The world didn’t appraise his picture and thought of it as science fiction. But the growth potential of IOT has made an enormous paradigm shift.

Once considered a sci-fi is now dominating globally in transferring information.

IoT devices will scale the sky-rocketed selling records between 2020 and 2030. It is estimated that in 2030 the IoT devices will be 25.4 billion!!. A surprising three times increment of 8.74 billion in 2020.

The IoT consumption in different consumer markets and industry verticals is an applauding 60% share of IoT devices in the consumers market.

The Internet of Things holds great potential in the business industry. Business owners are looking for an autonomous solution in handling their day-to-day company tasks.

One of the great examples of IoT helping the corporate owners is IOT driven smart metering.

How IoT Communication Protocols are modifying Smart Metering: What’s the role of LTE CAT 1?

What is Smart Metering?

How has IoT Boosted the Functionality of Smart Meters?

Why Cellular IOT is Best for IOT Applications? Cellular IOT for Intelligent Metering

4G LTE CAT 1 Gateway: A Favored Driving Force of Cellular IoT

What is LTE CAT 1 Gateway?

Where does LTE Fail?

LTE CAT 1 Gateway

LTE CAT 1 vs. LTE CAT 4

Eclipse Role in Providing IoT Protocols for Smart Metering

Conclusion

What is Smart Metering?

Smart metering modernizes your conventional meters to record readings for different utilities, including electric, water, and monthly gas calculations.

Smart meters are much advanced than traditional ones. They are equipped with a digital screen to have clear visuals.

They give ease of managing utilities. A smart meter saves you from calculating the estimated cost of your bills. All of your information is in front of you in a digital panel.

Smart meters have made a transition at the consumer and supplier level. It is a cost-effective option for service providers.

Furthermore, there was a need to check the meter reading quarterly or monthly in the past.

Smart meters have substituted this act by giving a digital insight into the meter readings in the service provider’s control panel, thus significantly reducing the cost of deploying meter checkers.

Smart meters have opened the gates of different opportunities and have made life easier on a great level. Providing business ease is only one aspect of this technology.

With multiple applications, smart metering technology has upgraded water tracking technology.

Moreover, unlike conventional meters, smart meters for utility bills do not need to be put outside your house; you can plant one anywhere inside the house.

Smart metering also delivers an insight into different kinds of household information in smart cities. The utility information is processed, and a report is made to analyze which cities require more energy and which don’t.

How has IOT boosted the functionality of smart meters?

The internet of things provides a linked infrastructure of all smart meters deployed. Smart metering is the primary use of IOT applications.

IOT embedded smart meters leverage calculate cost and usage of electricity, water or gas accurately, efficiently, and most importantly remotely.

IOT devices connect to various communication protocols like Bluetooth, Ethernet, Wi-Fi etc. options, but cellular IOT is the most secure wireless communication protocol for several reasons.

Why is Cellular IOT Best for IOT applications? Cellular IOT for Intelligent Metering

Cellular networks are progressing day by day. The operators took their first step by introducing 2G technology and it kept on advancing.

Today we have different network technologies, including 3G, 4G, and 5G. Most of the modern or smart cities around the globe are switching to a 5G network for a much efficient cellular IoT; while it didn’t cut off the 3G and 4G supply, they are more efficient in developing countries.

Cellular connectivity during its inception was quite expensive, but the inventions of technologies like LTE-M and NB-IoT provided a low power and low data rate for IoT applications.

The LTE-M wireless protocol came after the 4G LTE CAT 1 gateway. Still, the 4G LTE CAT 1 gateway started gaining more and more popularity as the demand for more power in IOT applications escalated.

The 4G LTE CAT 1 terminal offers ten megabits per second to tackle the medium-demanding IoT tasks.

Advantages of Cellular IOT

Best Security

Security is the top concern for internet users, and it is a privilege for cellular IoT. Cellular connectivity ensures maximum security.

Wi-fi planted publicly or privately is connected by several users, which puts your security at risk. If one of the connected people in Wi-fi has some malfunctions with his connectivity or develops a virus in the phone, it’s a warning sign for your security!

Furthermore, this public and private wi-fi can be easily encrypted, thus providing additional risks to your data.

