Telit Cinterion shows LTE-linked RTK GNSS demo; 1–2 cm in testing

One to two centimeters, on average. That is the positioning precision a Telit Cinterion GNSS receiver achieved in the company's testing. Telit Cinterion is exhibiting at The Things Conference, held Sept. 22-23 at De Kromhouthal in Amsterdam. According to GPS World, the demonstration runs on Telit Cinterion cellular and GNSS hardware.

From SIM card to fix, step by step

The chain is short, and it's worth walking through because each link is something a hardware team would otherwise source and integrate on its own:

1. Network access comes from a NExT SIM card.
2. At the core is Telit Cinterion's CMB100 development kit, fitted with a CMB100 LTE Cat 1 bis module. The module connects to the network via AT commands sent from the ST microcontroller environment built into the kit.
3. From Swift Navigation, the module pulls down Skylark Nx RTK MSM5 GNSS correction data.
4. Those corrections are fed into a Telit Cinterion SE868K5-RTK GNSS receiver mounted on a MIKROE GNSS 19 Click board.
5. Through a single graphical interface, users send commands to the microcontroller, which manages both the cellular link and the GNSS functions. A separate GNSS monitoring screen shows receiver data live for debugging and analysis.

Two accuracy tiers, one architecture

Telit Cinterion names six target areas for connected high-accuracy positioning: smart infrastructure, micromobility, logistics and asset tracking, construction and heavy equipment, robotics and autonomous systems, and industrial monitoring and automation. The company does not assign a tier to each area. Buyers make that call themselves.

A 2024 receiver in a connected chain

IoT Evolution World's Alex Passett reported the SE868K5-RTK's launch in April 2024 as the first module in Telit Cinterion's portfolio to offer centimeter-level accuracy. It is a multifrequency, multiconstellation receiver that uses real-time kinematics and two frequency bands, L1/E1 and L5/E5, to improve precision and reduce multipath effects.

The Amsterdam demo puts that receiver inside a working cellular chain. The pairing fits how the company describes its portfolio: in a document Telit Cinterion submitted to NIST, it says its GNSS modules can be integrated with its cellular modules or used as standalone devices. The company took its current name after Telit acquired the Cinterion IoT business from Thales in January 2023.

Now the counterpoint. The 2024 launch materials said the receiver's final performance depends on signal level and antenna quality, and the 1-2 centimeter figure comes from the company's testing. A finished product with a compromised antenna or weaker signal could land somewhere else, so the demo shows what the chain can do. It doesn't promise what a given enclosure will deliver.

The SIM and the billing model behind it

A NExT SIM card provides network access for the demonstration. According to a January 2024 company release on PR Newswire, NExT Connected Module packages bundle a module, SIM card, the NExT global connectivity plan and management tools, starting at $0.89 per month.

If the spec calls for centimeters, the RTK path and an antenna test on the real enclosure should come before anything else.