3GPP最新NB-IoT标准

Javier Gozalvez

New 3GPP Standard for IoT

Internet of Things

major milestone was achieved in

the Third-Generation Partner-

ship Project’s (3GPP’s) Radio Access

Network Plenary Meeting 69 with the

decision to standardize the narrow-

band (NB) Internet of Things (IoT), a

new NB radio technology to address

the requirements of the IoT. The new

technology will provide improved in-

door coverage, support of a massive

number of low-throughput devices,

low delay sensitivity, ultralow device

cost, low device power consump-

tion, and optimized network archi-

tecture. The technology can be

deployed in-band, utilizing resource

blocks within a normal long-term

evolution (L TE) carrier, or in the un-

used resource blocks within an L TE

carrier’s guard-band, or stand alone

for deployments in dedicated spec-

trum. The NB-IoT is also particularly

suitable for the refarming of Global

System for Mobile Communications

(GSM) channels.

Ericsson, AT&T, and Altair dem-

onstrated over ten years of battery

life using LTE power-saving mode

(PSM) on a commercial LTE IoT chip

set platform. The demonstration

runs on Ericsson networks and Al-

tair’s FourGee-1160 Cat-1 chip set fea-

turing ultralow power consumption.

Long-term battery life has become

a prerequisite for a vast number of

IoT applications. PSM is an Ericsson

Evolved Packet Core (EPC) feature

based on 3GPP (Release 12) for both

GSM and LTE networks. The feature

is able to dramatically extend I oT

device battery life up to ten years

or more for common use cases and

traffic profiles. This capability is

defined for both LTE and GSM tech-

nologies and lets devices enter a

new deep-sleep mode—for hours or

even days at a time—and only wake

up when needed.

Ericsson, Sony Mobile, and SK

Telecom conducted lab testing of

the key functionalities of LTE device

Category 0 and Category M (Machine-

Type Communication). LTE Category

0 has been standardized in the

3GPP LTE Release 12 and is the first

device category specifically target-

ing reduced complexity and, thus,

reduced cost for the IoT. LTE Category

M is a key theme in LTE Release 13,

representing further cost savings and

improving battery lifetime. Wearable

devices and related applications were

selected for the user scenarios being

tested and trialed. The wearable

device test use cases are focused on

consumer lifestyle and wellness ap-

plications enabled through multiple

sensors providing accelerometer,

identification, pulse meter, and global

positioning system functionality.

Orange and Ericsson announced

a trial of optimized, low-cost, low-

complexity devices and enhanced

network capabilities for cellular IoT

over GSM and LTE. What the compa-

nies claim will be the world’s first ex-

tended coverage (EC) GSM trial will

be conducted in France using the

900-MHz band, with the aim of en-

hancing device reachability by up to

20 dB, or a sevenfold improvement

in the range of low-rate applications.

This further extends the dominant

global coverage of GSM in Europe

and Africa to reach challenging lo-

cations, such as deep indoor base-

ments, where many smart meters

are installed, or remote areas in

which sensors are deployed for agri-

culture or infrastructure monitoring

use cases. I n addition, EC-GSM will

reduce device complexity and, thus,

lower costs, enabling large-scale IoT

deployments. In parallel, the compa-

nies will carry, in partnership with

Sequans, what they believe is the

world’s first LTE IoT trial using low-

cost, low-complexity devices with

one receive antenna (instead of two),

and half-duplex frequency division

duplex (FDD). This simplifies the

device hardware architecture and

reduces expensive duplex filters, al-

lowing for a 60% cost reduction in

comparison with the existing LTE

Category 4. Ericsson will also dem-

onstrate, together with Sequans,

energy efficiency over GSM and LTE

networks with the PSM technology.

The PSM feature is applicable to

both GSM and LTE and supported

by EPC.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MVT.2015.2512358

Date of publication: 24 February 2016

A