Cellular IOT provides an excellent solution for your safety. Cellular connectivity is made through sim careers or individual devices. It’s a one to one connectivity, so your data is at the safest level compared to Wi-fi.

Support low and high bandwidth

The cellular IoT also supports low and high bandwidth. This makes it versatile over several IoT applications. It regulates the requirements of the internet for different IoT applications.

If a device requires a low internet speed, you can go with the low bandwidth IoT applications. Similarly, for advanced and heavy applications that require high internet speeds, you can select the high bandwidth IoT applications.

Cellular IOT simplifies the global deployment

Cellular IoT simplifies the global deployment. The excellent connectivity coverage of the cellular IOT enables a global connectivity via different grid stations. You don’t have to deploy a separate infrastructure for every cellular IOT device.

An advent of excellent coverage

Cellular IoT has significant advantages. It is a compelling medium to deliver excellent connectivity.

Compared to Wi-fi and Bluetooth, the cellular connectivity is WAN (wide area network). For Wi-fi and Bluetooth, the operating IoT device must be within the range prescribed by the modem or Bluetooth device.

Contrary to this, cellular connecting delivers long and strong connections that makes it a viable option globally.

Performs well in mobile, indoors and outdoors IOT applications

Cellular IoT is the number one choice for mobile, indoor and outdoor applications. The Wi-fi technology is lagging! behind the doors of advancement.

Mobile phones are now dependent on cellular IoT, and the development of 5G has provided it another boost. 5G connectivity has brought the IoT applications close with excellent connectivity.

Most indoor and outdoor applications, including smart metering and water analysis meters, use cellular IOT to advance their performance experiences.

Whether its auto parking sensors inside the car or parking machines on the road, the cellular IoT has provided optimum performance for these IoT applications.

4G LTE CAT 1 Gateway: A Favored Driving Force of Cellular IOT

What is the LTE CAT 1 Gateway?

2G and 3G are on the verge of collapse, but does that mean the IoT communication will too?

Evolution also hits the wireless communication protocols. With the increase in modern IoT devices, the requirements to deliver seaming and reliable internet has scaled up. Unfortunately, the old technologies like 2G and 3G are compromising to see themselves with the latest technology.

So a much advanced and reliable protocol was required for telecommunication devices. And here is when LTE comes into the picture.

The long-term evolution (LTE) is an advanced IOT wireless communication protocol that holds the potential to deliver incredible bandwidth.

LTE provides a paced up speed and better reliability than its ancestors.

Where does LTE Fail?

LTE provides a fast-speed connection. However, most IoT applications, including smart metering and mobile devices, don’t require high speeds as they transfer the data in small bits requiring low latency.

The 3GPP, however, reacted quickly to this feedback and introduced the LTE first category or the LTE CAT 1 Gateway.

LTE CAT 1 Gateway

Eclipse LTE CAT 1 Gateway or 4G LTE is an advanced machine-to-machine M2M communication protocol for internet applications.

Eclipse LTE CAT 1 offers a reliable connection that is cost-effective and best for that application with a low latency rate.

Eclipse LTE CAT 1 Terminal offers 10 Mbps for downlinking and 5 Mbps for uplinking. This makes it operatable for various M2M applications.

Eclipse LTE CAT 1 Gateway is also less complex than the LTE Cat.0, which gives it an edge in reducing the infrastructure cost.

Eclipse 4G gateway or 4G terminal has extended idles and sleep modes, ultimately consuming less power.

Furthermore, Eclipse LTE CAT 1 Gateway is quite versatile. It can be connected globally to other LTE servers for a convenient and efficient connection.

Eclipse LTE CAT 1 Gateway is an all-in-one solution as the 4G terminal offers reliable, better, protected, and brilliant coverage while cutting down on the cost of operations.

LTE CAT 1 is capable of getting optimum traffic. It also enables roaming and voice-over LTE.

LTE CAT 1 vs. LTE CAT 4

LTE CAT 4

LTE CAT 4 is the advanced technology designed to handle high-speed communication tasks.

The data transmission rate and prices of LTE CAT 4 are higher than LTE CAT 1. The LTE CAT 4 has a downlinking ability of 150 Mbps and an uplinking rate of 50 Mbps.

That makes it suitable for high-end IoT applications.

