lpwan - exploring the potential of iot · with lpwan operators using ism bands. nb-iot is a threat...

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LPWAN - Exploring the potential of IoT

TATA TELE BUSINESS SERVICES

Author Name: Tata Tele Business Services


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LPWAN - Exploring the potentoal of IoT

IoT: A mesh of connectivity

The wide spectrum of IoT

LPWA standards

An extended version of LPWA standards

The influence of service providers on IoT

Challenges for service providers

Licensed spectrum vs ISM bands

Deployment module

Conclusion

Table of contents


IoT: A mesh of connectivity

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Around the world, millions of battery-powered things in cities such as car-parking lots, street lights, utility meters (gas and water), pipelines, trash bins, location trackers, environmental sensors, smoke detectors, and water hydrants are now connected to the internet. These objects that are a part of the Internet of Things are forming plenty of applications to improve the operational efficiency of cities and the standard of living in them, for instance, asset tracking, smart parking, smart lighting, and smart building.

These Internet of Things (IoT) use cases are supported by an emerging wireless IoT infrastructure: the low-power, wide-area (LPWA)

network operating on unlicensed ISM band.

The LPWA network is specifically designed and optimised for such use cases that require end devices to be battery powered and have long-distance wireless access over miles:

• Zero-touch provisioning for scalable deployment

and maintenance

• Ease of use for end-device management

• Tools for wireless packet logger, RF planning,

and online channel noise scanning

The wide spectrum of IoT

Water and GasMetering

Location Tracking

Enviromnet Monitoring

Public Security Street Lighting Smart Parking

Leak Detection Disaster Precaution Livestock

Smart Energy Waste Management Agriculture



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LPWA standards are off to a good start, with networks in the field in many countries, active customer scenarios, and millions of client devices already in service.

There are various LPWA standards such as: SigFox, LoRa, Weightless, RPMA, UNB, and others. These

options vary with respect to distance, range or bandwidth capacity but they have few things in common such as low data rates, long battery life and low cost.

An extended version of LPWA standards

LPWA standards

LTE Cat-1

LTE Cat-0

License-exempt spectrum

LTE Cat-MNB-IoT

802.11ah

BLE

UNB

LoRa

EC-GSMWeightless-P

10 Mbps

1 Mbps

100 kbps

20 kbps

100 kbps

110

100 1,000 5,000 Range (m)

RPMA802.15.4/ZigBee

License spectrum

Solution Model Frequency Range(km) Data Tranfer Rate Packet Size Stage

Sigfox Proprietary 868/902 MHz Rural: 30-50Urban: 3-10

Upload: <300bpsDownload: 8 bitsper day

12 bits Scale

LoRaWan Alliance 433/868/780/

915MHz

Rural: 15Urban: 2-5

Upload &Download: 300bps-50kbps

User Defined Scale

Ingenu Proprietary 2.4GHz Rural: 5-10Urban: 1-3

Upload: 624kbpsDownload: 156kbps

6 bits 10K

bits

Scale

Weightless-W Alliance 400-800MHz 5 Km Upload &Download: 1kbps-10Mbps

>10 bits Introduction

Weightless-N Alliance <1GHz 3 Km Upload &Download: 100bps

<20 bits Introduction

Weightless-P Alliance <1GHz 2 Km Upload &Download: 200bps-100kbps

>10 bits Under development

Dash7 Alliance 433/868/915

MHz

<5 Km Upload &Download: 10, 56, or 167Kbps

<256 bits Introduction

Dat

a R

ate



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As worldwide operators are rolling out LTE network, the research and standards are being worked around LTE. The mobile operators are implementing LTE-M and NB-IoT.

High-bandwidth applications where customers are willing to pay for high reliability will naturally use variations of LTE and GSM. In these cases, the high cost structure of the 3GPP is acceptable.

Mid-bandwidth applications between 100 kbps and 1 Mbps are likely to use scaled-back versions of LTE such as Cat-M1 or NB-IoT where wide-area perfor-mance is required, and short-range technologies such as Wi-Fi or Zigbee where only local links are required.

