Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) Demystified

The perceived glamorous side of Internet of Things (IoT) might be all about interconnected cars, lamps, kitchen gadgets, fridges, smart cities, etc. But what about when we want to connect small things, over long periods, in hard to reach places?

Enter Narrowband IoT, otherwise known as NB-IoT, a wireless technology that may well revolutionise the Internet of Things.

This particular term has been garnering a lot of buzz in the IoT world. The term is, NB-IoT. An abbreviation for Narrowband IoT.

One of the more talked about wireless communication technologies for the Internet of Things (IoT) is Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT). NB-IoT is a cellular-based narrow band technology that uses licensed spectrum. Narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed to permit various services and devices to be connected using telecommunications bands.

Narroband IoT (NB-IoT) is a new way of communicating with things using a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) to reach a wider area, over a long period. It is also known as LTE Cat NB1 and used to connect devices more simply and efficiently on already established telecommunications network and handles small amounts of fairly infrequent 2‑way data, securely and reliably.

NB-IoT is a narrowband radio technology developed to meet the connectivity needs of the Internet of Things (IoT). Standardized last year by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), it’s hoped that NB-IoT will help in the industry’s quest to “create a connectivity fabric for everything”.

So how will it achieve this?

The strengths of NB-IoT lies in the fact that it can work virtually anywhere. Not only that, but it’s proven to be a simple and efficient way of connecting devices on already established cellular networks.

NB-IoT is particularly useful for handling a small amount of fairly infrequent transmission data over large distances – all with the help of a solid and interference-suppressing kind of radio transmission.

NB-IoT is a solution for deployment of Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks using licensed operator spectrum, in-band, guard band and stand-alone deployments. 

It is known to significantly improve the power consumption of user devices, spectrum efficiency and system capacity, especially in deep coverage areas.

Narrowband Internet of things is a narrowband radio technology designed for the Internet of Things (IoT) 

Although it is integrated in the LTE standard, NB-IoT is actually a new air interface. It was standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The 3GPP decided to standardise NB-IoT at its September 2015 meeting and standards were completed in June 2016. The standards were frozen in its Release 13 for LTE Advanced Pro (Link to LTE A-Pro guide), and only essential backwards-compatible changes will now be possible. NB-IoT will continue to evolve into future Releases with new features, such as support for multicast and positioning. Applications for the technology will likely span a broad range, from smart metering and smart cities to agriculture and white-goods monitoring.

For the most part, today’s cellular networks are not intended for applications that transmit small amounts of data—this is where NB-IoT steps in. NB-IoT is intended to be simple and efficient, with objectives that include improving battery life and lowering device costs. Another goal is improvement of coverage areas. Locations that cannot be reached easily, such as those deep within buildings, should reap the benefits of NB-IoT.

What is LPWA?

The term LPWA was coined in 2013. Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies fill the gap between mobile (3G, LTE) and short-range wireless (e.g. Bluetooth, WiFi and ZigBee) networks. They are designed for machine communications, to provide connectivity for devices and applications that require low mobility and low levels of data transfer, and will therefore be critical in the development of the IoT.

As the name suggests, they have low power draw and provide wide area coverage. They must also be low cost in order to enable the billions of devices that will be connected in the IoT.

Why NB-IoT?

In November 2015, the 3GPP formed a working group to merge Huawei’s Cellular IoT (NB-CIoT) technology (developed in partnership with Cambridge-based Neul, which Huawei acquired for a reported $25 million in September 2014, and with Vodafone) and the NB-LTE technology put forward by Nokia, Ericsson and Intel. NB-IoT is the result.

The backing of the world’s three largest telecoms infrastructure manufacturers, and the fact that it can it deployed over existing mobile networks and operates in licensed spectrum, ensured strong industry support, and the first NB-IoT standard was finalised in June 2016.

The 3GPP also set standards for two other LPWA technologies for different use cases. NB-IoT specifically targets low throughput IoT applications. It is perceived to have cost and coverage advantages over LTE-M (also known as LTE-MTC), which supports a wide range of IoT applications, including those which are content rich. EC-GSM-IoT (extended coverage GSM-IoT) optimises existing GSM networks for IoT devices through new software deployed over the GSM network.

