Nordic Semiconductor Chosen for Braveridge’s Remote Monitoring System
Nordic Semiconductor has declared that Braveridge has chosen Nordic’s nRF9160 low power System-in-Package (SiP) with integrated LTE-M/NB-IoT modem and GPS to provide the wireless connectivity and processing power for its ‘Gas Pipe Dew Point/Gas Pressure Remote Monitoring System’.
The system helps utilities and contractors rapidly identify gas pipe faults at the source, and reduce the time and cost of carrying out maintenance and repairs.
“The most groundbreaking element of Nordic’s nRF9160 is the integration of the application processor into the SiP eliminating a UART interface, something no other cellular IoT solution can offer,” says Yasunari Kohashi, Braveridge, CEO. “This eliminates the long development lead-time and repeated bug issues common amongst these modular solutions.”
“In addition to the powerful built-in processor, the nRF9160 achieves the industry’s lowest power consumption, which in combination with the technical support Nordic provides makes the nRF9160 an easy choice for developers.”
Each end device also integrates an nRF9160 SiP to provide LTE-M connectivity to relay this data to the cellular network and in turn to Braveridge’s ‘BraveGATE Cloud Service’, and a web server where maintenance management can review the data and direct maintenance crews to the location of a fault.
The nRF9160 SiP’s in-built GPS provides precise location information to pinpoint where a potential fault has occurred, while its 64 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor and 1MB Flash and 256KB RAM offer ample computational power to not only support the LTE-M cellular connectivity and enable rapid response to GPS location requests but also perform edge processing of the complex proprietary algorithms demanded by the multiple sensors.
The nRF9160 SiP is certified for global cellular IoT applications and comprises the dedicated application processor and memory, a multimode LTE-M/NB-IoT modem with integrated RF front end (RFFE), GPS, and power management in a compact 10 by 16 by 1mm package.
Along with the processor and generous memory allocation, the SiP includes a range of analog and digital peripherals, automated power and clock management, Arm TrustZone for trusted execution, and Arm CryptoCell 310 for application-layer security.
The system was jointly developed by Braveridge and Japan’s City Gas Companies Association. Led by Fukuoka-based Saibu Gas, the association comprises eleven gas companies nationwide.
