NB-IoT: A shot in the arm for cellular IoT
As IoT devices become more commonplace, the penetration of short-range communications technologies, such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, and Z-wave, continues to rise in the CIoT market. Products released by innovators like Sigfox and LoRa have kicked off the global deployment of IoT networks, which have quickly become established in a number of markets. With IoT becoming a new driver of growth, how can traditional operators respond to the challenges of competition and opportunities offered by this blue ocean market?
NB-IoT: CIoT’s cutting edge
High-speed CIoT applications include video surveillance and vehicle-mounted multimedia. They require high speed, high capacity, and relatively high levels of power. With ubiquitous coverage, high-speed connectivity, security and reliability, today's 4G networks are more than capable of supporting such applications and are thus the best choice.
Low speed or LPWA applications include smart meters, smart parking, and asset tracking. These applications require broader networks of sensors and information collection, but require ultra-low pricing alongside very high network performance.
Low-power NB-IoT saves gas company "T" millions
Over a two year replacement program, gas Company T in country J planned to replace its legacy gas meters, which had already been in use for two decades. Requiring a specific type of 2400 mAh battery, the lowest price for new smart meters was a few US dollars, which was too expensive. So, Company T sought to reduce the number of batteries per meter.
Due to the high-power cellular technology, each meter needed a minimum of three batteries for a 10-year lifecycle. However, a low-power CIoT network would only require two batteries per meter, thus saving millions of dollars. Delivering a low-power network would also give the telco supplying it a competitive edge against other low-cost technologies on the market, something that would be difficult to achieve with current 2G, 3G or 4G networks.
Enter Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and its excellent low-power functions: Power Saving Mode (PSM) and Extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX). PSM is a new type of deep sleep state for IoT terminals. Terminals in PSM have a current intensity of only 0.005 mA, compared to 1 mA in traditional idle mode. Some IoT applications, such as water meters, which only need to report data once a day can enter PSM state between reporting intervals and consume ultra-lower power.
eDRX mode meets the requirement of applications that need to support downstream control messaging and uphold certain latency requirements – gas meters, for example, must provide remote shut-off with two minute-latency. In DRX mode, terminals cycle through idle and paging reception states, allowing for a fast response but at the cost of high power use. eDRX mode enables terminals to enter PSM state after several cycles. A timer triggers re-entry into paging reception state to achieve a balance between response latency and power consumption.
With these technologies and the low power consumption enabled by NB-IoT chipsets, gas company T was able to power a smart meter for a 10-year lifecycle with just two batteries, giving the telco a powerful competitive edge.
NB-IoT deep dives for Company S
Due to high labor costs, water Company S in country A wanted to introduce smart meters to slash OPEX from manual meter reading. In Country A, meters were deployed in two main types of scenarios – houses and apartments. Company S was therefore looking for a technology that could support deep coverage because, in apartment blocks, water meters could be deployed up to two stories underground in basements or pipe shafts.
The telco needed a CIoT technology that supports deep coverage to prevent rivals from providing company S with IoT services. NB-IoT provides excellent deep coverage. As the NB-IoT solution is based on narrowband technology, NB-IoT's Power Spectral Density (PSD) is 10+ dB higher than 2G, 3G or 4G at equivalent transmission powers. NB-IoT also features LTE 4R, UL CoMP technologies, and supports higher repetition, giving it 20 dB more coverage than 2G, 3G or 4G. NB-IoT provides better deep coverage than other competing technologies, and doesn’t have the complexity of a short-range two-hop network.
Implementing the NB-IoT solution only required an upgrade to the operator's legacy network, and deployment was fast. This met the requirements of Company S for rapid commercial application, and provided a powerful competitive advantage for the operator.
Competition in the LPWA IoT market continues to intensify, and operator CIoT networks must be technologically leading-edge to meet the demanding technical requirements of different applications. Offering deep coverage, low-power consumption, low cost, and large numbers of devices, NB-IoT meets requirements for LPWA applications and can give operators a competitive shot in the arm in the CIoT market.
NB-IoT: Helping operators transform CIoT
With NB-IoT entering more verticals, operators will need to transform and change their CIoT operating models. For one thing, service diversification means that IoT operations have become more complex. As the number of NB-IoT application types increases, operators have seen a significant cost hike as a result of aligning IoT network protocols between verticals and the differences between their service systems.
To sail on IoT's untapped blue ocean market, mobile operators will need to transform beyond pipeline services and tap into higher-value terminals and cloud operations. The NB-IoT E2E solution provides an IoT platform that increases operators' operating capabilities. The platform provides a unified IoT operations architecture that adapts to network protocols in different IoT service systems, and integrates the functions of infrastructure layers, including SIM management, device management, asset management, and security authorization.
Integrating the operations of different verticals into a unified platform reduces customization and maintenance costs for customers, with the core service modules of different verticals still independently deployed for service differentiation. Operators can then move from being a pipeline to being a support service provider.
The IoT platform's virtualization and openness enhances operators' IoT capabilities, enabling service providers to build support capabilities targeted at verticals, including service metrics, process definitions, and other public sub-services. Vertical industries can also leverage the platform's cloud-based services and open interfaces to dynamically call for or share data resources, enabling cross-industry service integration and operations, thus creating new business value.
Operators can also easily and quickly develop and bring online thousands of services that multiple operators can quickly replicate and which verticals can swiftly deliver without needing to invest in network or application infrastructure.
Facing competition from LoRa and short-range technology solution providers, which use internetized operating models, traditional mobile operators need to improve their operations support systems and models. The NB-IoT E2E solution and its IoT platform can help operators transform their CIoT to help operators overcome these challenges and tap into the available opportunities.
Working together on NB-IoT
The commercial deployment of NB-IoT will be a step-by-step process for operators. They’ll need to think about upgrading their cellular networks to provide ubiquitous NB-IoT services, and move deeper into vertical industry applications, integrate and improve existing services, and discover new potential CIoT applications.
As a leading ICT solutions provider, Huawei is the industry's most complete and advanced provider of NB-IoT solutions. When it comes to CIoT construction, tapping into vertical industry markets, and IoT operations, Huawei is the best partner for operators. With its understanding of operator CIoT strategy, strong E2E product and solutions capabilities, and global business and terminal resources, Huawei knows it can give the shot in the arm operators need for successful NB-IoT network construction and development.