Non-standardised LPWA

There are also alternative proprietary LPWA technologies that are commercially available but which have not been standardised and do not use licensed spectrum.

Founded in March 2015 and based out of California, the LoRa Alliance is an open, non-profit association with over 500 members globally among Telcos, system integrators, start-ups and manufacturers. By early 2018, there were 62 announced public network operators and over 350 ongoing trials and city deployments of the LoRaWAN protocol in more than 100 countries. In the UK, Digital Catapult, an affiliate of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), is deploying the Things Connected LoRaWAN-based network in London that can be used for the prototyping of new products and services.

The alliance claims there are live LoRaWAN networks in more than 120 cities and nationwide deployment plans publicly announced for 17 countries, including by KPN in the Netherlands and SK Telecom in Korea.

France-based Sigfox is partnering with numerous companies globally to roll out its IoT ecosystem, including platform providers, device and other manufacturers, and tech hubs. Its network uses Ultra-Narrowband (UNB) modulation in unlicensed frequency bands. By September 2017 its network spanned 36 countries, with national coverage in 17. In 2014 Sigfox signed up Arqiva as its UK partner, and in mid-2017 it appointed WND as its licensee to accelerate rollout in the UK. The UK network significantly lagged those in other countries with only 11 cities covered, equivalent to around 35% population coverage. Arqiva will continue to service its existing infrastructure while WND, Sigfox’s partner in Latin America, will deploy, operate and maintain a nationwide network, as well as develop Sigfox’s services. It has a stated goal of up to 95% population coverage by 2019, including rural areas.

France-based SIGFOX is partnering with numerous companies globally to roll out its IoT ecosystem, including platform providers, device and other manufacturers, and tech hubs. Its network uses Ultra-Narrowband (UNB) modulation in unlicensed frequency bands. It claims to have nationwide coverage in France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, with ongoing rollout in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic, Italy, Malta, Oman, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, French West Indies, Mauritius, the US, Mexico and Brazil. Taiwan was added to the list in August 2016, with nationwide coverage expected by early 2018. SIGFOX will also create a global IoT testbed in Taiwan.

In the US, San Diego-based Ingenu (formerly On-Ramp Wireless) announced in November 2015 that its Machine Network, using proprietary RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) technology, would be rolled out to provide coverage to 30 metro areas in the U.S by the end of 2016 in the first phase, comprising 100 million people and an area of nearly 100,000 square miles. In March 2017 the company claimed to be serving over 12.5 million people in an area of nearly 7,000 square miles, with a goal of 100 US metros by the end of 2017. Ingenu has licensed its technology for deployments outside the US, with network deployments and technology licensees in over 30 countries by mid 2017. It claims to have covered the Dallas-Fort Worth market (its first market), an area of 2,116 square miles with a population of over 4.4 million, with 17 access points (APs), and to provide coverage in rural Texas of 400 square miles per tower. In the Americas and Australia, Ingenu claims that one RPMA AP provides the same coverage as 18 LoRa APs, 30 for cellular and 70 for Sigfox. It provides no comparison for NB-IoT.

What will NB-IoT do?

NB-IoT (and other LPWA technologies) will enable the connection of billions of devices in the IoT that will be used in machine-to-machine (M2M, or machine-type communications, MTC, in 3GPP-speak) rather than in human communications. The latter have high throughput and low latency needs, such as conversation, real-time video, music streaming etc.

In contrast, M2M devices have low data transfer rates and don’t need data very often, so NB-IoT handles small amounts of fairly infrequent (but often regular) two-way data.

M2M devices and sensors will be used in a wide range of industries and applications which will require a large number of low throughput devices and where a delay in communications will not result in a material loss of service. One of the early use cases is in energy and water meters, where meters do not need to transmit data frequently or in real time, and can be sited in difficult to reach locations.

Because it uses a network with licensed spectrum, NB-IoT is more secure and less likely susceptible to interference than unlicensed spectrum LPWA solutions, and it also enables global roaming.

