Introduction to Cellular LTE CatM / NBIoT

This page contains application examples, document references, tips, and so on related to STM32 Cellular.

1. What are Cellular LTE CatM and NBIoT?


Technologies


LTE CatM and Narrowband Internet of Things (NBIoT) are low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) radio technology standards developed by 3GPP to enable a wide range of cellular devices and services.
NBIoT focuses specifically on indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and high connection density.
The advantage of LTE CatM over NBIoT is its higher data rate, mobility, and voice over the network. However it requires more bandwidth and is more costly.

Check also GSMA's NBIoT / LTE CatM world wide coverage information.

2. Wiki MCU / Cellular : pages breakdown

3. Getting started with STM32 and Cellular LTE Cat M and NBIoT


From a hardware point of view, STMicroelectronics offers various ways to set up cellular connectivity solutions on STM32 MCUs. For STM32 boards that support the STMod+ connector, STMod+ modem boards can be directly connected to the STM32 board. For STM32 boards that do not have an STMod+ connector, an ARDUINO® / STMod+ adapter (X-NUCLEO-STMODA1) can be inserted between the STM32 board and the modem board.
To obtain a complete setup, packs are available that contain the STM32 board together with the modem board. Otherwise the STM32 board and the modem board can be ordered separately. For more information check the hardware setup page.
Note that for each version of the Cellular middleware software there is a set of supported hardware. See also the details in the hardware setup page.

On the software side, X-CUBE-CELLULAR (X-CUBE Expansion Package) provides a software solution to allow customers to quickly and easily develop their own firmware:

  • Based on FreeRTOS
  • Users can choose to use either the IP stack in the modem or in the STM32 (LwIP)
  • Command line through Virtual COM UART over USB ST-LINK to configure the cellular connectivity parameters (technology selection, bands, APN, and others), and the connection to the cloud IoT platform
  • Easy to support a new modem.

Several applications are provided as examples.

For more information check the X-CUBE-CELLULAR Wiki page.

New hardware setups and new software features in X-CUBE-CELLULAR are to be provided to customers over time.

4. How to...

This part is a guideline that describes how to perform the main activities with X-CUBE-CELLULAR. All the information is merged in the Cellular How To Wiki page

5. FAQ

All the frequently-asked questions are listed in the dedicated Cellular F.A.Q Wiki page.

6. Video related to Cellular LTE CatM and NBIoT

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Zigbee 3.0 mesh to cloud over cat-M with BLE 5.0 user control (MWC/EW 2020)

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ST at CES 2019 - LTE IoT Starter Kits

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STM32 Cellular to Cloud Discovery Packs: 2G/3G and Espruino JS, LTE IoT! Embedded World 2018

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Getting started with STMicroelectronics cellular IoT discovery kit

7. Specific tools

STMicroelectronics’ STM32 Power Shield to power and analyze current consumption
Network simulator for both LTE CatM & NBIoT