The LTE CAT 4 has application in

• Asset tracking
• Telematics
• Agricultural department
• Food and drinking industries
• CCTV for surveillance
• Environmental monitoring
• Smart cities
• Video recording
• Alarm notification system
• APR

LTE CAT 1

LTE CAT 1 is perfect for low latency IoT verticals. The uplinking and downlinking rate of LTE CAT 1 is much lesser than LTE 4, which makes it a cost-effective option for IoT users.

Furthermore, LTE CAT 1 transfers data at a medium rate which may be a problem if you require video surveillance, so you have to be attentive when buying an LTE modem.

The LTE CAT 1 has applications in

• Payment Systems
• Smart Metering
• Electricity Utilities
• Gas Utilities
• Water Utilities
• Healthcare
• Gaming Machines
• ATMs
• And car parking payment machines

What modem to choose between LTE CAT 1 and LTE CAT 4

The decision between buying an LTE CAT 4 modem or an LTE  CAT 1 modem depends on usability. Both are great interim of durability and efficient connection, but they fall back in their uses.

The LTE Category 4 modem should be used in high-speed demanding IOT applications, for instance, CCTV.

The CCTV requires remote monitoring to visualize the camera reached in vicinity. Using a CAT 1 modem with a comparatively low transmission rate will hinder your surveillance. CAT 4 modem with an increased data transmission rate will work fine here.

Similarly, you should not install a CAT 4 modem in the ATMs. The requirement for data transmission and connectivity is much smaller. LTE CAT 1 modems is best to handle a transmission.

ECLIPSE Role in Providing IOT Protocols for Smart Metering

Eclipse is one of the leading smart metering solution providers. Eclipse plays its role in providing machine-to-machine wireless and non-wireless terminals for the IoT market.

Eclipse specializes in IOT hardware and firmware, telemetric energy management, observer monitoring system and edge computing.

Eclipse produces and provides its customer with versatile modems to support every consumer’s needs.

The modems we provide at Eclipse are

LTE Cat 1 Gateway

M-Bus NB-IoT Gateway

Battery Powered IP68 CAT M1 Gateway

M-Bus Cat M1 NB Gateway

Battery Powered IP68 M-Bus NB-IoT Gateway

GPS Cat M1 Modem

M-Bus Cat 1 Linux Data Concentrator

DLMS COSEM Cat 4 Linux Data Concentrator

And many more.

Eclipse provides quality enhanced, innovative technology and on-time product delivery.

Conclusion

Smart Metering is among the top application of IOT. With day-by-day progression, more innovative technology is required to cope with the requirements.

The conventional 2G and 3G are now phasing out, and the LTE wireless communication protocol is replacing it by providing many added benefits.

Especially the LTE CAT 1 is the primary wireless protocol in smart metering for efficient and fast connectivity.

It’s foreseed that the number of devices that connect to internet by using cellular IoT technology will increase dramatically in the coming years. More than 20 billion devices are expected to be connected through this technology by 2023.

Why is Cellular IoT expanding so much?

Cellular networks which provide big flows of data are prevalent all around the world, which is an advantage of not being in need of creating new physical infrastructures in order to support IoT networks. For a long period of time, cellular-enabled IoT devices consumed too much power, that decreased their practicality for the applications. However, today, new kind of cellular technologies, such as NB-IoT, are able to transmit reasonable amounts of data accross significant distances without the need of draining the battery. With the help of 5G technology, there is no reason not to be optimistic for the brilliant future of cellular IoT technologies.

Snapshot of Two Key Forms of Cellular IoT: LTE-M and NB-IoT

Either LTE-M or NB-IoT technologies are used for all current cellular IoT applications. You basically pick one of these two technologies according to the GSM cellular infrastructure used in your neighbourhood. On the other hand, there are significant differences between these aforesaid technologies. So, for now no matter what, you should choose the one which is compatible for your city.

LTE-M

As mentioned before, LTE technology is standart in the US, in majority of European countries and China as of 2019. It is estimated to overhaul GSM for cellular IoT applications. LTE-M, which is abbreviation for “Long Term Evolution for Machines’’, is a kind of network standard that let’s IoT devices to piggyback on present cell networks.

