What is NB-IoT?
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NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) is a new cellular technology specifically designed for the Internet of Things. It is sufficient for the low bandwidth requirements of many IoT use cases in industrial and consumer domains.
Its unique advantages are:
- low cost,
- low energy consumption, and
- deep indoor penetration.
Running on existing telecommunication networks it provides reliability and best coverage. Based on global 3GPP standard, and operated within the licensed spectrum, NB-IoT addresses our customers’ needs for
- international operations,
- stability,
- reliability,
- economies of scale, and
- scalability.
Hence, NB-IoT is an important step towards the “Internet of Things”.
NB-IoT follows the requirements set in the 3GPP standard. The requirements set forth in the standard include:
- Long battery life (according to 3GPP estimates up to 10 years with the equivalent of two AA batteries assuming infrequent data transfers)
- Reuse of RAN assets (target is to upgrade elements of base station primaritly via SW update)
- Deep indoor penetration (+20dB compared to GSM)
- Low radio module unit costs (<5$ as industry goal)
- High security (LTE-based)
- Low data rates (600 bit/s up to 250 kbit/s
- Licensed spectrum
- Several power saving features