The old tin cans and wires have been replaced by communication protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular, which provide us with seamless connectivity from home to workplace to anywhere!
Today, IoT developers have countless options when deciding which network connectivity option is best for them. When you add up all the pros and cons, many are surprised to find that cellular is the logical path forward (if not the primary connection, then as a backup).
This mature and ubiquitous way of connecting IoT devices is praised for its reliability and coverage, but criticized for its traditionally sluggish pricing and relatively low data throughput. In this blog series, we'll demystify the cellular level and critically examine four key wireless-related topics in the Internet of Things:
What is cellular IoT? (Today)
The advantages of mobile IoT (coming soon!)
Common use cases for cellular IoT (coming soon!)
Cellular IoT network and infrastructure redundancy (coming soon!)
What is cellular IoT?
Cellular IoT technology allows physical devices (such as sensors, actuators, and their main microcontrollers or single-board computers) to connect to private networks or the public internet to transmit data.
By utilizing the same infrastructure as mobile phones, cellular IoT leverages the widespread availability of existing cellular networks without the power requirements of traditional cellular applications. With 5G on the horizon, cellular IoT makes good use of the higher bandwidth solutions typically allocated to Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet.
In particular, when we consider the relationship between cellular and the Internet of Things, we no longer only consider human-to-device cellular connectivity, but rather open up device-to-device connectivity (or device <–> human <–> device and all other iterations in between!).
The opportunities presented by the Internet of Things (IoT) will be limitless. Connected IoT solutions can be anything from automatically controlled streetlights to remotely monitored garages, to agricultural applications that optimize irrigation and fertilizer use, or machine learning solutions that predict anomalies in remote settings.
The key roles of LTE-M and NB-IoT
Let’s take a closer look at the two key technologies that underpin the cellular Internet of Things: LTE-M and NB-IoT.
While 2G/3G protocols are sufficient for many IoT applications, modern IoT typically relies on LTE-M or NB-IoT. The rapid adoption of these wireless standards is preparing us for a new dawn of IoT connectivity.
These standards were designed from the outset with low power consumption, embedded security, and reliability in mind. Combining these technological advantages with the existing ubiquitous cellular networks provides the world with unparalleled options for long-range IoT connectivity.
What is LTE-M?
As you might guess, LTE-M is closely related to the popular LTE (Long Term Evolution) wireless standard. Countries supporting LTE include a large list, primarily comprised of regions in the Americas and Europe.
LTE-M effectively represents "Long-Term Evolution of the Machine" and allows IoT devices to run on existing LTE networks. Designed with power efficiency in mind, it's suitable for applications requiring low to medium data throughput. With a bandwidth of 1.4MHz (compared to LTE's 20MHz), LTE-M offers significant range but lower throughput (approximately 375KB downlink and 300KB uplink). LTE-M also provides cell tower handover capabilities, making it an excellent mobile solution (even across multiple regions).
Asset tracking, wearable devices, home security, and home/enterprise monitoring are all excellent examples of LTE-M use cases in the Internet of Things (IoT).
What is Narrowband Internet of Things (NIoT)?
Given that the Internet of Things (IoT) is actually part of its name, NB-IoT is designed specifically for IoT. NB-IoT stands for "Narrowband IoT," making it ideal for areas without strong LTE coverage or where bandwidth requirements are relatively low. Also, as the name suggests, NB-IoT uses only a narrow band of the full available bandwidth.
NB-IoT devices are available globally under the GSM brand (e.g., in much of Europe, Africa, and Asia), consuming significantly less power and providing less data (approximately 60KB downlink and 30KB uplink) compared to LTE-M. Operating at 200kHz, NB-IoT offers longer range and better indoor penetration compared to LTE-M's 1.4MHz bandwidth.
Certain use cases, such as smart cities (e.g., parking meters, utility monitoring), parking lots, indoor deployments, and agricultural environments, are good examples of suitable NB-IoT implementations.
Where is 5G suitable?
We've all been caught up in the hype surrounding 5G. Some of it is guaranteed, but frankly, the rest is just a lot of marketing blitzes to get us to buy new phones.
Like other "xG" standards we've become accustomed to (2G/3G/4G), 5G is another stepping stone to faster, stronger network connectivity. With the accelerated deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT) in both scope and scale, one can imagine industrial applications comprised of thousands of devices pushing gigabytes of data daily. 5G may well be our destination then.
How about today? Are you likely to use a Raspberry Pi Zero to stream 4K video? Probably not, but the opportunities with 5G are interesting as we look towards the untapped future of the Internet of Things.
Summarize
Cellular IoT technologies such as LTE-M and NB-IoT offer significant advantages for remote IoT deployments. They are increasingly becoming the ideal choice for various applications, especially those in mobile or other unpredictable locations, where cellular technology is a mature, reliable, and logical option.