With essentially just a software update, LTE-M-enabled devices can communicate with the cloud. In general, LTE-M devices are the best match to “mission-critical” applications in which real-time data transfer makes the difference—for example, self-driving cars or emergency devices in smart cities.

NB-IoT

NB-IoT, which stands for “Narrowband-IoT,” is great for areas without good LTE coverage, or when you only need to transfer small amounts of information—for example, when using a soil sensor for smart agriculture or an energy usage monitor in a smart city. NB-IoT uses only a narrow band of the total bandwidth cell towers project. If you’re deploying in an area in which GSM is the standard cellular technology. On the other hand, if you foresee needing to send only small amounts of data across the internet periodically, NB-IoT might be the right choice.

5G and the Future of Cellular IoT

Despite all the hype around 5G, it’s actually just like all the other “Gs” (i.e., generations) of the cellular internet; 5G is better, way faster, and stronger. 5G will most likely transform the IoT landscape, even though it’ll likely operate in tandem with LTE and GSM cellular networks into the 2020s. On the industrial IoT end, ultra-secure, private 5G networks will be enabling millions of devices operating at tenfold the speed of existent networks.

On the consumer end, 5G can make self-driving cars or immersive VR & AR environments a reality. It’s an exciting time to be learning about the power of cellular IoT.

It’s foreseed that the number of devices that connect to internet by using cellular IoT technology will increase dramatically in the coming years. More than 20 billion devices are expected to be connected through this technology by 2023.

Why is Cellular IoT expanding so much?

Cellular networks which provide big flows of data are prevalent all around the world, which is an advantage of not being in need of creating new physical infrastructures in order to support IoT networks. For a long period of time, cellular-enabled IoT devices consumed too much power, that decreased their practicality for the applications. However, today, new kind of cellular technologies, such as NB-IoT, are able to transmit reasonable amounts of data accross significant distances without the need of draining the battery. With the help of 5G technology, there is no reason not to be optimistic for the brilliant future of cellular IoT technologies.

Snapshot of Two Key Forms of Cellular IoT: LTE-M and NB-IoT

Either LTE-M or NB-IoT technologies are used for all current cellular IoT applications. You basically pick one of these two technologies according to the GSM cellular infrastructure used in your neighbourhood. On the other hand, there are significant differences between these aforesaid technologies. So, for now no matter what, you should choose the one which is compatible for your city.

LTE-M

As mentioned before, LTE technology is standart in the US, in majority of European countries and China as of 2019. It is estimated to overhaul GSM for cellular IoT applications. LTE-M, which is abbreviation for “Long Term Evolution for Machines’’, is a kind of network standard that let’s IoT devices to piggyback on present cell networks.

With essentially just a software update, LTE-M-enabled devices can communicate with the cloud. In general, LTE-M devices are the best match to “mission-critical” applications in which real-time data transfer makes the difference—for example, self-driving cars or emergency devices in smart cities.

NB-IoT

NB-IoT, which stands for “Narrowband-IoT,” is great for areas without good LTE coverage, or when you only need to transfer small amounts of information—for example, when using a soil sensor for smart agriculture or an energy usage monitor in a smart city. NB-IoT uses only a narrow band of the total bandwidth cell towers project. If you’re deploying in an area in which GSM is the standard cellular technology. On the other hand, if you foresee needing to send only small amounts of data across the internet periodically, NB-IoT might be the right choice.

5G and the Future of Cellular IoT

Despite all the hype around 5G, it’s actually just like all the other “Gs” (i.e., generations) of the cellular internet; 5G is better, way faster, and stronger. 5G will most likely transform the IoT landscape, even though it’ll likely operate in tandem with LTE and GSM cellular networks into the 2020s. On the industrial IoT end, ultra-secure, private 5G networks will be enabling millions of devices operating at tenfold the speed of existent networks.

On the consumer end, 5G can make self-driving cars or immersive VR & AR environments a reality. It’s an exciting time to be learning about the power of cellular IoT.

Delivering long-term application connectivity across a variety of business use cases, power consumption, cost, reliability and performance are critical. That’s why Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a highly feasible option for many companies, across many industries, to adopt IoT solutions.

