As mobile robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles proliferate, they need to communicate with one another and the Internet of Things. Hologram Inc. today announced Hologram Hyper, a platform intended to provide greater connectivity, coverage, and flexibility while eliminating the need to manage multiple SIM cards.

Hologram Hyper is an embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC) subscriber identification module (SIM). It provides over-the-air, updatable access to a portfolio of cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity partners and profiles, said the Chicago-based startup. Hologram claimed that its connectivity platform keeps IoT devices connected across six continents.

“eUICC helps companies that are looking to deploy on a large scale ensure their robots, drones, and self-driving cars are always connected with the best coverage,” Hologram told The Robot Report. “Hologram does this by enabling the connectivity provider to be swapped via remote over-the-air updates to the SIM cards installed in devices rather than the robots, drones, cars needing to return for RMA [return merchandising authorization] for re-provisioning or manual configuration.”

Hologram Hyper created to cross cellular coverage

Within five years, billions of devices across the globe will be communicating with each other via the cellular Internet of Things, predicted Hologram. Refitting those devices with updated SIM cards each time they cross into new coverage areas or require technological tweaks will be unwieldy, time-consuming, and economically unfeasible, it said.

Hologram said its eUICC is the latest evolution of the SIM card, which traditionally has been used to acclimate devices to varying service providers. eUICC gives users the ability to change service providers without changing SIM cards, and even to update the software on their SIM hardware remotely.

“From the beginning, our intent has been to help our customers reach their goals in a simple, effective way,” stated Ben Forgan, CEO of Hologram. “Software is eating the world. With IoT, software is now ‘eating’ the physical world, creating enormous opportunities for companies to build exciting new products and generate huge efficiencies through automation. Hologram is doing our part with Hyper, our eUICC platform, by turning connectivity into software.”

“It’s the key to flexibility for an IoT project — in coverage, performance, and pricing,” said the company.

Forgan said the Hologram Hyper platform will enable people to connect for important work, such as delivering medicine, monitoring endangered sea life, helping rural farmers virtually herd sheep, and providing micromobility services in crowded cities.