NaBi Track, the specialist provider of innovative smart sensors to track objects for years, has been awarded a prestigious Red Dot Award 2021 in the Smart Product category. The awards, which recognize new concepts and excellence in design, are awarded to 24 participants in 2020 and previous winners include Apple, Honda and Volvo.

NaBi Track won the award for its NaBi Solo tracking device which is the size of a hen’s egg and boasts an operational life of three-to-eight years. The product utilizes the narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) BC66 module from Quectel Wireless Solutions as well as the IoT module specialist’s L76-L GNSS module to aid GPS location of objects.

“We would like to say thank you to Quectel’s experts for supplying us with reliable modules and for their endless technical support during product development,” said Géza Szayer, the Owner and a Mechatronics Engineer at General Mechatronics, the maker of the NaBi Track range of devices. “Our innovative smart sensor solution can operate for three to eight years without an external power supply or the need for charging.”

The NaBi Solo has been designed to revolutionize the logistics, rental and other tracking industries, as well related markets, such as insurance. The long service life of the NaBi Solo is achieved partly by its NB-IoT connectivity and flexible configurability. The electronics are a small circular circuit located at the end of the battery, which also carries a number of sensors in addition to communication and GPS modules. Sensors include capabilities to monitor acceleration, orientation, vibration and temperature.

The Quectel BC66 is a high-performance multi-band LTE Cat NB1 module is designed to be compatible with Quectel’s GSM/GPRS M66 module to provide a flexible and scalable platform for migrating from GSM/GPRS to NB-IoT networks. The BC66 is also compatible with Quectel’s NB-IoT modules BC66-NA, BC68 and BC65. The BC66’s ultra-compact, unified form factor of 17.7mm × 15.8mm × 2.0mm makes it a perfect choice for size-sensitive applications.

The L76-L is a concurrent receiver GNSS module measuring 10.1mm × 9.7mm × 2.5mm supporting GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS systems. The L76-L can acquire and track any mix of GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO or SBAS signals. Using EASY Assisted GNSS, it can achieve very fast time-to-first-fix and hence minimize power consumption in the NaBi Solo smart sensor.

In addition, to the NaBi Solo, NaBi Track is developing another product, the NaBi Connect, which plans to utilize the Quectel BG600 module. The BG600L-M3 is a multi-mode LPWA module which supports LTE Cat M1/Cat NB2/EGPRS and integrated GNSS, and which meets the 3GPP Release 14 specification. The BG600L-M3 achieves maximum downlink rates of 588Kbps and uplink rates of 1119Kbps under LTE Cat M1. Trial manufacturing of the NaBi Connect product will start late this year or in early 2022.

“We’re pleased to collaborate again with Quectel for the NaBi Connect having had such a great experience when working on the NaBi Solo device,” added Szayer. “We look forward to bringing it to the mass market alongside the NaBi Solo.”

“We’re delighted to have been able to support General Mechatronics in the development of its NaBi Solo product and to help with the upcoming NaBi Connect product,” said Florian Bousquet, GNSS Sales Manager, EMEA at Quectel Wireless Solutions. “It’s great to see the performance of our BC66 and L76-L modules powering an innovative device like the NaBi Solo to enable long-life tracking in a device the size of a hen’s egg. We’re also proud that NaBi Track’s innovation has been recognised in the Red Dot Awards 2021. We are pleased to continue to work with the NaBi Track team in Budapest on their latest innovations and developments.”