The influence of service providers on IoT

DEVICE

The low-bandwidth area is the battleground, where the most interesting applications are percolating. Here, LPWA formats are likely to dominate some vertical markets due to their early lead and due to the low cost structure that is developing today. LTE-based approaches are expensive and will be limited to high-reliability applications where a price premium is possible.

When the NB-IoT standard is finalised and operators start to gain momentum, some operators will achieve wide coverage very quickly. In many cases, mobile operators will use NB-IoT on existing licensed bands, using existing radio equipment in the field. Through a software upgrade, an LTE oper-ator can turn on a nationwide NB-IoT network in a single day.

Applications

Video surveillance, electronic

billboards, automotive

infotainment

Smart home

connected cars /

telematic

LTE Cat-1

Cat-m1

SRWA

>1 MbpsCost tolerant,power available

< 1 MbpsCost sensitive, poweravailable

Sensor &meters, smart city,agriculture enviromenttransport, industry

Unidirectional /non-symmetrictraffic

Multicast / broadcast

High-reliability

Low-latency

LPWA,Cat-m1,NB-IoT,SRWA

LTE Cat - 1

Requirements Technology

<100 kbps: cost sensitive, low power



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• LTE Cat-m1 & NB-IoT standards are one year away, with anticipated commercial availability by late 2018 • LTE and other 3GPP based technologies suffer from a cost disadvantage in terms of the intellec tual property cost of LTE. The industry structure has evolved with 2G/3G/4G such that 5-10% of a client device’s cost is paid to a collection of royalty recipients. • The time gap gives advantage to LPWA ecosys tem to establish market presence, the present

Licensed spectrum vs ISM bands

equipment installed in the field may not support 3GPP standards.• The LPWA ecosystem has the advantage of diversity and vitality which include startups as well as major technology players that see LPWA as an opportunity. • Licensed-exempt spectrum saves more than money. The time delay associated with licensing a band, deploying equipment, and offering a service is measured in years.

For this reason, mobile network operators have been making investments in LPWA technologies which are essentially insurance policies on future market uptake in light of the late arrival of a standardised technology.

Challenges for service providers

LPWAN on licensed spectrum / NB-IoT

UsedFrequencies GSM / LTE frequency bands 434 MHz, 868 / 915 MHZ, 2.4 GHZ

Associated Investment

• Shared cost of mobile• Infrastructure and license• Frequency reframing cost• Firmware upgrade cost

Base Stations and emission sites

Prons• Quick rollout• Lower risk of interference• Creates value for unused resources

No need for expensive licensedspectrum

Cons

• Other LPWAN already in place• Need for dedicated spectrum to ensure QOS• Most suitable frequencies (700-800 MHz) also needed for LTE

• Use of crowded bands• Need for new infrastructure to increase coverage

LPWAN on ISM bands



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Deployment module

ConclusionIn dense cities, where most of the IoT market is located, mobile operators may have to use dedicated spectrum to ensure a better QoS (‘Stand-alone operation’ mode), instead of using scarce, unused LTE resources.

To use this ‘Stand-alone operation’ mode, mobile operators will however most likely have to negotiate with regulatory authorities, as licenses usually specify which technology is to be used on the band by the operator. In particular, refarming GSM frequencies comes at a cost. Mobile operators will have to keep this cost down, if they want to compete

Ethernet Backhaul

Gateway CPE Device

4G / 3G Antenna(If Cellular backhaul)

ODU

Omni RF Antenna

RF Feeder Cabel

GPS Antenna

POE / Cable

with LPWAN operators using ISM bands.

NB-IOT is a threat current to LPWAN operators. It is however unlikely that the associated costs (refarming, firmware upgrade, structure costs) allow for the development of a ‘low-cost’ solution such as the ones existing today.



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lpwan - exploring the potential of iot · with lpwan operators using ism bands. nb-iot is a threat...

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