NB-IoT

A diverse range of wireless technologies to support different requirements like coverage or network architecture has transformed the wireless industry into a very competitive segment. This wireless technology is a major facilitator for the Internet of Things (#IoT). There have been many solutions for short and middle-range IoT communication. However, there was a dearth of a long-range solution that could be adopted by the industry at large. NB-IoT has become the solution that has plugged this absence.?

What is NB-IoT?

NB-IoT is an acronym for Narrowband Internet of Things, evidently formed from the amalgamation of ‘narrowband’ and ‘Internet of Things.’ So, to understand NB-IoT, we first need to be familiar with these two terms.?

The meaning of narrowband will be easy to comprehend in the context of broadband. You must be accustomed to the term ‘broadband’ which is more interchangeably used to mean faster downloads of content for your smartphone, computer, Internet-enabled TV, or content-streaming device. In everyday life, it translates to high-speed internet access for movie streaming and many more data-heavy services. Technically, broadband uses a wide bandwidth for data communication over multiple channels. Narrowband is somewhat the opposite. It uses a narrower bandwidth and hence, consumes less spectrum. This increases bandwidth efficiency, power efficiency, and range of communication.

The Internet of Things embodies a network of things. These things can be anything –?mechanical machines, digital machines, computing devices, physical objects, animals, people, etc. These are connected to each other over the Internet or a network for exchange of data and information. Smart devices are a traditional example.?

After being fully equipped, now, let’s finally move on to NB-IoT.

NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) is a new narrowband radio technology developed dedicatedly for the Internet of Things (IoT). It is a massive Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology which means that it is targeted at enabling small-bit-rate communications among connected objects over long distances at low cost and better power consumption. Hence, it is perfectly suitable for IoT applications that only need to transmit tiny amounts of information over a long range.?

But, why was it developed, and by whom?

IoT covers a wide range of use cases that could only be partially covered by other previous 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) technologies. One such use case, in 5G terminology, is the massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) use case which includes improved indoor coverage, support of a massive number of low throughput devices, low delay sensitivity, ultra-low device cost, low device power consumption, and optimized network architecture. So, to provide a solution to cover the massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) use case, 3GPP, a conglomerate of seven “organizational partners” – ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, and TTC – functioning for the demarcation of telecommunication standards by releasing technical reports and specifications, carried out development efforts to standardize NB-IoT. The efforts culminated in 2016 with 3GPP’s Release 13. With this, NB-IoT became the first 3GPP technology specifically developed for IoT. Further enhancements in NB-IoT were introduced through subsequent releases (which will be discussed later in our series).

Signing off for now. Stick around for the next article in this series next week.