Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M wireless sensors

Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors were developed from ground up to meet customers’ needs. We collected feedback from different use cases, and developed devices which measure different physical values and seamlessly send the data over NB-IoT and / or LTE-M networks to Efento Cloud or any other cloud platform. On top of that, they are equipped in all software and hardware features a modern IoT devices need.

How NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors work?

NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors measure various physical values and send the data over cellular networks. Both technologies are optimised for low power transmission, therefore the devices can work for up to 10 years on batteries. Narrow band IoT is designed to operate even in places where the signal conditions are poor (cellars, remote locations). The key advantages of NB-IoT and LTE-M over other LPWAN technologies is that they operate on cellular frequencies and the high quality of transmission is guaranteed by the cellular operators. Moreover, sensors use operator’s cellular network to send the data, so the user does not have to build and maintain own infrastructure.

NB-IoT / LTE-M wireless sensors can send the data to Efento Cloud or any other cloud platform over standard protocols.

NB-IoT sensors that work with any cloud platform

Taking measurements is just the beginning. The real value of the data can be explored on the cloud platforms which allow to collect, visualise, analyse the data and take actions based on it. Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors work out of the box with Efento Cloud or can be integrated with any third party cloud platform.

EFENTO CLOUD

Efento Cloud is a powerful cloud based platform which allow you to collect and visualise data from Efento sensors, no matter if you have only few or hundreds of them. Efento Cloud allows you to display the data on a map, as a table or on a chart, send SMS and email notifications and generate PDF / CSV reports with the data. On top of that, there is a mobile application which allows you to get access to all platform features with your smartphone or tablet. Learn more about Efento Cloud

INTEGRATION

Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors communicate with servers over standard protocols (protofbuf over CoAP). This allows you to integrate the data from the sensors directly to any cloud platform you wish. If you don’t want to do the direct integration, you can use Efento Cloud and its API to get the data and change sensors configuration. Visit our Support section to learn more about the integration

Edge analytics that increases the battery life time to up to 10 years

Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors have been developed with battery lifetime in mind. To decrease the number of transmissions to the server, the built in edge analytics module takes care of the data and sends it to the cloud platform only when necessary. Reduction of the numer of data transmissions increases the battery lifetime up to 10 years

TRANSMISISON INTERVALS SETINGS

You can set different measurement and transmission intervals for Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors. If you don’t need a life data stream from the devices, it can store the measurements and send them to the server in larger intervals in order to increase the battery lifetime. Moreover, the data can be sent in confirmable or non-confirmable data frames. Non- confirmable data frames reduce the time needed to send the data and increase the battery lifetime

EDGE ANALYTICS

Efento sensors analyse the data and take the decisions, if an immediate action is needed. Temperature measured by the sensor is out of the safe range? Transmission will be triggered immediately. Humidity value increases too quickly? Data will be sent to the server right away. The logic and rules can be configured by the user including setting thresholds, moving averages and checking the differences between measurements

Wide range of measured values

Let us know what you want to measure and we will provide you with a sensor. Each Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M wireless sensor can measure up to three values. Pick the values you want or check the list of ready made sensors which we have on stock. Do you need to measure something which is not on the list? Contact us and we will check, if we can measure that.

Efento sensors offer a very high accuracy of the measured values. If you wish, at additional fee, we can provide you with a calibration certificate issued by a certified laboratory. Learn more about the calibration service.

Quick and easy deployment

We know that deploying thousands of IoT devices may be frustrating and time consuming. That’s why we designed Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors to make the deployment proces as easy as possible

EASY INSTALLATION

Sensors are mounted on the wall with a double side adhesive tape with acrylic glue. It takes seconds to install a single device and the tape which is included with the sensor sticks to any surface. If you don’t want to stick it with a tape, you can simply use screws to mount it on the wall

CONFIGURATION OVER BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY

Initial configuration of the device is done with a mobile application, over Bluetooth Low Energy, so you can forget about cables and connecting the device to you laptop. During the set up, the application performs a test, to check if the device is able to communicate with the platform and if the signal conditions are right.