For businesses, NB-IoT technology provides connectivity to a large set of assets that aren’t suitable for traditional cellular connectivity because of the restrictive cost or power requirements. NB-IoT has the potential to support companies enable application innovation, meet increasing needs for access to information, and help in drawing data insights and business outcomes. Especially small and medium-sized businesses need Narrowband-IoT as a basis to make the IOT suitable for the mass market. Only with NB-IoT do many manufacturing entrepreneurs have the chance to effectively network their products and equipment. This will assist them to create new customer relationships and business models. This is where NB-IoT is a reasonably priced technology for the Internet of Things.

Long runtimes, high scalability and a deep building penetration at low costs are critical to the success of any IoT project. NB-IoT overcomes many of these limitations as it is standards based and carrier grade, working in licensed dedicated spectrum bands, providing businesses a wide array of benefits such as:

1. Better security
2. Carrier grade reliability
3. Long life battery
4. Ubiquitous coverage
5. Long sistance abilities
6. Cost savings

No matter the size of your business, nb-iot devices and technology are certainly an option to consider. They are reliable and secure, with a quick connection that cannot be beaten. Looking ahead as the technology evolves, NB-IoT devices will provide the right benefit at the right cost for your business applications.

The tracking ability of nb-iot devices is being utilized in many emerging use cases across dozens of vertical markets. NB-IoT’s characteristics, reliable connectivity, support for a high number of devices per cell, lower cost, LTE-based security, integration capability and low power consumption, will support a wide range of use cases and business benefits now and in the future. Because NB-IoT marks off so many factors for industrial, public and consumer use, it’s enabling real business use cases that derive value instead of enabling mere applications.

The potential industry applications of NB-IoT:

• Retail: Large numbers of devices like barcode scanners and geolocation beacons to improve customer experiences and to access real-time information on stock availability and track items in the supply chain.

• Transportation: From private to public transportation, from supply chain logistics to public transit sensors could provide valuable data insights, improving traffic analysis, navigation, and congestion

• Smart Buildings: Alarm and event detection systems can be powered by NB-IoT from gas leakage diagnostics to home intrusion detection, or offer intelligence for detected events such as a sudden increase in temperature or the presence of smoke that might lead to fire.

• Smart Cities: From smart parking sensors to reduce traffic to smart rubbish bins and street lamps, NB-IoT could be integrated into existing infrastructure at a low cost acting as the backbone of all connected things.

• Smart Metering: There is adoption in water and gas metering lower costs and improve service quality by remotely analyzing the sensors.

• Environment: Affordable, battery-powered environmental sensors can be used at non-powered locations to capture air conditions and provide data for more accurate forecasts and actions.

• Research: Research organizations use nb-iot devices to track packs of animals in the wild in order to research their living habits and migration patterns.

• Agriculture

Additionally, nb-iot devices can be used to track all of an individual’s personal posessions such as their pets, phone, tablet, car keys, and computer or the eldest and kids. Asset tracking, will have the largest share of overall LPWA connections in 2023, accounting for over 45% worldwide, ABI says.

NB-IoT will provide companies with valuable analytics, improve real time decision making, and increase productivity.

Delivering long-term application connectivity across a variety of business use cases, power consumption, cost, reliability and performance are critical. That’s why Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a highly feasible option for many companies, across many industries, to adopt IoT solutions.

For businesses, NB-IoT technology provides connectivity to a large set of assets that aren’t suitable for traditional cellular connectivity because of the restrictive cost or power requirements. NB-IoT has the potential to support companies enable application innovation, meet increasing needs for access to information, and help in drawing data insights and business outcomes. Especially small and medium-sized businesses need Narrowband-IoT as a basis to make the IOT suitable for the mass market. Only with NB-IoT do many manufacturing entrepreneurs have the chance to effectively network their products and equipment. This will assist them to create new customer relationships and business models. This is where NB-IoT is a reasonably priced technology for the Internet of Things.

Long runtimes, high scalability and a deep building penetration at low costs are critical to the success of any IoT project. NB-IoT overcomes many of these limitations as it is standards based and carrier grade, working in licensed dedicated spectrum bands, providing businesses a wide array of benefits such as:

1. Better security
2. Carrier grade reliability
3. Long life battery
4. Ubiquitous coverage
5. Long sistance abilities
6. Cost savings

No matter the size of your business, nb-iot devices and technology are certainly an option to consider. They are reliable and secure, with a quick connection that cannot be beaten. Looking ahead as the technology evolves, NB-IoT devices will provide the right benefit at the right cost for your business applications.

