface voltages, offset, synchronization, limited pattern width/length and limited pattern control options. So after retiring, I decided to create a personal debug and test tool and here is the result.



Development Kit Rolls for Cellular LTE-M 
Smart Modem

Digi International has announced the availability of the Digi XBee3 Cellular LTE-M development kits, featuring Digi's next-generation smart cellular modem. This LTE-M certification, to be followed by the certification of Digi XBee3 Cellular NB-IoT in October 2018, allows Digi to claim having one of the first LPWA, software-defined technology-agile modems capable of offering Cat-M or NB-IoT on a single, compact footprint. Designed to be configurable, developers can easily standardize and future-proof their IoT designs by simply changing modems and SIMs to leverage different wireless protocols without having to redesign hardware for different regions or applications.

The new Digi XBee3 Cellular LTE-M smart modem is integrated into the development kit via a 20-pin Digi XBee socket, ultimately allowing for solution connectivity via millions of sockets already deployed around the globe. The module can also be easily configured and controlled from a centralized platform such as the Digi Remote Manager. Digi International is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN),  and the Digi XBee3 Cellular LTE-M is a smart cellular modem supported by AWS IoT Core.

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U-blox has announced the SARA-G450, a cost-optimized 2G cellular module for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, such as utility metering and tracking systems. Provided in the industry-proven SARA form factor, the SARA-G450 quad-band GSM/GPRS module lets product developers easily migrate their products to 3G, LTE or LPWA technology to meet a broad range of environmental and technological requirements.
2G cellular technology offers reliable performance for mobile applications and broad geographical coverage. Until recently, this made it the technology of choice for machine type connectivity such as fleet management, metering and tracking. While some regions are currently phasing out their 2G network infrastructure (most notably the USA), 2G continues to be a viable and popular option for M2M solutions in regions still lacking NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 networks or where coverage is spotty. The SARA-G450 is an ideal solution for cost and space-sensitive applications in these markets.

Thanks to its pin-compatibility with the entire u-blox cellular line-up, you can use a single platform and PCB design to enable solutions for a variety of air interface technologies, including  2G, 3G, LPWA (LTE Cat M1 and NB1) and high speed LTE. This also means that you can anticipate future upgrades of your applications to move to LTE Cat M1 and NB1 connectivity as soon as they become available in their target markets.