LARGE SCALE DEPLOYMENTS

We are ready for that too. When ordering a large batch of the devices, let us know what is the configuration that you need and we will set it up for you. Once you get the devices, they will start operating out of the box!

TROUBLESHOOTING

We all know, it’s part of the game… With Efento sensors, you can check the full status of the sensor (including network status and communication status) locally with a mobile application or diodes which signal the status of the device. On top of that, all the information which may be useful for troubleshooting can be sent to the server, for remote diagnostics.

Secure over the air updates and remote configuration

Deploying IoT devices is only the first step. We are aware of that and have developed mechanisms that allow us to remotely update the firmware of the wireless sensors and change their configuration. No matter how your requirements will change, you will always be able to set the devices in the way you want.

FIRMWARE OVER THE AIR UPDATE

Efento sensors firmware can be remotely updated. In order to reduce the amount of data sent to the NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors, the update process is based on the difference mechanism, so only the packets of the firmware which have been changed are sent to the device. The whole communication between the server and the device during the update process is encrypted and both parties have to authenticate with their unique keys. This ensures the security of the whole updated process.

REMOTE CONFIGURATION

We know that when you deploy a large number of IoT devices remote configuration is a must. All the settings of Efento NB-IoT / LTE-M sensors can be configured remotely from the cloud platform. Do you want to change the measurement period of the device? No problem. Need to change the address to which the data is sent? We can do it. Moving devices to another APN? Let us handle that.

Meet the lineup

Efento NB-IoT sensor

Efento NB-IoT & LTE-M sensor

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) wireless sensor with Bluetooth Low Energy interface

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and LTE- M (LTE Cat M1) wireless sensor with Bluetooth Low Energy interface

NB-IoT bands 8, 20

3GPP Release 13

Power 20 dBm

NB-IoT / LTE-M bands 8, 20

(bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 25, 28 available on request)

3GPP Release 13

Power 23 dBm

2 x AA, 3.6V batteries, 2100 mAh each

Batteries support up to 130 000 transmissions (ECL 0)

Batteries lifetime up to 10 years

2 x AA, 3.6V batteries, 2100 mAh each

Batteries support up to 80 000 transmissions (ECL 0)

Batteries lifetime up to 10 years

Each sensor can have up to three slots

Each slot can measure: temperature (internal sensor or probe), humidity (internal sensor or probe), air pressure, VOC, open/close, pulse counter, leakage

View standard models

Each sensor can have up to three slots

Each slot can measure: temperature (internal sensor), humidity (internal sensor), air pressure, VOC, open/close, pulse counter, leakage

View standard models

Configurable by user

Measurement interval: 1 minute – 10 days

Transmission interval: 5 minutes – 10 days

60 000 measurements

If there is no network connection, device buffers the measurements in its internal memory and transfer them to the platform once the connection is re-established. Once the memory is full, the oldest measurements are replaced with the new ones

CoAP (RFC 7252), supports both confirmable and non-confirmable data frames

Data is sent in Protocol buffers (protobuf)

Bluetooth Low Energy (for communication with smartphones)

Micro SIM (3FF) (default)

Embedded SIM (available on request)

APN (auto or manual)

PLMN (auto or manual)

LEDs singling the status of the device

Device information which can be requested by the server include: signal strength in dBm, total power in dBm, TX power in dBm, cell ID, ECL, SNR, EARFCN, PCI, RSRQ, total transmitted bytes, total received bytes

Enclosure material: ABS

Size: 27 x 71 x 71 mm, 100 g

Probes length (for sensor with probes only): by default 1 meter, other lengths are available on request

Operating range: -35°C to +70°C

Mounting: double side adhesive tape with acrylic glue or 2 x M3 screws

CE, RoHS

2 years