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6 The overall strategy is to implement IoT connectivity today using the latest versions of LTE while consistently improving on them within the next three to four years, at which time the standards making up 5G will have been released. The industry can then use the technological wizardry within the 5G standards to further increase performance. This becomes obvious when viewing Table 2, which shows the variations of the 3GPP standards Release 8 to Release 13, which was finalized in 2016. Note that LoRa, one of the most significant competitors to cellular IoT solutions being deployed today, already uses very narrow bandwidths and low data rates, which is a marketable benefit for LPWAN providers using this technology. Cellular Technologies for IoT The cellular roadmap is based on the use of three versions of wireless technology: LTE-M is a low-power standard that supports IoT by reducing device (modem) complexity and increasing coverage, while allowing the reuse of existing LTE infrastructure, to enable IoT devices to operate for at least 10 years in a wider range of applications. It is supported by major mobile equipment, chipset, and module manufacturers, and it benefits from current network security capabilities such as identity confidentiality and authentication, data integrity, and mobile equipment identification. It is currently being deployed by major carriers such as AT&T and Verizon. LTE-M is energy efficient as it uses techniques called extended Discon- tinuous Repetition Cycle (eDRX) and Power Saving Mode (PSM). eDRX allows device to have longer sleep cycles so they can communicate with the network at different times ranging from 10 second to 40 minutes or more. PSM improves IoT device battery life by providing advanced power management, turning the device's modem on and off at scheduled intervals to save power, while allowing the modem to remain "connectable" even when most of its functions are inactive. EC-GSM-IoT is designed to provide coverage for IoT devices in difficult radio environments and is backwards-compatible with previous releases so it can be used within existing GSM networks as a software upgrade. It provides broad coverage, allows resource sharing between EC-GSM-IoT and legacy packet-switched services, and can be introduced into a network without dedicated resources for IoT. In addition to excellent coverage, EC-GSM-IoT uses a simplified protocol layer to reduce device complexity, extend battery life, and utilize a security framework comparable to 4G standards. NB-IoT uses the LTE physical layer and higher protocol layers and extends coverage and capacity while dramatically reducing device complexity. Designed to operate at almost any frequency range with existing cellular networks, NB-IoT focuses on transmission and reception of small amounts of data. It has the least power consumption of any cellular IoT standard while still providing long-range coverage, especially in "RF-resistant" environments such as buildings and below-ground installations such as subways. Typical Applications and Their Needs One of the reasons IoT is so difficult to grasp is that it encompasses a wide variety of unique applications, each with almost completely different requirements. For example, a typical wireless-enabled water meter might transmit messages twice a day and be deployed densely throughout an area where thousands of meters are installed per square mile. When IoT is used for managing fleets of rentable bicycles, their sensors might transmit data 50 times per day from different locations that could be thinly dispersed at a rate of several hundred per square mile. In a manufacturing facility, there might be 500 sensor-enabled machines or other components that transmit infrequently, typically only when an event occurs. The autonomous vehicle environment is vastly different from all of these as thousands of vehicles each with perhaps a dozen sensors could transmit hundreds of times per day or more, and will almost always be mobile. Both cellular IoT networks and LPWANs must accommodate all of these conditions and many more. It's arguable that cellular networks have a distinct advantage in this regard because they already serve fixed and mobile devices, deliver very high quality of service and security, and have every feature required of a robust commercial network. They also operate on licensed spectrum rather than unlicensed Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands that are densely populated by services such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and present interference challenges. In addition, roaming between networks of different providers has been a feature of cellular since its inception, which cannot be said for LPWANs that at least initially will be regional services based on Sigfox, LoRa, or other standards, which inhibits roaming. Future Trends No detailed prediction made today about how cellular and LPWAN will fare in serving IoT is likely to prove true a decade from now. The cellular industry could capitalize on its inherent strengths to simply overwhelm LPWAN providers and make them redundant. LPWAN providers could carefully craft their service offerings to serve markets and niche applications that wireless carriers either cannot or will not pursue. It's even possible that wireless carriers could make themselves indispensable by expanding their services all the way to the edge of where sensors are located, combining their long-range technologies with those such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, and others that connect sensors on a local level. And that's not really a stretch: In September 2015, for example, Verizon introduced a platform called ThingSpace to boost the creation of IoT-enabled devices and applications. To bolster the effect, it has had multiple acquisitions. Last year it acquired fleet logistics and telematics system developer Telogis, followed by the GPS fleet tracking system of Fleetmatics and LED lighting company Sensity Systems. Additionally, they acquired LQD Wi-Fi, which, among other offerings, makes "smart" kiosks that provide free Wi-Fi, local community information, mapping, public safety announcements, transit updates, and upcoming events. Collectively, they move Verizon decisively into a broad array of applications, from consumer IoT to smart cities. It's important to remember that, although there are many IoT devices already in service today, they represent the very beginning of IoT; the scenarios described here are just a few that may result once cellular IoT and LPWAN have fully established themselves, and there will surely be others. Regardless of how this industry evolves, we can not only expect challenges and obstacles on the way, but interesting engineering problems and opportunities as well. Table 2 – Bandwidth and data rates compared LoRaWAN LTE EC-GSM-IoT LTE-M NB-IoT Channel bandwidth <500 kHz 1.4 to 20 MHz 200 kHz 1.08 MHz 200 kHz Maximum data rate <50 kb/s 10 Mb/s down, 5 Mb/s up <140 kb/s <1 Mb/s 170 kb/s down, 250 kb/s up Figure 2: An LTE Advanced base station with three tower-mounted remote radio heads used for broadband wireless.

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