Narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) is a

low-power wide-area network A low-power wide-area network (LPWAN or LPWA network) is a type of wireless telecommunication wide area network designed to allow long-range communications at a low bit rate among things (connected objects), such as sensors operated on a batter ...

(LPWAN)

radio technology Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

standard developed by 3GPP for cellular devices and services. The specification was frozen in 3GPP Release 13 (

LTE Advanced Pro LTE Advanced (LTE+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standa ...

), in June 2016. Other 3GPP

IoT The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...

technologies include

eMTC LTE-M or LTE-MTC ("Long-Term Evolution Machine Type Communication"), is a type of low-power wide-area network radio communication technology standard developed by 3GPP for machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. LTE-M incl ...

(enhanced Machine-Type Communication) and EC-GSM-IoT. NB-IoT focuses specifically on indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and high connection density. NB-IoT uses a subset of the LTE standard, but limits the bandwidth to a single narrow-band of 200kHz. It uses

OFDM In telecommunications, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a type of digital transmission and a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies. OFDM has developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital commu ...

modulation for downlink communication and

SC-FDMA Single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) is a frequency-division multiple access scheme. It is also called linearly precoded OFDMA (LP-OFDMA). Like other multiple access schemes (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA), it deals with the assignment of multiple users to a ...

for uplink communications. IoT applications which require more frequent communications will be better served by NB-IoT, which has no duty cycle limitations operating on the licensed spectrum. In March 2019, the

Global Mobile Suppliers Association The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) is a not-for-profit industry organisation representing companies in the mobile communication industry. GSA actively promotes 3GPP technology such as 3G; 4G; 5G. GSA is a market representation partn ...

(GSA) announced that over 100 operators had either NB-IoT or LTE-M networks. This number had risen to 142 deployed/launched networks by September 2019.

3GPP LPWAN standards

Deployments

As of March 2019 GSA identified: * 149 operators in 69 countries investing in one or both of the NB-IoT and LTE-M network technologies * 104 of those operators in 53 countries had deployed/launched at least one of the NB-IoT or LTE-M technologies of those, 20 operators in 19 countries had deployed/launched both NB-IoT and LTE-MGSA: NB-IoT and LTE-M: Global Ecosystem and Market Status, April 2019
(retrieved 24 April 2019) * 22 countries are now home to deployed/launched NB-IoT and LTE-M networks * 29 countries are home to deployed/launched NB-IoT networks only * Two countries are home to deployed/launched LTE-M networks only * 141 operators in 69 countries investing in NB-IoT networks; 90 of those operators in 51 countries had deployed/launched their networks * 60 operators in 35 countries investing in LTE-M networks; 34 of those operators in 24 countries had deployed/launched their networks

Devices and modules

The 3GPP-compliant

LPWA A low-power wide-area network (LPWAN or LPWA network) is a type of wireless telecommunication wide area network designed to allow long-range communications at a low bit rate among things (connected objects), such as sensors operated on a battery ...

device ecosystem continues to grow. In April 2019, GSA identified 210 devices supporting either Cat-NB1/NB-2 or Cat-M1 – more than double the number in its GAMBoD database at the end of March 2018. This figure had risen a further 50% by September 2019, with a total of 303 devices identified as supporting either Cat-M1, Cat-NB1 (NB-IoT) or Cat-NB2. Of these, 230 devices support Cat-NB1 (including known variants) and 198 devices support Cat-M1 (including known variants). The split of devices (as of September 2019) was 60.4% modules, 25.4% asset trackers, and 5.6% routers, with data loggers, femtocells, smart-home devices, and smart watches, USB modems, and vehicle on-board units (OBUs), making up the balance. In 2018 first NB-IoT data loggers are other certified devices started to appear. For example ThingsLog released their first CE certified single channel NB-IoT data logger on Tindie in late 2018. To integrate NB-IoT into a maker board for IoT developments, SODAQ, a Dutch IoT hardware and software engineering company, crowdfunded an NB-IoT shield on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

. They then went on to partner with module manufacturer

u-blox u-blox is a Swiss company that creates wireless semiconductors and modules for consumer, automotive and industrial markets. They operate as a fabless IC and design house. They acquired a dozen companies after their IPO in 2007, after acquiring co ...

to create maker boards with NB-IoT and LTE-M integrated.

References

External links

3GPP NB-IOT

RP-151621
{{Mobile phones Internet of things LTE (telecommunication) Mobile technology

3GPP LPWAN standards

Deployments

Devices and modules

See also

References

External links