Quectel modules hit the road with Intangles digital twin fleet management technology
Intangles, a specialist in transforming fleet management and operations through the use of digital twin technology, has selected Quectel modules for use in its fleet management applications. The India-headquartered company is working with physics-based analytics and machine learning to simulate real-world environments in a virtual space, providing real-time and predictive insights, augmented with a large repository of repair strategies and recommendations.
Intangles’ solutions allow fleet operators to monitor, benchmark and conduct predictive maintenance of assets in order to enhance their overall uptime and profitability. The company’s solutions are currently powering vehicles for more than 6,000 fleet operators across eleven countries. The modules are utilized on vehicles’ onboard diagnostic boards for extracting sensor data from the ECU.
“The data collected from the vehicle gives the customer an insight into vehicle health, fuel pilferage and driving behavior,” explains Jayshri Patil, the Head of Embedded Systems at Intangles. “This leads to improvements in the overall performance of the vehicle and increase in the life of the asset by reducing its downtime.”
Flexible IoT deployment with 2G and 4G modules
The company selected the Quectel M66 module as a reliable 2G option at a lower cost and with steady supply and helps Intangles cater consistently to the aftermarket in India. The Quectel EC20 module has also been chosen as the best LTE option for Intangles’ extensive array of OEM customers. The module was selected for its ability to handle large data transmissions reliably. Finally, the Quectel EG91 has been chosen because it allows Intangles to design a very compact solution, thanks to the module’s small footprint.
“With other modems we encountered interfacing issues with the vehicle ECU in the ECU FOTA project with our OEM partners,” adds Jayshri. “Quectel's EC20 module helped us overcome these issues and saw us complete this project conforming to the OEM requirements.”
Quality modules build reliable fleet management solutions
The Quectel M66 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS 2G module measuring 17.7mm × 15.8mm × 2.3mm which uses LCC castellation packaging. Based on the latest 2G chipset, it is optimized for data, SMS and audio transmission, and is designed for low-power IoT use cases that operate in harsh conditions. The M66’s ultra-compact profile makes it particularly suited to size-sensitive applications.
Quectel EC20 is a series of LTE category 4 modules that deliver 150Mbit/s downlink and 50Mbit/s uplink data rates. Designed in a compact and unified form factor, the EC20 is compatible with the Quectel’s UMTS/HSPA+ UC20 module and multi-mode LTE EC20/EC21/EC25/EG25-G modules, which allows for flexible migration between these modules in design and manufacturing.
The Quectel EG91 is a series of LTE Cat 1 IoT modules in an LGA package measuring 29.0mm × 25.0mm × 2.3mm, which meets the 3GPP Release 11 standard. The EG91 is pin-to-pin compatible with Quectel’s UMTS/HSPA+ UG95 and UG96 modules, and LPWA BG95 and BG96 modules, enabling simple, flexible and scalable migration from 2G and 3G to 4G. The series consists of eight variants to meet various geographical demands, which can be compared via the table above. The EG91 provides cost-effective LTE connectivity, delivering maximum downlink rates of 10Mbps and uplink rates of 5Mbps under LTE.
Supply and engineering support
With vehicles using Intangles’ solutions on the road in India, Dubai, Australia, Europe and South East Asia, the adoption of digital twin technology in fleet operations is well underway. Jayshri adds that the technical support Intangles has received from Quectel field application engineers has helped the company to design its product rapidly and enter the market in a short period of time. She cites the constant supply of modules as being important in meeting customers needs as well as consistent pricing that does not fluctuate drastically as being key advantages from selecting Quectel.
“The features of the module and its performance at the price point offered helps us to deliver a state-of-the-art product to our customer,” she says. “In addition to the modules, Quectel helps us with certification for our product, antenna tuning and hardware design verification.”