The world’s two major Internet of Things wireless technologies, NB-IoT LoRa, are developing rapidly in China, and there are many disputes about these two technologies.
What are the characteristics and applications of NB-IoT Lora?
NB-IoT
NB-IoT is called narrowband Internet of Things or narrowband IoT, NB-IoT belongs to technology in the category of Internet of Things. It is led by Huawei and has become a 3GPP standard LPWA technology. Based on the technology of the existing cellular network, NB-IoT can quickly support the industry market demand by upgrading the existing network, becoming the fourth mode on the GUL network.
At the same time, NB-IoT also has the four major capabilities of wide coverage (can cover underground), long battery life (more than ten years), low cost (less than $5 per module), and large capacity (a single cell can support 100,000 connections).
NB-IoT has four major characteristics
The first is wide coverage
it will provide improved indoor coverage. In the same frequency band, NB-IoT has a gain of 20dB over the existing network, which is equivalent to an increase in the capacity of the coverage area by 100 times;
The second is the ability to support massive connections
NB-IoT can support 100,000 connections in one sector, supporting low latency sensitivity, ultra-low equipment costs, low equipment power consumption, and optimized network architecture;
The third is lower power consumption
The standby time of the NB-IoT terminal module can be as long as 10 years;
The fourth is lower module cost
The company expects a single connected module to be no more than $5.
NB-IoT focuses on the Low Power Consumption Wide Coverage (LPWA) Internet of Things (IoT) market and is an emerging technology that can be widely used worldwide.
It has the characteristics of wide coverage, multiple connections, low speed, low cost, low power consumption, and excellent architecture. NB-IoT uses the license frequency band and can adopt three deployment methods, in-band, guard band, or an independent carrier, to coexist with existing networks.
NB-IoT applications
NB-IoT is most commonly used in three typical application scenarios: smart water meters, smart parking, and pet smart tracking. In the later planning of NB-IOT, smart bicycles, smart smoke detectors, smart trash cans, smart roads, smart vending machines, and other aspects.
First, interoperability and consistency issues
In 2015, the main members of NB-IoT, including Vodafone, Ericsson, Telefonica, and GSMA, carried out simple interoperability and conformance certification tests for NB-IoT devices. Vodafone has also established a dedicated NB-IoT laboratory in Newbury, UK, and will continue to open further laboratory research in Dusseldorf, Germany in the second half of 2016.
Second, deployment and long-term support
The biggest problem with NB-IoT deployment is time and cost. 85% of enterprise base stations can support NB-IoT and only need to upgrade the software, but network operators with outdated base stations, need to upgrade their hardware.
This will increase the cost and time consumption of NB-IoT network construction. Another problem is global M2M roaming. In theory, operators need to support three standards: CAT-M, EC-GSM, NB-IoT, and GPRS.
Third, applications and business models
In order to establish NB-IoT applications and business models, the mobile communications industry needs to establish a partner ecosystem as soon as possible.
For example, Deutsche Telekom has established NB-IoT prototype hubs in Berlin and Krakow, Poland. These hubs have been included in the incubator to provide developers with a fast learning environment, stimulate new business model thinking, and shorten the time for product marketization.
Fourth, competition with LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Internet of Things) technology
Lora and Sigfox have proven to be important development technologies. Among them, Sigfox has been put into use in 24 countries, and LoRa continues to be used in the construction of some countries, private networks, and community networks. Since NB-IoT will not be deployed on a large scale in the near future, other technology competitors still have the opportunity to determine their market positioning.
At present, the market penetration of NB-IoT varies among countries. In many countries, potential operators may face strong competition from non-mobile LPWAN networks. For example, in the Netherlands, KPN has established a national LoRa network. In this case, it may not adopt NB-IoT.
Fifth, determine the correct market entry strategy
The application of LPWAN has the characteristic of sending small data payloads in irregular intervals. Potential users may need more low-value services. In this case, NB-IoT operators need to develop corresponding strategies to respond to such market demands.
The main strategies include establishing a balance between market and brand; expanding market share, not limited to traditional M2M business; avoiding cost-price wars in the low-end market, focusing on applications that can control price premiums; exploring new business models to create value and strengthen Vertical industry cooperation.
Sixth, the design of the pricing plan is mainly the Internet of Things data plan
Currently, operators are still trying. For example, Korea Telecom recently launched a nationwide LoRa network and launched six data plans, each of which corresponds to data applications using different frequency bands.
Its pricing model is that the price of LoRa’s data plan is only one-tenth of that of LTE-based IoT services. In countries with LoRa or Sigfox services, the tariffs of NB-IoT have to maintain a reasonable competitive range.
In the UK, as there is no national LPWAN network, NB-IoT operators will have more room for maneuvering when designing a pricing structure.
In addition, low-speed data transmission, privacy and security, IT system conversion time, and other issues will limit its development.
Lora
Lora is a kind of LPWAN communication technology, it is a kind of ultra-long-distance wireless transmission scheme based on spread spectrum technology adopted and promoted by the American Semtech company. This solution changes the previous trade-off between transmission distance and power consumption and provides users with a simple system that can achieve long-distance, long battery life, and large capacity, and expand the sensor network.
At present, LoRa mainly operates in free frequency bands around the world, including 433MHz, 868MHz, 915MHz, etc. LoRa technology has the characteristics of long-distance, low power consumption (long battery life), multiple nodes, and low cost.
Lora network
The LoRa network is mainly composed of four parts, Lora terminal (with built-in LoRa module), Lora gateway (or base station), server, and cloud. Application data can be transmitted in both directions.
On-demand deployment
Lora can plan and deploy networks according to application needs, place base stations/gateways according to the site environment, and make it easier to achieve seamless coverage. Improving coverage quality can also reduce power consumption and increase system capacity. Individuals, enterprises, or institutions can deploy And can meet the security requirements, the data can also be private.
Lightweight
Compared with other LPWAN technology protocols, LoRa has lower system complexity, simple hardware implementation, and lower resource requirements. The lightweight LoRaWAN protocol has simple software implementation and simple deployment and implementation.
Low-cost
The LoRaWAN module is mass-produced, and the price is already below USD$5 and is gradually approaching the price of 2G modules. The outdoor base station has been as low as USD$500, and the indoor type is USD100. From the perspective of foreign operators, the monthly rent of LoRa can reach 1/5 of the monthly rent of eMTC. ~1/10 or even lower.
LoRa technology is very suitable for IoT applications that require low power consumption, long distances, a large number of connections, and location tracking, such as smart meter reading, smart parking, vehicle tracking, pet tracking, smart agriculture, smart industry, smart cities, smart communities, etc. And other applications and fields.
City-level network coverage
Lora does not have the expenses of operators, and it is inherently weak in network deployment.
Spectrum resources
Lora uses free frequency bands, which may have interference problems. Although LoRa itself has strong anti-interference ability, the LoRaWAN protocol itself also has measures to avoid interference. However, physical interference is difficult to avoid completely.
Responses
Defragmentation, construction of a unified wide-area network, network co-construction, and resource sharing. At the same time, it needs to be lighter and lower cost. The cost of the LoRaWAN module needs to be in line with the cost of the 2G module, or even closer to the WiFi module.
The above is an introduction to the application characteristics of NB-IoT LoRa, and the characteristics and applications of NB-IoT and LoRa. These two technologies have their own characteristics and advantages and can meet different demands and markets.
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