Multi-radio devices are increasingly vital for ensuring reliable connectivity because they rely on more than one technology to ensure resilience. With critical communications gaining greater attention and more and more connected devices depending on uninterrupted connectivity, multi-radio devices have become a crucial factor for the success and profitability of many connected applications. When service interruptions like cellular outages occur, IoT devices must adapt and seamlessly transition to alternate radio networks to continue functioning and transmitting data.

The good news is that technologies, notably LoRa, have emerged to support multi-radio use cases and these are widely available, along with supporting technologies such as LoRa modules and antennas that can be integrated into solutions and devices. By enabling support for a blend of communication technologies such as both 4G and 5G cellular alongside LoRa and other low power wide area (LPWA) network technologies, devices can seamlessly switch to the available network when a signal drops so they can continue with their operations.

Use cases such as robot control, machine monitoring or healthcare can continue to work in the event of a cellular outage or a temporary obscuration of the signal and then revert to the optimum connectivity when that coverage returns. For LoRa devices that rely on robust, cost-effective LoRa connectivity, being able to failover to more costly cellular options can assure service delivery while controlling additional costs. Similarly, for cellular devices, in the event of network outages, they can continue to operate using the lower speeds of alternatives, such as LoRa.

Challenges for multi-radio solution development

The challenges of developing multi-radio solutions were explored in a recent Quectel Masterclass titled ‘Multi-radio devices: best practice for continuous connectivity’ which introduced the cellular and LoRa technologies that support multi-radio connectivity.

The webinar was presented by Marek Poliks, Director of Technical Success at IoT solutions provider Particle and David Howard, Director of Technical Sales, North America at Quectel. Marek is responsible for running technical sales and is directly engaged with applications, advising on large-scale IoT deployments and David joined Quectel in 2023 having previously worked in a range of senior roles in the wireless technologies sector. The speakers detailed the products needed to enable multi-radio and introduced Particle’s M-Series product portfolio which has been designed to enhance connectivity across various industries and applications.

Central to the M-Series are the M-SoM system-on-module and Muon development board, which enable versatile multi-radio capabilities. These devices can switch between communication protocols effortlessly, addressing common connectivity challenges in industries such as asset management, automotive, commercial telematics, remote monitoring and control (RMAC), smart metering, and smart grid. In the Masterclass, the speakers also detailed how to approach multi-radio connectivity and unleash maximized benefits from the technology. The session went on to share industry use cases and case studies for multi-radio from various sectors.

View the Masterclass: Multi-radio devices: best practice for continuous connectivity