Why?

IoTat's aim is in designing and manufacturing premium quality Mobile IoT modems for a market fed up with unfinished hardware, low-quality products, clones, or modems not carrier certified. Bottom line, the ST-1 is a fully-finished premium quality carrier-certified Mobile IoT modem and with IoTat's guarantee ensures the ST-1 continues to outperform the pack well into the future.

What is Cat M and NB-IoT technology?

Cat M (Category M) is a type of narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technology that is optimized for use in licensed spectrum. It is designed for low-power, low-bandwidth applications such as monitoring equipment and collecting data from sensors. NB-IoT is a radio technology that allows for the efficient transmission of small amounts of data over long distances, making it suitable for IoT applications.

What are the advantages of using Cat M and NB-IoT devices?

Cat M and NB-IoT devices offer several advantages compared to other IoT technologies most critical are. Long battery life because they use low-power radio frequencies, Cat M and NB-IoT devices can operate for extended periods of time on a single battery charge. NB-IoT devices can also transmit data over longer distances than other IoT technologies, making them suitable for use in remote or hard-to-reach locations.

Can The ST-1 connect to BLE sensors?

No our goal is to keep it simple, IoTat's use of a cellular radio removes the complexity, headache, and higher costs associated with a gateway. Unfortunately, a gateway can be a power-hungry device and, in a Mobile IoT Solution, this is not the most ideal fit. Organizations that have to support multiple wired and wireless connection protocols and standards like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, Z-Wave, Zig-Bee, etc. to connect their custom sensors are stuck to using a gateway. One of the negatives in using a gateway is the need for daily charging or the device must be equipped with a constant power feed. Or, an oversized battery pack. And, for example, in the case of Bluetooth Low Energy, the sensors are extremely low power often lasting years on a single battery. And, this sounds good, however, this requires the gateway to constantly be listening for sensors to wake up. To add, there's the unavoidable 2.4ghz spectrum congestion - the receiver needs to be actively processing data to pick out a Bluetooth signal to determine if it's one it cares about. There's simply no way to manage power savings and read requests from sensors. In some cases, where there is too much interference, there are gaps in data and no way to recover the missing data.

Are we locked in just first party sensors?

No, we don't limit you to just using our sensors. Our goal is to give you full control over your device, including the ability to set any of the available expansion pins as you wish from the web interface. We will provide all the necessary information for the interface to all customers, so you can customize your device using any sensors you want. Currently, you should be able to interface with any simple sensors without any assistance from us. However, if you do encounter any issues, our US-based support and development team is available to help diagnose and fix them quickly. In the future, we plan to add the ability for users to set up more complex sensors like I2C, SPI, and serial directly from the configuration in ATtrack. If you need a specific sensor added before then, please contact our development team.

Does the ST-1 support MQTT?

MQTT is a suitable protocol with excellent support but it requires maintaining 2-way communication at all times creating a significant overhead in practice. This makes MQTT a bad match for Cat M modems even more so for NB-IoT modems where bandwidth is limited at times to 1kb or fewer speeds. MQTT utilizes a TCP-based protocol to ensure connection reliability but there's a downside. It's known, TCP performs a handshake, a back-and-forth communication, confirming packets in both directions. Normally, this is not an issue but, in a limited bandwidth environment, this can cause bandwidth requirements to multiply, requiring the radio to stay on longer to account for it. Instead, IoTat utilizes a one-way UDP connection. The difference is that when we send the data, we don’t require to check if it was received. This eliminates the extended time and bandwidth utilized by the end device resulting in improved battery life and overall lower network cost. For comparison, this is the design streaming audio and video use for some of the same ressons. Similar to that environment, confirming every bit of data creates a processing bottleneck where available bandwidth is likely maxed-out. IoTat avoids all these negative consequences by not using MQTT.

Is the data reliable?

With the ability to store hundreds of data points to be re-transmitted on its next connection, the ST-1 can provide a comprehensive and up-to-date view of your data, even if there are intermittent disruptions in connectivity.

How long Does it take to setup?

By reducing the time and cost required to deploy an IoT solution to just minutes, the ST-1 helps businesses to achieve a positive return on investment (ROI). Its plug-and-play design and reliable data transmission make it an efficient and cost-effective choice for businesses looking to take advantage of the benefits of IoT. In addition, the ST-1 can store hundreds of data points to be re-transmitted on its next connection, ensuring that you receive a comprehensive and up-to-date view of your data.