New NB-NTN Automotive Modules Will Teach OEMs Important Lessons in Anticipation of NR-NTN

On January 9 at CES 2025, Network Access Device (NAD) vendor Rolling Wireless launched the RN941Y, the world’s first automotive-grade cellular module to support Narrowband Non-Terrestrial Networks (NB-NTNs). Rolling Wireless’ new model is Release 17-compliant, and is a 5G Sub-6 Gigahertz (GHz) module with Long Term Evolution (LTE) Cat-19 fallback (plus 3G and 2G). As is common in the automotive industry, the RN941Y is a smart module and incorporates a quad-core Arm Cortex A55 Application Processor (AP). Optional support also exists for Cellular Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (C-V2X) communication, using both LTE (Release 15) and 5G New Radio (NR) (Release 16). The RN941Y uses a Qualcomm 5G modem, the SA525M, which is a popular choice for automotive connectivity.

Rolling Wireless is marketing the launch of the RN941Y on the premise of “seamless connectivity,” as connected passenger vehicles can easily travel beyond the coverage of cellular networks. In the fleet tracking market for commercial vehicles, hybrid cellular-satellite connectivity services have existed for decades, able to switch between each technology as appropriate to guarantee global coverage. The cost of expensive satellite data plans, on top of the cellular tariffs, was justified within the business models, Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees, and Return on Investment (ROI) calculated by fleet companies. But this was not true for cars, where connectivity was personal and discretionary, and not for mission-critical enterprise use—until NB-NTN was standardized.  

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 standard was finalized in 2022, and defines how cellular devices can directly connect to satellites. The does not occur using cellular radio spectrum, but satellite spectrum. It requires adding all the necessary supplementary satellite antennas and filters to a cellular device. But crucially, they are controlled by the same baseband processor as the cellular communications. Cellular macrocells can be up to 40 Kilometers (km) apart, but Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites can be up to 2,000 km away from a ground-based transceiver, and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites 35,000 km distant. The fact that direct communication is possible at all is amazing. At present, the data rates possible are low, hence the qualifying term “narrowband” NTN. This also defines what the automotive industry can possibly do using the technology.

Rolling Wireless states that the NTN abilities of the RN941Y are suitable for emergency roadside breakdown assistance/medical assistance, vehicle location, and messaging. These are simple, but foundational connected services focused on safety and security, with the critical point being that they can be offered in remote locations and/or locations underserved by cellular coverage. The RN941Y’s form factor and footprint are compatible with Rolling Wireless' other 5G NADs for an easy upgrade path for automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). There is no need for OEMs or Tier Ones to redesign their systems when the new module is a drop-in replacement. However, this is not for upgrading already built cars, but for inclusion in existing models being newly manufactured. The Qualcomm SA525M is several years old now, and the only difference in the version that the RN941Y uses lies in the firmware; physically, it is identical.

Sampling for the NB-NTN-enabled RN941Y will occur at the start of 2Q 2025, while the start of production for integration into vehicles will begin in 2027. This is some way off, and is a consequence of Research and Development (R&D) cycles in the automotive industry. Despite working as fast as is practicable, by the time NB-NTN-based services are on the road at the end of 2027, it will have been more than 5 years since the technology was first standardized. Presently, NTN in automotive is being targeted at high-end cars and trucks. Most of the interest is coming from North America, and mainly for pilot programs at present. In theory, NTN will work anywhere in the world, and the RN941Y is designed to scale globally. But in practice, the companies providing NTN services are mostly headquartered in the United States, meaning that NTN will have greater availability sooner in North America.

Qualcomm’s NB-NTN-enabled automotive-grade chips are more expensive than its standard variants by several tens of dollars per unit, but chips will become cheaper. Also, subscriptions to satellite service providers are required, alongside the additional specific Radio Frequency (RF) components mentioned. But in comparison to deploying aftermarket commercial fleet tracking solutions, NB-NTN is purportedly already less than half the cost. Rolling Wireless sees active traction, with requests from customers for NTN to be supported within Telematics Control Units (TCUs), so that OEMs and Tier Ones can evaluate the technology’s utility. There are no regulatory requirements being placed on OEMs to ensure ubiquitous connected service availability, so automotive OEMs are exploring NB-NTN on their own initiative. As this is the very beginning of the process, it’s not fully known what they may ultimately seek to use NB-NTN for.

Rolling Wireless, therefore, wants to fully evaluate NTN itself, to be ready for when its customers are ready to place commercial orders. Rolling Wireless also wants to be one of the first to bring NTN to the automotive market, for a first mover advantage, for the sake of differentiation, and for what it can learn. The latter may give Rolling Wireless a developmental head-start on what will come next: NR-NTN, a higher bandwidth version of NTN suited to more than just essential connected car services. NB-NTN only supports Short Message Service (SMS)-based services, and the automotive industry ideally needs voice communication, which will require NR-NTN. But as NR-NTN won’t be available for some time, it makes sense to bring to market whatever NTN-based capabilities are possible right now, starting with SMS-based communications for emergency services, for example.

Compared to NB-NTN, not a lot of extra components are needed for NR-NTN. So by the time NR-NTN  is standardized, chipset and module hardware prices may already be fully mature. It is possible that Rolling Wireless’ competitors may forgo NB-NTN altogether to wait for the higher bandwidth alternative. The ultimate goal for OEMs is to achieve the seamless handover of all automotive 5G services to NTN so the biggest obstacle at that point is a return to the issue of the cost of the satellite data connection. But this is not a problem for Rolling Wireless per se, which has no developmental partnerships with satellite carriers. Rolling Wireless’ supplier Qualcomm is already working with Skylo, however, and it will ultimately be up to the automotive OEMs to directly or indirectly secure satellite service provider relationships for their passenger vehicle customers to sign up for.