Nordic Semiconductor announced a faster path to satellite and cellular IoT. Embedded modem innovator LooUQ’s MTC2-N9151 has earned Skylo Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) certification, building on Nordic’s own Skylo-certified nRF9151 to reduce time-to-market for IoT product developers.
Water technology company Remsight is already deploying the compact, drop-in embedded modem from LooUQ to monitor water infrastructure across the American West, reaching the field much faster and at lower cost than it would have built their own solution from scratch.
One certification, inherited down the stack
Nordic’s smallest and lowest-power cellular IoT module, the nRF9151, lets IoT devices stay connected wherever they are deployed, from dense city grids to terrain with no cellular coverage. It integrates an open application MCU, an LTE-M/NB-IoT or DECT NR+ modem, NB-NTN satellite support, and security features in a single package, so developers no longer need to add proprietary satellite hardware that costs time and money to develop. Skylo operates as a standard 3GPP NB-NTN network accessible through Mobile Network Operator (MNO) partnerships, letting certified devices roam automatically between terrestrial and satellite coverage. The nRF9151 earned Skylo certification earlier this year, after a firmware release added full NTN satellite support to its mature LTE-M/NB-IoT solution, marking Nordic’s first step into direct-to-satellite communication from a standard cellular module.
Because the certification sits at the module level, partners like Michigan-based LooUQ, which build on the nRF9151, inherit that certification. That matters most for IoT devices deployed far from cell towers, including other smart water sensors, agricultural monitoring, energy infrastructure, asset tracking, and logistics devices, where a missed reading carries real operational cost. LooUQ’s MTC2-N9151 is the first embedded modem to inherit the certification this way. Any product designed around it inherit the certification and can commercially deploy onto Skylo’s NTN service, switching automatically between satellite and cellular depending on coverage, with no change to the application software, due to the capabilities of the nRF9151 module.
A faster path for the ecosystem, not just one product
The practical effect is a shorter path to market for every company that builds on the certified foundation. LooUQ’s module requires only two external components to integrate into a new product, and its NTN/TN antenna supports both terrestrial LTE and satellite 3GPP NB-NTN bands in a single element, eliminating the need for separate antenna characterisation. Device makers building on the MTC2-N9151 can pursue their own Skylo certification with substantially reduced testing, rather than repeating the certification work Nordic and LooUQ have already done. LooUQ has been an official Nordic module partner in the company’s Partner Program since 2025, aiming to offer carrier-end device certification and further simplify integration and regulatory certification for IoT device makers.
Already at work in the field
Remsigh a Montana-based water technology company is among the first to put the certified combination to work. Its HydroProxy platform uses the MTC2-N9151 to keep solar-powered sensors connected across remote irrigation infrastructure across the American West, where terrestrial cellular coverage has never reliably reached, giving water managers real-time visibility into systems previously checked by hand. By building on LooUQ’s certified foundation, Remsight is itself positioned to pursue its own Skylo certification with minimal additional testing.
Specifications
The nRF9151 is Nordic’s smallest and lowest power cellular IoT module, supporting LTE-M/NB-IoT, NB-NTN and NR+ in a single ultra-compact module. LooUQ’s MTC2-N9151 exposes the nRF9151’s full pin functionality through LooUQ’s MTC.2 interface and ships with development kits, the MTC2-N9151-BRK-KIT (breakout) and MTC2-N9151-UXP-KIT (with integrated regulators and an I²C-controlled RGB LED), that let developers begin over-the-air testing immediately.
“The nRF9151 was designed to set a new standard for highly integrated and compact module solutions for cellular IoT and private 5G NR+ applications”, says Kristian Sæther, Senior Product Director, Long Range, Nordic Semiconductor. “Its support for LTE-M/NB-IoT, NB-NTN, and NR+, combined with advanced security and low-power design, makes it the ideal foundation for next-generation devices that need to operate anywhere on Earth. We are glad to see LooUQ bring these capabilities to market through a certified Skylo solution.”
“We built the MTC2-N9151 so that the best embedded modem is the one you never have to think about”, says Greg Terrell, CEO, LooUQ. “It works, wherever a product ends up. Skylo certification means our customers can promise something remarkable: a device that’s connected everywhere, always. That’s a promise we’re proud to help deliver.”
“Our customers are water managers in some of the most remote terrain in the West”, says Stephen McLaughlin, co-founder and president, Remsight. “They can’t afford connectivity gaps. A missed flow reading or a delayed alert can mean a failed delivery or a flooded field. Building on the LooUQ MTC2-N9151 and Skylo’s NTN network lets us guarantee our HydroProxy sensors stay connected and keep sending data from anywhere we deploy them.”
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