Accelerating Development of Low-Power Location Tracker Using U-Track Toolset
Immediate application prototype development and operation possible
On the 10th, u-blox announced a toolset consisting of u-track software and the C030-R410M application board.

This toolset is designed for developers commercializing battery-powered applications such as sports, people, and asset trackers. Therefore, it supports the rapid prototyping of wireless location tracking applications using GNSS technology, as well as LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular networks.

Recently, battery-powered products equipped with GNSS receivers are increasing. Virtual reality headsets, smartwatches, and tracking devices for the elderly, containers, or mail are typical examples of such products.

As low-power wide-area cellular network (LPWAN) technologies such as LTE-M and NB-IoT continue to be adopted and operate at ultra-low power, the scope of application for wireless location trackers is expected to expand.

Florian Bousquet, Senior Manager of the Positioning Product Center at u-blox, said, “We developed this toolset so that developers can quickly and easily test the accuracy and power consumption levels of the products they design,” adding, “With this toolset, customers can start testing with various settings within 15 minutes.”

In addition, it was stated, “This toolset supports LTE-M and NB-IoT cellular communications, as well as advanced technologies such as u-blox’s Super-E mode, which provides a balance between the power consumption and positioning performance of GNSS receivers.”

u-Trac software runs through firmware embedded in the u-blox C030-R410M application board. This board is designed for rapid prototyping of IoT applications. It is equipped with an ultra-compact, low-power u-blox ZOE-M8B GNSS receiver and a SARA-R410M LTE-M/NB-IoT cellular communication module.

In addition, uTrac includes a PC software application. The user-friendly dashboard records, retrieves, and visualizes various key data, such as power consumption history, accuracy, and the time taken to calculate the position after the GNSS receiver is turned on (Time-To-First-Fix, TTFF).