The tracking ability of nb-iot devices is being utilized in many emerging use cases across dozens of vertical markets. NB-IoT’s characteristics, reliable connectivity, support for a high number of devices per cell, lower cost, LTE-based security, integration capability and low power consumption, will support a wide range of use cases and business benefits now and in the future. Because NB-IoT marks off so many factors for industrial, public and consumer use, it’s enabling real business use cases that derive value instead of enabling mere applications.

The potential industry applications of NB-IoT:

• Retail: Large numbers of devices like barcode scanners and geolocation beacons to improve customer experiences and to access real-time information on stock availability and track items in the supply chain.

• Transportation: From private to public transportation, from supply chain logistics to public transit sensors could provide valuable data insights, improving traffic analysis, navigation, and congestion

• Smart Buildings: Alarm and event detection systems can be powered by NB-IoT from gas leakage diagnostics to home intrusion detection, or offer intelligence for detected events such as a sudden increase in temperature or the presence of smoke that might lead to fire.

• Smart Cities: From smart parking sensors to reduce traffic to smart rubbish bins and street lamps, NB-IoT could be integrated into existing infrastructure at a low cost acting as the backbone of all connected things.

• Smart Metering: There is adoption in water and gas metering lower costs and improve service quality by remotely analyzing the sensors.

• Environment: Affordable, battery-powered environmental sensors can be used at non-powered locations to capture air conditions and provide data for more accurate forecasts and actions.

• Research: Research organizations use nb-iot devices to track packs of animals in the wild in order to research their living habits and migration patterns.

• Agriculture

Additionally, nb-iot devices can be used to track all of an individual’s personal posessions such as their pets, phone, tablet, car keys, and computer or the eldest and kids. Asset tracking, will have the largest share of overall LPWA connections in 2023, accounting for over 45% worldwide, ABI says.

NB-IoT will provide companies with valuable analytics, improve real time decision making, and increase productivity.

These networks are designed mainly for IoT devices’ needs, which are not addressed adequately by either cellular networks, which offer high bandwidths at the expense of power consumption and protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which are not scalable.

NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology, that doesn’t operate in the licensed LTE framework. It either works independently, in unused 200-kHz GSM bands or on LTE base stations allocating a resource block to NB-IoT operations.

What are the advantages of NB-IoT?

NB-IoT technology with simpler waveform and a 200 kHz NB-IoT frontend and digitizer offers reduced conversion complexity, buffering, and channel estimation. This efficiency in turn, minimizes power consumption enabling a battery life of more than 10 years and cost savings.

Rolling out NB-IoT on a licensed spectrum means improved reliability for users. The underlying technology is less complex than traditional cellular modules, which simplifies design, development, and deployment for OEMs. What is more, it offers the same tried security and privacy features of LTE-M networks.

Compared to LTE-M1, NB-IoT has lower bitrates and better link budgets. New physical layer signals and channels are engineered to meet the demanding requirement of extended coverage, rural and deep indoors. NB-IoT penetrates deep underground and into enclosed spaces providing 20+dB coverage indoors.

While billions are invested into LTE networks, there are still many areas around the world with less LTE-M networks, even though network rollouts are going-on. There are larger GSM deployments, where unused bands can be utilised to leverage for NB-IoT. This increases the possibility of affordable NB-IoT deployments globally. Supported by all major mobile equipment, and module producers, NB-IoT can co-exist with 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks.

NB-IoT Use Cases

• Smart metering
• Facility management
• Security applications
• Healthcare
• Asset tracking
• Smart city infrastructures
• Connected industrial appliances such as welding machines or air compressors.

These networks are designed mainly for IoT devices’ needs, which are not addressed adequately by either cellular networks, which offer high bandwidths at the expense of power consumption and protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which are not scalable.

NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology, that doesn’t operate in the licensed LTE framework. It either works independently, in unused 200-kHz GSM bands or on LTE base stations allocating a resource block to NB-IoT operations.

What are the advantages of NB-IoT?

