Blog

As global supply chains and smart asset management scale rapidly, the demand for highly reliable, real-time tracking devices is surging. However, designers face a fundamental trade-off: achieving consistent GNSS positioning accuracy in complex RF environments—like urban canyons—while maintaining sub-milliamp average power consumption. Traditional architectures, which stitch together disconnected modems, GNSS receivers, and power management logic, inevitably lead to standby current inefficiencies, complex wake-up coordination, and extended time-to-market.  

To overcome these bottlenecks, Sequans and Airoha have co-developed a tightly integrated, highly optimized hardware and firmware architecture purpose-built for high-performance, battery-operated tracking nodes. This joint reference design is a synergistic powerhouse, combining Sequans’ expertise in low-power cellular connectivity with Airoha’s industry-leading precision positioning technology.  

System Architecture Overview: Designed for Efficiency 

By streamlining the interaction between connectivity and positioning, this design minimizes firmware complexity and maximizes power efficiency. The solution features:  

• Sequans Monarch (LTE-M) or Calliope (Cat 1bis) Modem:  

• • Delivers exceptional power efficiency with deep sleep currents of < 1 µA. 

• • Highly optimized PSM/eDRX sequences. 

• • Acting as the intelligent controller, the modem dynamically manages GNSS power states via a UART interface.

• Airoha Ultra-Low Power GNSS Chipset (AG3352) – Engineered for the toughest environments: 

• • It features incredibly fast cold/warm/hot acquisition modes. 

• • A dedicated, low-noise tracking engine optimized to maintain accuracy even in dense urban canyons. 

• • Features a highly agile power architecture that tightly couples with the modem’s sleep cycles for optimal system-level efficiency. 

Adding motion sensors to the current architecture to trigger location updates allows the system to remain in deep sleep for most of its lifecycle, translating to years of battery life and dramatically lower maintenance operations (OPEX). 

Accelerate Your Tracker Development Today 

Eliminate the guesswork of hardware integration and accelerate your time-to-market. Comprehensive design resources for the Sequans-Airoha collaboration are now available. Visit the Sequans Download Zone and navigate to the GC02S1 folder to access: 

• The Sequans–Airoha Integration Application Note 

• Ready-to-use Reference Schematics (SCH_SQNS_GC02S1_AG3352_v1.1)