Among the billions of devices predicted to make up the Internet of Things (IoT), many demand range and mobility that suggest a low-data-rate GSM connection is the ideal M2M data channel, writes Joerg Koepp, market segment manager at Rohde & Schwarz.

2G offers adequate performance and great coverage and reliability, but some operators are keen to turn these off to concentrate resources on their higher-value 3G and 4G subscribers. A press release issued last spring by Ovum analyst Nicole McCormick added an extra dose of uncertainty by suggesting that some might axe their 3G networks first, without suggesting any reprieve for 2G.

Fortunately, GSM standards makers have considered the needs of IoT applications and made provision for machine-type communications (MTC) within the latest LTE Releases, 12 and 13, which are now being finalised. These standards have not been easy to establish, and neither are they extensive, because the types of applications likely to communicate over cellular networks are extremely diverse and have a wide variety of requirements.

Power and cost concerns

To provide broad support, the specifications now emerging are focused on a small number of optimisations. The latest Release 12 document, for example, establishes a Power-Saving Mode (PSM) and a new class of simple, low-cost LTE devices known as Category 0. PSM is especially important for battery-operated devices. Device category 0 addresses the requirement for low cost by having only 50% of the complexity of a category 1 modem.

In PSM the front-end circuitry is turned off, but the device remains registered in the network and so is always ready to send messages. This saves power in applications that must send data periodically, but is not suitable if a fast response or time-critical reaction is required. End-to-end tests are essential for matching the application behaviour to the network behaviour, such as to determine the optimal timer values for idle mode and power-saving mode.

The Category 0 specification supports data rates up to 1Mbps, which allows low-cost LTE modems by minimising processing-power and memory requirements. Manufacturers can also eliminate full duplex mode and multiple antennas, hence saving the requirement for the duplex filters that are otherwise needed to prevent interference between the transmitter and receiver. Some Category 0 devices are already being developed and will probably be introduced in 2016.

More and better

Release 13 is where the march towards LTE for M2M really hits its stride and assumes the title LTE-M. Significant changes including lower uplink/downlink data rates, lower bandwidth and reduced transmit power will all contribute to lowering cost. Further reductions in power consumption are also planned. LTE-M will thus offer a solution for applications with response-time requirements that prevent the use of PSM as provisioned in Release 12.

LTE-M will introduce other techniques to increase range, such as multiple repetitions of data or less stringent time and error requirements. These will be useful for devices that are dispersed over a large geographical area – sensors in agricultural applications, as just one example – or smart meters installed under extreme receive conditions such as in a basement.

Low-Power WAN (LP-WAN) technologies have been presented as alternatives to GSM, as industries seek a future-proof network free of the threats of closure that surround 2G and 3G. Sigfox and LoRa are among the most widely known, while others include Weightless-N and RPMA.

At this point it is worth noting that the GSM Association (GSMA) has launched its own LP-WAN initiative. Infrastructure, modem and chipset manufacturers are currently working on this with mobile service providers. Field trials are under way, and the committee has already put forward a narrowband IoT standard, NB-IoT. NB-IoT aims to ensure extremely low power consumption and costs, while maximising reception in buildings and supporting large numbers of devices with very little data traffic.

Clearly the GSMA has identified tremendous value in the opportunities the IoT can offer for its members, and is working hard to ensure the data from as many of the IoT’s billions of nodes as possible will be carried over GSM networks. We can expect the results of the current initiatives to have a powerful influence on the new 5G standards as these emerge.

June 14, 2016

Posted by: George Malim

At Mobile World Congress 2016, in Hall 8.1, the last hall in the endless Catalan event, immediately close to the IoT Pavilion, there was a section dedicated to graphene, strongly supported by the EU Graphene Flagship. The Graphene Flagship (http://graphene-flagship.eu/) is the second largest Future and Emerging Technology Flagship programme by the European Commission aiming to bring together academia and nanotechnology industry and moving graphene from laboratories into real applications. The programme was launched in 2013 with an investment of €1bn. This substantial investment is illustrative of the importance of graphene and nanotechnology. As for the IoT vision, the graphene embraces a transformational vision that impacts all areas of society, write Dr Therese Cory, senior analyst and Saverio Romeo, prinicipal analyst at Beecham Research. (more…)

June 8, 2016

Posted by: George Malim

The Internet of Things (IoT) has continued to snowball over the past couple of years, and it’s the buzzword that continues to dominate the tech world. It was alarming just how big a focus it was at Mobile World Congress this year, writes Robin Kent, the director of European operations at Adax. (more…)

April 21, 2016

Posted by: George Malim

The Internet of Things will lead to a torrent of mobile network traffic, writes Scott Sumner, the vice president of solutions marketing at Accedian. Most carriers welcome the IoT as good news as they look to get ROI on their network investments while fuelling a transition to 5G. Carriers sorely need both in order to survive in an age of declining margins, fierce competition for subscribers, and the challenge from new communications and content providers. (more…)

April 6, 2016

Posted by: George Malim

The Internet of Things is without question the buzzword in ICT. The 2016 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain took this to a new level, writes Brian Partridge, the research vice president at 451 Research. The high level prioritisation that IoT holds among major ICT suppliers would have the uninitiated believing that IoT is accelerating everywhere. Of course it’s not, as anyone with P&L responsibilities attached to IoT growth in 2015 would attest. (more…)

March 2, 2016

Posted by: George Malim

Since we started talking about Software Defined things , we have moved, along with the rest of the IT industry, from using the narrow term SDN to the broader SDx.  This has allowed us to use one acronym to encompass software-defined networking, data centres, storage, server and any yet to be developed technologies that are all software-defined. What we didn’t anticipate was  the Software Defined City, writes Chris Gabriel, the UK CTO of Logicalis.
(more…)

December 4, 2015

Posted by: George Malim

Ericsson and Orange have announced a trial of optimised, low-cost, low-complexity devices and enhanced network capabilities for Cellular IoT over GSM and LTE. (more…)

November 27, 2015

Posted by: George Malim

Last week saw one of the year’s most far-reaching developments in M2M connectivity, as 3GPP’s plenary meeting in Phoenix, Arizona reached a decision on the standardisation of a new NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) technology, reports Aapo Markkanen, a principal analyst at Machina Research. (more…)

October 1, 2015

Posted by: IoT global network

Orange is to invest in a new Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) network to support IoT in addition to its cellular network in metropolitan France. LPWA is a narrow-band technology that guarantees connectivity at a reduced energy consumption rate and at a lower cost. (more…)

September 18, 2015

Posted by: George Malim

April 29, 2014

Posted by: IoT global network