OPERATION MODES

IoT devices connect to the NB-IoT network in the same way as mobile devices connect to the LTE (4G) network.

NB-IoT can be deployed in three different operating modes:

1. Stand alone as a dedicated carrier: Can use GSM frequencies in a bandwidth of 200 kHz
2. Guard band*: Can use a free resource block within LTE guard band.
3. In-band: Can use the resource block within LTE frequency band

*Guard band is a thin band of spectrum between radio bands that is used to prevent interference.

How will it do it?

The main drivers behind the development of NB-IoT (and other LPWA technologies) were to reduce costs (in terms of device as well as deployment) and power consumption, at the same time as increasing coverage and the number of devices that can be connected, compared with cellular and other wireless networks.

M2M devices are typically battery powered and not connected to mains power, so NB-IoT promises to achieve up to 10 years’ battery life on a single charge. It incorporates technologies that enable devices to power down when data is not being transmitted, as well as enhanced discontinuous reception (eDRX) to conserve battery life.

NB-IoT is optimised for low throughput, whether over long or short distances, and has optimised data transfer to support small, intermittent blocks of data. Uplink and downlink rates of around 200kbps are supported.

There must be ubiquitous coverage in order for IoT applications to work, with coverage over long distances and deep penetration. NB-IoT must therefore provide coverage of remote and rural areas, hard to reach places such as underground locations, and deep inside buildings. Power spectrum density (PSD) boosting and repetition in NB-IoT can deliver coverage gains of 20dB when compared with GSM networks, enabling about ten times better area coverage.

NB-IoT needs just 200kH of bandwidth (hence the name ‘narrowband’) which means it can run adjacent to existing cellular networks.

The unit cost of NB-IoT devices is expected to be low and to fall as demand picks up, with the 3GPP believing this can get to below $5 per module

WHAT MAKES NB-IOT DIFFERENT?

NB-IoT is a new way of communicating with the ‘Things’ that will make up IoT. In particular, the types of devices that require small amounts of data over long periods in places that are hard to get to.

But the strengths of NB IoT does not just lie in what it can do, but how it does it. As well as being able to handle small amounts of infrequent data, NB-IoT also provides:

• Support for a huge number of low-throughput Things
• Lower component costs
• Optimised network architecture
• Reliability and security
• Long-range communications
• Good penetration coverage, including indoor coverage
• Use of existing LTE (4G) network

Developments in NB-IoT

In December 2015, Huawei, Vodafone and u-blox, which manufactures positioning and wireless semi-conductors and modules, conducted what they claimed was the first successful commercial trial of pre-standard NB-IoT. Vodafone and Huawei integrated the technology onto Vodafone’s network in Spain, and sent a message to a u-blox module in a water meter. u-blox announced what it claimed was the world’s first NB-IOT module in June 2016, and Vodafone and Huawei completed the first commercial trial of NB-IoT in September 2016, also in Spain.

According to Huawei, by October 2017 there were 21 commercial NB-IoT networks in operation and trials underway elsewhere, with the expectation of 30 commercial networks by the end of the year.

In May 2017, O2 was the first UK operator to publicly confirm it would trial 3GPP-compliant IoT connectivity, with “live trials [in 2017] to gain more practical insight into the technology”. It didn’t confirm whether it would be trialling NB-IoT or LTE-M and also has local LoRaWAN and Sigfox deployments. Parent company Telefonica is clearly hedging its bets, having invested in Sigfox in February 2015 and two years later striking a global deal to integrate Sigfox technology into its managed connectivity platform.

EE is also keeping its options open. It is using LoRaWAN in smart city deployments in London and Milton Keynes, and in mid 2017 said it would deploy NB-IoT and being equally vague about possible locations. It also said it was exploring LTE-M.

In contrast, Vodafone has made a big bet on NB-IoT, with commercial networks live in Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa (through Vodacom) and Turkey as of early 2018, with trials also underway in Germany and New Zealand. In April 2016, Huawei and Vodafone opened their first Narrowband-IoT Open IoT Lab for the development of products and applications relating to NB-IoT technology, in Newbury.

