Cyient, a technology solutions company, has joined hands with IIT Hyderabad (IIT-H) and WiSig Networks, a startup incubated at IIT-H, to facilitate production of the country‘s first architected and designed chip - the Koala NB-IoT SoC (Narrowband-IoT System-on-Chip).
The IIT-H and WiSig developed the Koala chip, while Cyient enabled the IC (integrated circuit) design for this project.
NB-IoT is a 5G massive Machine-Type-Communication (MTC) technology, a fast-growing one, that enables low-bit rate IoT applications with long-range and extends device battery life up to 10 years.
Smart meters, machine-to-machine connectivity, Industry 4.0, a plethora of sensor connectivity, asset tracking, digital healthcare, and many more applications will benefit by using this NB-IoT chip.
“Volume production of the NB-IoT SoC includes the development of a package, production test solution, organisation of silicon fabrication, volume testing of the IC, and the management of supplying the chip,” a Cyient statement said.
“We started with enabling the design of India’s first indigenously developed NB-IoT SoC chip. We are excited to join hands with them toward commercialising this 5G chip in the country,” Krishna Bodanapu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Cyient, said.
“This is a major milestone in India’s 5G Fabless Chip Design space journey,” B S Murty, Director of IIT-H, said.