Cellular technologies for IoT:

What they offer (& not yet)

Liesbet Van der Perre, Guus Leenders, Gilles Callebaut

VLAIO-SMIOT User group meeting, November 12th 2018

1 2 3

The Things, which

are embedded with

sensors and/or

actuators

The network

that connects

them

The systems that

process data

to/from the Things

source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-things-iot-dummies-rajat-kochhar

Connecting things: Variety of applications in diverse sectors!

© Qualcomm

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Traditional cellular technologies:

not well fit for IoT

New cellular technologies (try)

to address IoT requirements

Selecting an appropriate connectivity solution: what matters?

• Range: home – local area – wide area?

• Data rate – up and/or downlink

• Mobility

• Latency (~response time): maybe crucial for safety-critical control operations

• Interference:

o Has become non-negligible: number of wirelessly connected devices large and

expected to grow steadily over the next years!

o Especially in unlicensed bands and in open environments

o Feature = difficult to predict and control

• Reliability: %’s or 0.000x%’s?

Selecting an appropriate IoT connectivity technology:

Power and size strictly constraint in many use cases

• Power options vs. autonomy requirements:

o Grid power or battery?

o Chargeable (e.g. outdoor solar cell – basement - …)?

o How accessible (for battery replacement)?

• Integration and environmental aspects:

o Size/weight

o Outdoor/indoor – humidity – radiation - …

o Design - esthetics?

Selecting an appropriate connectivity solution:

Non-Technical considerations

• Costs involved:

o Devices

o Development

o License?

• HW/SW solutions availability (maybe from different vendors)

• Maturity

• Standard compliance – interoperability - roaming

• Expertise - support available?

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Cellular technologies for IoT:

3GPP standards are key

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) –

3GPP (members) propose ‘central RAN’

3rd Generation Partnership Project:

o Global initiative for broadband mobile

o Succeeded in globally harmonizing cellular standards.

Vision: one central all-encompassing Radio Access Network (RAN) (for technical &

commercial reasons)

http://www.3gpp.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nsEAw_SirQ

Key 3GPP jargon:

• Releases – numbered: each release adds new agreed transmission schemes/protocols

• User equipment (UE) categories

3GPP-LTE not longer only about higher speed

Cellular standards: how to make them better fit for IoT

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1. Reducing complexity,

2. Improving battery life,

3. Enhancing coverage, (adverse environments e.g. underground parkings)

4. Enabling higher node density deployments.

3GPP-LTE is considering

different UE (User Equipment) categories

target

3GPP-LTE included

3 options for IoT

in Release 13

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-> New air interface

-> ‘retro fits’

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NB-IoT: the maximum service offer as specified

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Note: the name suggests ‘Narrowband’ = relative for cellular technologies

Offered rate > unlicensed LPWAN (Lora, Sigfox)

NarrowBand-IoT (NB-IoT): a promising name/technology?

• A cellular system, hence:

o Network provided by operator

o Licensed bands, more control on Quality of Service (QoS)

• Extended coverage (announcement: 20dB better than GSM – indoor – still 160bps)

• Long battery life (up to 10 years - guaranteed? – To be investigated)

• Low complexity devices

• Conceived to support for large numbers of devices (tens/household – (50K/cell)

• Backed up/promoted by key big industrial players (manufacturers and operators) – e.g.

Huawei ‘NB-IoT, Enabling New Business Opportunities, building a better connected

world’

NB-IoT: actual operation in Belgium? Status November 2018

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• Only Orange provides NB-IoT in Belgium.

• Standard offer (Orange) for industrial projects with varying prices depending on

data usage from €10/device per year (to be negotiated)

• Proximus announced it is ‘launching’ NB-IoT network to support digital meters

(which should operate by the end of 2022)

• Hardware cost NB-IoT chipsets: €10 - €30.

Mobile standards for IoT?

Transmission options:

• GPRS

• EDGE

• WCDMA/HSPA

• Extended Coverage GSM (EC-GSM)

• Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT)

• To follow: 5G IoT

UE categories:

• LTE Category 4

• LTE Category 1

• LTE Category 0

• LTE-M (or Release 13)

Incorporating NB-IoT in cellular networks:

several options in the spectrum

Note:

‘Just a Software Update’

has not proven realistic

in actual 4G networks

M2M use cases: the 3GPP-LTE perspective

Not confirmed by our study and experiments!

Creative use cases are proposed

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© Huawei

23© Huawei

Reuse of sites

(access): attractive

offer for operators -

services

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Expert contributions by Guus Leenders

What study and experiments learn us

on power and coverage

Coverage extension: in theory NB-IoT should do better

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© Huawei, a main promotor of cellular IoT technologies,

As many companies with big stake in cellular world

Higher Power Spectral Density (PSD),

more robust modulation

NB-IoT can hence operate in lower SNIR

Signal-to-Noise and Interference regime

Basic experiment confirms solid coverage NB-IoT

Reception in underground parking garages campus Gent

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! This is a preliminary result.

More experiments (test conditions, technology benchmarking) and analysis coming up.

Power consumption: a price to pay

Consider power profile and traffic scenarios

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To be noted: significantly higher

than LORA - Sigfox

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Conclusion- for now, and outlook

Cellular technologies for IoT:

Lessons learned so far

Cost Service

Energy Coverage

Licensed spectrum -> subscription

Low chip cost, low data volume/cost

Cellular network ‘coverage guaranteed’

International standard: global scale – in progress

Relatively low data rate for cellular,

Higher than unlicensed LPWAN (LORA, SIGFOX)

Better service guarantees – licensed spectrum,

centrally controlled, interference can be avoided

Considerably higher than LPWAN

alternatives

Reduce radio on time

NB-IoT: Best fit current cellular technology for IoT

5G to support IoT: good intentions

30 © ITU: vision and requirements for 5G

What happened recently and is planned on the near term?

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• Most recent 3GPP release 15: ‘New Radio’ (NR)

o Considered the first 5G

o Focus is on Enhanced Mobile Broadband

o ‘Classic’ operating frequencies (<6GHz)

• Operators have started deploying (e.g. Verizon in US in 28GHz band)

• Upcoming 3GPP release(s):

o 5G/NR technologies at mmwave frequencies (TBC:28GHz, 38GHz)

o NB-IoT upgrade: Increased location accuracy

o ‘5G IoT’ technology better suited to support mMTC and/or URLLC?

NB-IoT devices and networks gaining momentum as we speak

32Announced November 2018, Module by Murata, modem IC from Hisilicon (a Huawei company)

Murata's LBAD0ZZ1RX: 15.6x14.0x2.2mm

claimed to be the world’s smallest

NB-IoT cellular wireless module.