What makes it the future technology?

• Will increase battery life and reduce power consumption
• Excellent range in underground and difficult to reach areas
• More secure and reliable
• Cost effective
• Easy deployment in existing network architecture

See u-blox's introductory video about NarrowBand IoT below:

NB-IoT is expected to fill the gap of cheaper network access and battery saving solutions for IoT devices that consume little data. It handles small amounts of fairly infrequent 2‑way data, securely and reliably.

The technology's main pros include:

• very low power consumption
• excellent penetration coverage
• lower component costs

The big advantage of NB-IoT is that it will be a truly global standard and deployment will not require the installation of any new antennas – simply a hardware and/or software upgrade to existing cellular base stations.

NB-IOT allows small form factor devices and sensors to connect efficiently to licensed spectrum of narrow bandwidth (180 kHz), mitigating growing network load in the valuable and scarce cellular bands, while also improving network capacity and spectrum efficiency. It also allows manufacturers and carriers to substantially reuse existing network and device technologies—deploying within a legacy LTE carrier, in the guard band, or stand-alone.

Another advantage of NB-IOT is that it also supports deep indoor and wide area coverage (with a coverage extension of 10-20dB over existing technologies), with low device complexity and power consumption. These are important factors to consider when planning for rural as well as urban sensor-based applications.

Why does all of this matter?

NB-IOT eases entry for a variety of new products and use cases. Mobile operators can embrace emerging devices and technologies, creating new lines of revenue without stressing their network resources to the point of degrading the quality of traditional services. Manufacturers can develop solutions at massive scale for consumer, agricultural, industrial, metropolitan and governmental applications at affordable price points, speeding adoption.

Equally importantly, NB-IOT provides insight on what the “things of the future” will be, what they will do, and how they will shape our lives—while also helping us chart the path forward. And it gives the industry the time it needs to figure out the standards and technologies that will comprise the multi-faceted 5G “network of all networks.”

Practical applications of NB-IoT according to Vodafone

Any devices that require low energy consumption, have low data transfer demands and are geographically dispersed or remote can benefit from NB-IoT.

The Devices include:

• Gas Metering
• Environmental Monitoring
• Water Metering
• Smoke and Fire Alarms
• Liquid and pressurised fuels
• Parking monitoring
• Smart Bins
• Alarms and event detectors

NB-IoT deployment has three main variants:

Guard-Band – It makes use of bandwidth reserved or unused LTE usually carry Guard band

In-band – It makes use of spectrum allocated to Long Term Evolution (LTE)—utilising resource blocks within a normal LTE carrier

Standalone – It makes use of dedicated spectrum and utilizes new bandwidth apt for the re-farming of GSM spectrum

Advantages of NB-IoT

Low Power Consumption – As stated above, NB-IoT doesn’t need to run a heavy operating system or even indulge in much signal processing, this makes it comparatively more power efficient than all the cellular technologies currently present in the market.

Faster to market – The technology is extremely easy to deploy as it can either be deployed for In-Band, Guard-band or Standalone, which results in faster time to the market.

Low Device Cost – NB-IoT is simpler to build with much lower complexity than others. It’s cost of device is also considerably low and averages out to be around $5 per module. MCUs can do the work here instead of several CPUs running at multiple GHz.

Ubiquitous connectivity and coverage – The technology is capable of supporting massive number of devices by easily establishing networks that can connect to billions of nodes. In addition to this, they are especially designed for extended coverage indoors with low device complexity.

Multi–year battery life – The technology’s power consumption capability gives it an ability of supporting a multi-year battery life for one’s devices.

Potential Applications of NB-IoT

It’s aforementioned features make NB-IoT ideal for a number of industries. Some of the potential applications are:

Home Automation: Since NB-IoT doesn’t function on a heavy Operating system with Linux that consumers power at the speed of the light, it can be of considerable help when running smart home devices that are required to be run on less power.

Transportation: The tracking of vehicles and shipping containers in real-time can help in considerably reducing illegals activities. In addition to this, NB-IoT can also be used to collect real time data from vehicles, road sensors and help in navigation, traffic analysis etc.

