Narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), a recent cellular radio access technology based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) introduced by Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN). The main motive of NB-IoT is to support massive machine-type communication (mMTC) and enable low-power, low-cost, and low-data-rate communication.
Narrowband-IoT Standard and Releases
Early in 2014, the LPWAN market rapidly developed due to the emergence of IoT. Realizing the need and potential for new communication ways, there started a feasibility study on cellular system support for ultra-low complexity and low throughput IoT solution referred to as cellular IoT. In the hot summer of 2014, there was a proposal for Narrowband Machine to Machine (NB-M2M) as a study item to cope with the IoT market needs and later in the same year, it was also proposed for the narrowband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NB-OFDM). In May 2015, 3GPP merged the two proposals (i.e., NB-M2M and NB-OFDM) and formed Narrowband Cellular IoT (NB-CIoT). Eight months later, there was another proposal for Narrowband Long-Term Evolution NB-LTE. At the end of 2015, 3GPP included all proposals as a work item for Release 13. NB-CIoT and NB-LTE had a key difference which was the number of the reused legacy LTE network resources to support interoperability. In the mid of 2016 NB-IoT was recognized as a new clean slate RAT. Only a few more improvement changes were allowed and implemented thereafter.
NB-IoT Release 13
3GPP introduced the techniques mentioned below in NB-IoT Release 13 to enable cellular massive IoT deployment for diverse use cases with low power, low complexity, and low cost.
NB-IoT Release 14 Enhancements
After the implementation of Release 13 features, studies erupted along with field trials that revealed the need for further enhancements to improve the quality of service as well as user experience. In this regard, 3GPP introduced a new enhancement features to NB-IoT — Release 14.
NB-IoT Release 15 Enhancements
Of all the enhancements that were introduced in Releases 13 and 14, further improvements were added in Release 15 to satisfy the fast adoption of massive deployment which as follows.
NB-IoT Release 16 Enhancement Prospects
3GPP and many players in the telecom industry are involved in ongoing discussions for Release 16 enhancements. The agenda includes the following objectives with their corresponding solutions.
Simnovus Offerings
Simnovus test solution ensures complete validation of NB-IoT network development and deployment by offering following key features: –
- Attach rate configuration
- NB1, NB2 and CAT-M support
- Coverage Enhancement
- CP control panel
- Sub Carrier Spacing
- Single Tone & Multi Tone
- Control Plane optimization
- Power Saving Mode
- DRX
- Non-IP data
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Simnovus is one of the most promising T&M companies providing Software Defined Radio (SDR) based test tools to validate 4G and 5G base stations and devices using the UE Simulator and the NE Emulator respectively.