NB-IoT technology with simpler waveform and a 200 kHz NB-IoT frontend and digitizer offers reduced conversion complexity, buffering, and channel estimation. This efficiency in turn, minimizes power consumption enabling a battery life of more than 10 years and cost savings.

Rolling out NB-IoT on a licensed spectrum means improved reliability for users. The underlying technology is less complex than traditional cellular modules, which simplifies design, development, and deployment for OEMs. What is more, it offers the same tried security and privacy features of LTE-M networks.

Compared to LTE-M1, NB-IoT has lower bitrates and better link budgets. New physical layer signals and channels are engineered to meet the demanding requirement of extended coverage, rural and deep indoors. NB-IoT penetrates deep underground and into enclosed spaces providing 20+dB coverage indoors.

While billions are invested into LTE networks, there are still many areas around the world with less LTE-M networks, even though network rollouts are going-on. There are larger GSM deployments, where unused bands can be utilised to leverage for NB-IoT. This increases the possibility of affordable NB-IoT deployments globally. Supported by all major mobile equipment, and module producers, NB-IoT can co-exist with 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks.

NB-IoT Use Cases

• Smart metering
• Facility management
• Security applications
• Healthcare
• Asset tracking
• Smart city infrastructures
• Connected industrial appliances such as welding machines or air compressors.

The same cellular technology behind our smartphone is supporting the next era of innovation “Internet of Things” (IoT). Instead of needing to create a new network to host our IoT devices, cellular IOT dwell on the same mobile network as smartphones.

These technologies include 3G, 4G, 5G, and LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) cellular technologies such as NB-IoT and LTE-M. Cellular IoT offers global coverage, reliable connection of IoT devices, and low-cost hardware that is required for cellular IoT connections.

More and more devices are getting connected together and building internet of things (IoT) architecture across the world. FMI predicts that there will more than 30 billion connected devices by year 2024.

Cellular networks capable of facilitating massive flows of data are now widespread, so we don’t need to build any new physical infrastructure to support cellular IoT. Cellular networks provide the backbone, allowing us to access the internet and also serve a critical and growing role in many Internet of Things applications.

Although connectivity technologies continue to be improved, ultimately, there will always be a tradeoff between power consumption, range, and bandwidth. Cellular connectivity has historically been focused on range and bandwidth at the expense of power consumption.

It’s called a cellular network because the network operators split up areas into “cells”. The area of each of these cells depends on usage density. As users move between cells, their frequency is automatically changed to switch over to new cell towers. The terms 3G, 4G, 5G refer to 3rd, 4th and 5th generations respectively.

Each generation is a set of standards and technologies that are defined by ITU Radiocommunication Sector.

Starting with 1G systems, a new generation has been introduced about every decade. Each generation brought new frequency bands, higher data rates.

2G, 3G, and 4G, new cellular technologies like NB-IoT and LTE-M are aimed specifically at IoT applications. The next generation of cellular connectivity (5G) promises speeds of up to 100Gbps (compared to the 1Gbps of 4G). This massive bandwidth will be a critical enabler for many applications of the future and it can  also serve as a substitute for physical cable. Without spending resources on cable infrastructure building, 5G can be readily used. New applications which have previously been limited by the amount of data that needed to be sent, can now use the cloud.

5G also promises maximum low latency and high degree of reliability, making it an enabler for industrial IoT applications. The factories of the future may use 5G instead of wired Ethernet to become more dynamic and reconfigurable.

Although consumer Internet of Things (IoT) has been at the center of attention, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)’s role is paramaount in optimizing our cities, factories thorugh remote monitoring and remote controlling capabilities.

Some important distinctions between the consumer and industrial IoT ecosystems are:

IIoT devices are built to be industrial strength, to be able to survive environments that wouldn’t be encountered by consumers. Such conditions include extremes in environmental conditions such as power, temperature etc.
IIoT Systems must be designed for scalability. Because IIoT systems can generate billions of datapoints, consideration also has to be given to the transmission of data to a central data acquisition platform. In order not to overload these centralized systems with data, IIoT hardware are designed in a way that can handle preliminary analytics directly at the device-level.

