The NadHAT card is now on sale on www.amazon.co.uk website. The first cards leave and the first questions arrive. So I chose for this first post, answering three questions, to submit my vision on the durability of NadHAT.
Why is NadHAT not based on a more efficient 3G / 4G module ?
NadHAT is a Raspberry Pi B + / 2/3/0 expansion card based on the SIM800C module. This module offers a compactness that allows you to collect it on a 65x30 mm card with a backup battery of the hour, a micro-sim card reader and a powerful switching power supply. A 3G or 4G module is bigger, more expensive because it presents a complex radio stage, capable of simultaneously managing several carrier radio frequencies, and this on several antennas, called diversity of antennas. This results in performance in terms of bit rate much higher than the 2G module, but at a much higher cost.
Will NadHAT, based on a 2G module, not be quickly obsolete with the disappearance of 2G ?
The 2G is, in my opinion, not in danger of disappearing. By 2G I mean the voice and SMS service of the GSM standard, as well as the data connection in GPRS format, which allows the sending of MMS but also to access a whole range of HTTP, FTP, STMP services at a single speed. modest bitrate of a few kilobytes per second but with network coverage and unbeatable service cost. It is on this basis that the European emergency call service eCall for the signaling of vehicles in distress was established a few years ago and will equip any new vehicle designed from April 2018.
Will there be, for any European car designed after 2018 in each car a 2G module ?
No. The place of telematics in vehicles is growing and manufacturers are still claiming more services, such as a WIFI access point necessarily based on a 4G / LTE module. Nevertheless, these modules offer backward compatibility with the GSM and SMS voice services which is the heart of the eCall system. A low-cost module like the SIM800C associated with GPS-based geolocation will therefore be present in entry-level vehicles, where price is the key word.
