LTE Cat 1 is a medium-speed LTE standard suitable for a variety of IoT applications

LTE Cat 1 is the lowest cost LTE category to offer several Mbit/s of data speed, data streaming, and full mobility. The high-speed LTE categories – LTE Cat 4 and higher, mostly seen in smartphones – come at a higher power consumption and cost. And the low-speed LTE categories developed specifically for Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications provide optimized long battery life cycles and greater in-building penetration but are limited by their low data rates.

4G LTE Cat 1 speeds reach 10 Mbit/s in the downlink and 5 Mbit/s in the uplink. This speed range helps developers in building many M2M and IoT applications, especially those requiring higher bandwidth like video streaming or voice payloads. LTE CAT 1 is available almost around the globe and typically is chosen as a transition technology from 2G and 3G, typically in applications that do not require this Very High Speeds of 4G. The LTE CAT 1 is designed and developed for applications that require a lower cost of operation and less complexity. Typically for embedded systems now gaining popularity.

In comparison to IoT-specific technologies such as LTE-M (LTE Cat M1) or NB-IoT, LTE Cat 1 supports:

• Voice over LTE (VoLTE), with receive diversity
• Data streaming
• Low latency applications, with receive diversity
• Global coverage
• Mobile connectivity and handover

These modules can be used over a wide array of applications like

1. Industrial IoT – process monitoring, remote sensor deployment, sensor fusion for factory or process analysis, small size but high quantity of data packets, energy monitoring or industrial gateway
2. Telematics and Asset Tracking – Fleet tracking and cargo asset tracking. Data from these modules can help compute informaiton like milage, stops, location, speed, hours of service etc. Fused with other sensors, this module can help develop a complete fleet tracking system with low operation costs.
3. Retail – Point of Sale systems, ATMs, Remote banking etc. Its lower power consumption enables the technology to be widely used in hand held systems.
4. Smart cities – Transport and traffic management, Garbage detection and collection, remote city survelliance etc.
5. Health – ambulance management, remote patient tracking, outpatient tracking, hospital patient montoring for critical patients, senior citizen monitoring and tracking etc.

More information is available on ublox website