Retail: The technology can help in bettering the in-store experience of retail store customers as it can connect a large number of devices like EPOS machines, barcode scanners and cameras etc. Its long battery life with less power consumption feature will also help in the industry.

Smart cities: NB-IoT can significantly help in countering the parking trouble as it can better the performance of the parking solutions available to us today.

Industrial Automation: The technology can be used to monitor water and gas meters, via small and regular data transmissions. It can also be put to use in underground cellars where connectivity is a major issue for installed meters.

Future Narrowband IoT Applications:

Smart Metering: Reach in most challenging areas makes NB-IoT most suited for gas and water meters. Network coverage is a key challenge in smart metering which can be overcome using NB-IoT. We can build our future smart meters using Narrowband IoT.

Smart Cities: Narrowband IoT can play an important role in smart cities dream to fulfill. To monitor empty spaces in parking, monitoring waste bins for emptying, surveying of roads and many more.

Smart Building: NB-IoT can be used to monitor building health, can send alerts and perform some automated work like heat and light control.

Wearable: It’s not possible to keep your wearable connected with outer world in challenging areas like, underground roofs, hills, and dense populated areas. Animal and people tracking will be possible through NB-IoT.

Agriculture and Environment: It will offer farmers to track animal movement, track their animal location, weather condition, pollution, noise and humidity of soil.

LTE-M - an LTE-based alternative to NB-IoT

NB-IoT can exist either 1) independently, 2) in unused 200-KHz bands that have previously been used for GSM, or 3) on LTE base stations that can be allocated a resource block to NB-IoT operations or in their guard bands. LTE-M (also know as LTE-M1, LTE-MTC or LTE Cat M1), however, is an attractive option for those mobile carriers looking to deploy purely current cellular networks. From the weak spots, LTE-M power efficiency may not be fully comparable to NB-IoT and chips may come with a bit higher cost. NB-IoT can also handle wider deployment coverages than LTE-M. Therefore, the adoption of either NB-IoT or LTE-M depends partly on mobile carrier's preference. 

The main difference between NB-IoT and LTE-M is the difference in bandwidth

NB-IoT = 0.2 MHz

LTE-M = 1.4 MHz

What's next?

The speed of NB-IoT adoption is not only dependent on mobile/telecom carriers, but relies on modem/hardware component vendors as well. Chipsets are broadly in prototype stage and may not be out soon enough. Another weak spot is pricing - it has not yet been disclosed what the exact data cost would be. 1oT sees NarrowBand IoT as the dominant technology in LPWAN field in 2 years time and is already making steps to become one of the first to offer it to IoT device makers (OEMs), worldwide.

Deutche Telecom's webinar about NarrowBand IoT:

Leading operators and equipment manufacturers are already showcasing real world demonstration of the technology. NB-IOT offers important technical benefits that will accelerate 5G innovation. It is a core technology necessary to meet the cost, battery life, and wide area coverage required of massive IoT.

The technological progression in the Narrowband IoT is anticipated to drive the APAC market for Narrowband IoT in the future years. The major companies that are providing Narrowband IoT include China Mobile Limited, AT&T, Inc., Orange S.A., SK Telecom Co., Ltd, China Unicom, Vodafone Group PLC, Etisalat, Deutsche Telekom AG, Telstra Corporation Limited, and Telefonica SA.

Conclusion

The potential of NB-IoT has already caught the eyes of major telecoms companies. Vodafone, Telenor, Telia, Orange, Sonera, and Cosmote have all launched lab and pilot projects to kickstart NB-IoT development.

The story doesn’t end there, though. Once NB-IoT gathers speed, it will face fierce competition from other wireless technologies, including LoRA and Sigfox. With technological needs constantly changing, LPWAN initiatives have to be ahead of the curve. All that considered, only time will tell if NB-IoT manages to make a major mark.

#IoT #NB-IoT #Technology #Telecom #4G #5G #LPWAN #M2M #LPWA #NarrowBandTechnology