
NE866B1_Hardware_Design_Guide
1VV0301354 Rev. 6
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2018-02-28
2. GENERAL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Overview
The NE866B1 is the first Category NB1 - aka Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) - product in the Telit
portfolio. Specified in the Release 13 of the 3GPP standard, Cat NB1 devices are
specifically tailored for IoT applications, offering optimized power consumption and
enhanced coverage. In addition, with its ultra compact 15 x 19 mm LGA footprint, the
NE866B1 is designed for size sensitive applications.
This next generation of products supports the new features specified by 3GPP to boost IoT
applications, such as the Power Saving Mode (PSM) and the extended Discontinuous
Reception (eDRX), which allow the devices to wake up periodically to deliver only very small
amounts of data to the network and then go back to sleep for most of the time, thus allowing
longer battery operation. Enhanced coverage, with up to +20dB in maximum coupling loss
(MCL) compared to the other cellular technologies, is also one of the key benefits of this
new LTE flavor. LTE Cat NB1 devices are therefore optimized in cost, size and power
consumption compared to higher UE categories. These advantages make the NE866B1 the
perfect platform to enable a quick implementation of LTE technology in IoT/M2M where low
cost and low power are more relevant than high speed.
The NE866B1 helps increase the addressable market for LTE technology to include a broad
range of new applications and use cases best served with lower maximum data rate, ultra-
low power, reduced complexity and cost. Some examples are smart metering, smart
parking, smart agriculture, waste collection, industrial sensors, healthcare monitors, home
automation, and many more low data rate IoT devices. The NE866B1 is offered in a dual-
band configuration for deployment in the European and Chinese NB-IoT networks, either in
in-band, guard-band or standalone mode; additional regional variants will follow. It is highly
recommended for new designs, but also in particular as a migration path for existing GPRS
devices, both new and updated designs benefit from a significant extension in lifecycle with
LTE Cat NB1.
The NE866B1 supports embedded SIM chip as a mounting option, making it the ideal
solution for durable and rugged designs, and reducing BOM cost and size on the customer’s
application.
Product Variants and Frequency Bands
NE866B1 bands combinations are listed below:
Product
2G Band
(MHz)
3G Band
(MHz)
4G Band
(MHz)
Region
NE866B1-E1
B20 (800)
B8 (900)
Europe
Refer to Chapter 13 for details information about frequencies and bands.