Telit LM960 LTE-A Cat18 Module Review

Telit introduced the LTE-A Cat-18 module LM960, capable of supporting speeds up to 1.2 Gbit/s in the downlink and 150 Mbps in the uplink. Such speeds are necessary, for example, when streaming video from the scene in high resolution or for distributing the Internet in an emergency situation from a mobile platform.

The Telit LM960 module is assembled in a PCI Express Mini Card (mPCIe) format. Telit calls it the first Cat-18 mPCIe module. It will be purchased by FirstNet operator for use in various devices used by emergency workers, in particular, in mobile and portable wireless routers installed in ambulances and other special vehicles.

The LM960 module supports both in-band and in-band carrier aggregation (up to 5) to achieve 1.2 Gbit/s throughput in the downlink with a 4×4 Mimo mode and 256-QAM modulation (up to 5). 150 Gbit/s in the uplink). Telit’s product can also operate in up to 23 different LTE bands (16 LTE FDD and 7 LTE TDD bands) including Band 14 (700 MHz), used in the United States for public safety, as well as 3.5 GHz CBRS Citizen Band Radio Service) bands and LAA 5 GHz (LTE-License Assisted Access), the latter allowing to improve performance in particular buildings in addition to the “traditional” cellular service.

The Telit LTE Module also supports several satellite positioning technologies, including GPS. In addition to supporting band 14, the LM960 operates in all other frequency bands that FirstNet uses to provide connectivity to the systems used by the emergency services. The LM960 is capable of operating in a temperature range of -40 ° C to + 85 ° C and also incorporates a four-constellation geolocation satellite subsystem (GNSS) and two SIM cards.

 

Telit LM960 Specs and Features

The LM960 module is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE Modem chip and below is the general specs for reference:

  • Aggregation up to 5 frequency bands
  • Up to 150 Mbit/s UL 64QAM and UL aggregation support
  • LTE FDD Bands: B1, B25 (B2), B3, B66 (B4), B26 (B5), B7, B8, B12 (17), B13, B14, B20, B28, B29 (DL) ), B71
  • LTE TDD Bands: B38, B39, B40, B41, B42, B46 (DL), B48
  • 3G ranges: B1, B2, B4, B5, B8
  • Satellite Systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou
  • USB 3.0
Feature Sub Feature Telit LM960
Rel 12 Release 12 compliance Yes
4×4 MIMO 4×4 MIMO on 2 contiguous carrier + 2×2 MIMO on 3rd carrier Yes
3DL CA Inter-band with 4×4 MIMO on one of 3 bands
4×4 MIMO on 2 bands in 2xCA Configuration
LTE CA 4x DLCA(80MHz aggregated BW; Cat16) Yes
3.5GHz B42 4×4 MIMO Deployments in Japan Yes
LTE-U LTE-U(eCAST) Yes
LAA(60MHz) Achieves 1Gbps with LAA Yes
Data IC Interference cancellation for LTE Data Yes
LAA Enhancements * More than 1 Lincensed carrier with LAA Yes
* Support for Wi-Fi measurements reporting in LAA
* 5xCA 4+2+2+2+2 scenario
Cat16+ 1.2Gbps Yes
12 Layers Support for 12 layers(Also 4×4 MIMO with 3xDLCA) Yes
5xCA 5x Carrier Aggregation Yes
New Bands 600MHz, CBRS(B48 with CA) Yes

 

 

The ruggedized LM960 module is derived from the Cat-11 compatible LM940 and the two cards are interchangeable, says Telit, which offers developers the ability to launch new equipment (routers, gateways, etc.) built on designs already using the Telit LM940, or to create product families with different performance levels (the LM960 for the high-end, the LM940 for the mid-range).

 

Telit LM960 Price and Buy

Since Telit LM960 is not available in the market for volume and just in the range of testing. The Telit LM960 price is high and there is only few online stores who can supply the samples time to time. We 4GLTEMALL.com could supply the Telit LM960 samples but not stably. If you want to buy the Telit LM960, you must pre-order first to get it.

 

4.5G – LTE Advanced Pro

LTE Advanced Pro or 4.5G is a very up-to-date topic in the mobile world. Although the LTE successor 5G is talked much, 4.5G is already used by the network operators, and it already active and already contains many features, which will later also play a large role in 5G. Many carriers in Europe, such as Vodafone and Telekom, have already carried out initial tests with 4.5G or LTE Advanced Pro, which was launched to market shortly before. What you will understand exactly under 4.5G is to be explained in this article.

4.5G: Features

Right from the start: whether 4.5G or LTE Advanced Pro is the same. It is the successor of 4G and/or LTE Advanced. According to the Global Mobile Supplier Association (GSA), a network must support the following standards to be officially considered a 4.5G network:

One of the following features:

  • Ultra short latencies, ULL (ultra-low latency)
  • An extension for machine communication, eg NarrowBand-Iot (NB-IoT) or eMTC

Additionally, at least one of the following features:

  • 4 or more bundled downlink frequency ranges (4CC Downlink Carrier Aggregation, CC here for Component Carrier)
  • The aggregate spectrum aggregated with carrier aggregation exceeds 60 MHz
  • 2 or more bundled Uplink frequency bands (2CC Uplink Carrier Aggregation)
  • Advanced MIMO antenna technology (eg 4 × 4 MIMO, 8 × 8 MIMO, Beamforming, Massive MIMO)
  • 256QAM modulation in the downlink
  • 64QAM modulation in uplink
  • License Assisted Access (LAA), ie the additional use of unlicensed radio spectrum, eg in the 5 GHz frequency range
  • Vehicle-to-X communication (V2X)
  • Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT)
  • Network extensions for improved indoor positioning

The V2X communication is already being tested under some carriers’ networks, for example Vodafone. Recently, there was a corresponding demo at the Mobile World Congress together with the network equipment supplier Huawei. In theory, Vodafone could also bundle significantly more frequency spectrum and thus introduce 4CC or 5CC carrier aggregation, but the provider has so far restricted itself to Triple Carrier Aggregation (LTE 800 + LTE 1800 + LTE 2600).

 

NB-IoT is used in the LTE band 8, that is to say in the 900 MHz range parallel to GSM, and band 20 (800 MHz) is also to be used. Up to now Telekom has bundled three frequency bands by means of carrier aggregation. In the future, however, the vendor could easily add additional carriers such as Band 8 (900 MHz) or Band 1 (2100 MHz). A significant increase in the downlink speed should therefore be possible in the near future. The use of 4 × 4 MIMO is also being tested in some locations and within the framework of its 5G, Vodafone has long been working on measures to further reduce latencies. Surely these ULL features will also be implemented in the 4.5G network.

 

What does 4.5G bring to the end customer?

Many 4.5G features are particularly interesting for communication with machines or between machines, eg NB-IoT or ULL. As an end customer with a modern smartphone (from LTE Cat11 or newer, eg Huawei P10 or LG G6), there is one benefit: the maximum possible speed is much higher than what is so far. The expansion of LTE on other frequency bands, eg band 8 or band 1, will allow better network coverage in some places. Massive MIMO, in particular, will have a significant improvement in the average speed for the individual user, particularly at locations with very high capacity utilization.