IIoT devices have industrial communications and power requirements. IIoT sensors are often installed to measure parameters at remote infrastructure that is difficult to physically access, such as oil and gas facilities, pipelines, water reservoirs, transformer substations etc. To minimize the amount of field visits required, IIoT devices are designed to have the maximum possible battery life for example.

IIoT must meet higher cyber-security standards. Cyber-security is an important challenge in critical processes such as managing street lights.

The huge amount of data generated by machine-to-machine and machine-to-person communication necessitates data transfer in real time at minimal cost and cellular networks are fulfilling this particular need of the market.
Cellular IIoT is widely used among the following various industrial segments:

• IT and Telecommunications
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Energy and Utilities
• Transportation
• Scientific Research
• Financial Services
• Manufacturing

The same cellular technology behind our smartphone is supporting the next era of innovation “Internet of Things” (IoT). Instead of needing to create a new network to host our IoT devices, cellular IOT dwell on the same mobile network as smartphones.

These technologies include 3G, 4G, 5G, and LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) cellular technologies such as NB-IoT and LTE-M. Cellular IoT offers global coverage, reliable connection of IoT devices, and low-cost hardware that is required for cellular IoT connections.

More and more devices are getting connected together and building internet of things (IoT) architecture across the world. FMI predicts that there will more than 30 billion connected devices by year 2024.

Cellular networks capable of facilitating massive flows of data are now widespread, so we don’t need to build any new physical infrastructure to support cellular IoT. Cellular networks provide the backbone, allowing us to access the internet and also serve a critical and growing role in many Internet of Things applications.

Although connectivity technologies continue to be improved, ultimately, there will always be a tradeoff between power consumption, range, and bandwidth. Cellular connectivity has historically been focused on range and bandwidth at the expense of power consumption.

It’s called a cellular network because the network operators split up areas into “cells”. The area of each of these cells depends on usage density. As users move between cells, their frequency is automatically changed to switch over to new cell towers. The terms 3G, 4G, 5G refer to 3rd, 4th and 5th generations respectively.

Each generation is a set of standards and technologies that are defined by ITU Radiocommunication Sector.

Starting with 1G systems, a new generation has been introduced about every decade. Each generation brought new frequency bands, higher data rates.

2G, 3G, and 4G, new cellular technologies like NB-IoT and LTE-M are aimed specifically at IoT applications. The next generation of cellular connectivity (5G) promises speeds of up to 100Gbps (compared to the 1Gbps of 4G). This massive bandwidth will be a critical enabler for many applications of the future and it can  also serve as a substitute for physical cable. Without spending resources on cable infrastructure building, 5G can be readily used. New applications which have previously been limited by the amount of data that needed to be sent, can now use the cloud.

5G also promises maximum low latency and high degree of reliability, making it an enabler for industrial IoT applications. The factories of the future may use 5G instead of wired Ethernet to become more dynamic and reconfigurable.

Although consumer Internet of Things (IoT) has been at the center of attention, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)’s role is paramaount in optimizing our cities, factories thorugh remote monitoring and remote controlling capabilities.

Some important distinctions between the consumer and industrial IoT ecosystems are:

IIoT devices are built to be industrial strength, to be able to survive environments that wouldn’t be encountered by consumers. Such conditions include extremes in environmental conditions such as power, temperature etc.
IIoT Systems must be designed for scalability. Because IIoT systems can generate billions of datapoints, consideration also has to be given to the transmission of data to a central data acquisition platform. In order not to overload these centralized systems with data, IIoT hardware are designed in a way that can handle preliminary analytics directly at the device-level.

IIoT devices have industrial communications and power requirements. IIoT sensors are often installed to measure parameters at remote infrastructure that is difficult to physically access, such as oil and gas facilities, pipelines, water reservoirs, transformer substations etc. To minimize the amount of field visits required, IIoT devices are designed to have the maximum possible battery life for example.

IIoT must meet higher cyber-security standards. Cyber-security is an important challenge in critical processes such as managing street lights.

The huge amount of data generated by machine-to-machine and machine-to-person communication necessitates data transfer in real time at minimal cost and cellular networks are fulfilling this particular need of the market.
Cellular IIoT is widely used among the following various industrial segments:

• IT and Telecommunications
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Energy and Utilities
• Transportation
• Scientific Research
• Financial Services
• Manufacturing