Snapshot of Two Key Forms of Cellular IoT: LTE-M and NB-IoT

Cellular IoT helps physical things (like sensors) connect to the internet through the same mobile
networks as smartphones. This simple and important feature of cellular IoT, makes this technology
highly important for many industrial and individual applications.

Cellular IoT is basically a developed connectivity system, that connects various objects to the
internet. Especially with the development of 5G technology, cellular IoT is going to gain more
importance and frequency of use over time, since it can be applied to many fields. Cellular networks
can connect smartphones to Google Maps, E-mail accounts and more; it carries our voice through the
air, and it not only provides connection with our friends and family but enables us connecting with
the physical objects surrounding us like electricity meters, hospitals, boilers, streetlights etc. It can
also be used for many industrial applications like manufacturing and agriculture.

It’s foreseed that the number of devices that connect to internet by using cellular IoT technology will
increase dramatically in the coming years. More than 20 billion devices are expected to be connected
through this technology by 2023.

Why is Cellular IoT expanding so much?

Cellular networks which provide big flows of data are prevalent all around the world, which is an
advantage of not being in need of creating new physical infrastructures in order to support IoT
networks. For a long period of time, cellular-enabled IoT devices consumed too much power, that
decreased their practicality for the applications. However, today, new kind of cellular technologies,
such as NB-IoT, are able to transmit reasonable amounts of data accross significant distances without
the need of draining the battery. With the help of 5G technology, there is no reason not to be
optimistic for the brilliant future of cellular IoT technologies.

Snapshot of Two Key Forms of Cellular IoT: LTE-M and NB-IoT

Either LTE-M or NB-IoT technologies are used for all current cellular IoT applications. You basically
pick one of these two technologies according to the GSM cellular infrastructure used in your
neighbourhood. On the other hand, there are significant differences between these aforesaid
technologies. So, for now no matter what, you should choose the one which is compatible for your
city.

LTE-M

As mentioned before, LTE technology is standart in the US, in majority of European countries and
China as of 2019. It is estimated to overhaul GSM for cellular IoT applications. LTE-M, which is
abbreviation for “Long Term Evolution for Machines’’, is a kind of network standard that let’s IoT
devices to piggyback on present cell networks.

With essentially just a software update, LTE-M-enabled devices can communicate with the cloud. In
general, LTE-M devices are the best match to “mission-critical” applications in which real-time data
transfer makes the difference—for example, self-driving cars or emergency devices in smart cities.

NB-IoT

NB-IoT, which stands for “Narrowband-IoT,” is great for areas without good LTE coverage, or when
you only need to transfer small amounts of information—for example, when using a soil sensor for
smart agriculture or an energy usage monitor in a smart city. NB-IoT uses only a narrow band of the
total bandwidth cell towers project. If you’re deploying in an area in which GSM is the standard
cellular technology. On the other hand, if you foresee needing to send only small amounts of data
across the internet periodically, NB-IoT might be the right choice.

5G and the Future of Cellular IoT

Despite all the hype around 5G, it’s actually just like all the other “Gs” (i.e., generations) of the
cellular internet; 5G is better, way faster, and stronger. 5G will most likely transform the IoT
landscape, even though it’ll likely operate in tandem with LTE and GSM cellular networks into the
2020s. On the industrial IoT end, ultra-secure, private 5G networks will be enabling millions of
devices operating at tenfold the speed of existent networks.

On the consumer end, 5G can make self-driving cars or immersive VR & AR environments a reality.
It’s an exciting time to be learning about the power of cellular IoT.

Kaynak: https://eclipstek.com/what-is-cellular-iot/