Narrow Band Internet of Things

IN5060: Performance in distributed systems

Özgü Alay
Giuseppe Caso
Konstantinos Kousias
 Looking back in time to wireless

1873 1896 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

2G GSM, GPRS,
RADIO PATENT 4G/LTE, LTE-A
EDGE

MAXWELL COMMERCIAL
3G, BLUETOOTH,
NETWORK, 5G
EQUATIONS WIFI
CELLPHONE

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Growth in the number of connected devices

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Connected devices in 2010

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Connected devices today

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Many different areas

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Massive IoT vs Critical IoT

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How it all fits in 5G?

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Connectivity for Massive IoT

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Key Challenges for Massive IoT
§ Battery life – many IoT devices will be battery-powered, and
often the cost of replacing batteries in the field is not viable.
§ Coverage and Range – deep indoor connectivity is a
requirement for many applications in the utility area. Regional (or
even national or global) coverage is a prerequisite for many use
cases, especially within the transport area.
§ Quality of Service – providing a certain low bitrate reliably is
important for many applications while latency is not that critical.
§ Deployment and device cost – clearly a key enabler for high-
volume, mass-market applications, enabling many of the use
cases. Moreover, in order to enable a Massive IoT market,
networks need to scale efficiently.

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Characteristics of massive IoT applications

Characteristic Target Value for Massive IoT

Technologies
Long range 5 –40 km in the open field
Ultra lowpower Battery life time of 10 years
Throughput Typically a few hundred
bit/s or less
Radio chipset costs $2 or less
Radio subscription costs $1 per device and year
Transmission latency Typically insensitive to latency.
Required number of base Base stations should be able to serve
stations for coverage thousands of devices.
Geographic coverage and Excellent coverage also in remote and
penetration rural areas. Good in-building and in-
ground penetration.

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Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN)

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Current LPWA technologies

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What is the most common technology?
Module Shipments (millions)

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

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Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT)

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What is NB-IoT?
§ LPWAN radio technology standard developed by 3GPP to meet
IoT application requirements
§ Builds on the LTE ecosystem, and can be deployed as a simple
addition of new software to existing LTE infrastructure
− leading to fast development, scalibility, and global roaming
§ Includes state-of-the-art LTE security
− Identity management
− Authentication and authorization (embedded SIM)
− End to end encription of device data and signalling
§ Future feature growth for MBB and NB-IoT use cases

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NB-IoT Architecture
MME: Mobility Management Entity
S-GW: Serving Gateway
P-GW: Packet Gateway
HSS: Home Subscriber Server
PCRF: Policy and Charging Rule
Function
SCEF: Service Capability Exposure
Function

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NB-IoT Specification

Spectrum
Deployment

Modulation and Modulation: BPSK/QPSK

3

Access MAC: DL: OFDMA, UL: SC-FDMA

l-1
Re

DL: 250 kbps

Peak data rate
UL: 20 kbps

UE Max Tx Power 23 dBm

Range 1 km (urban), 10 km (rural)

Power Saving Mode (PSM)

Energy Efficiency
extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRx)

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NB-IoT Coverage
§ Coverage Enhancement (CE) Techniques (w.r.t.
LTE)
− Power Spectral Density boost: Tx power focused on
smaller bands
− Repetitions: messages can be repeated up to 128
times
CE Level (CL) # Repetitions

0 [0-2]

1 [4-16]

2 [32-128]

CL0 = LTE coverage

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NB-IoT Power Savings

§ Power Saving Mode (PSM) is a power-off mode, in which the

device nevertheless remains registered on the network

TAU: Tracking Area Update

RRC: Radio Resource Control
DRX: Discontinuous Reception

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NB-IoT Power Savings

§ extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRx) mode allows you

to significantly increase the period of time when the receiving
path of the device is turned off.

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NB-IoT Deployment

Investing
Deployed

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 Coverage and Deployment
Analysis of Narrowband Internet
of Things in the Wild
K. Kousias, G. Caso, O. Alay, A. Brunstrom, L. De Nardis, M-G. Di Benedetto and M. Neri,
IEEE Communications Magazine, 2020 [Open Data]

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NB-IoT field trials and testing
§ NB-IoT entered the market and is being globally
deployed
§ Field trials and testing: deployment validation, issues
pinpoint, optimization towards 5G-IoT
§ A complete field trial: Passive + Active
measurements

Passive Measurements Active Measurements

Scanner-based
Non-intrusive experiments
DL coverage and RF conditions
Technology + Network-wide overview:
Multiple BSs, operators, and
technologies
UE (prototype)-based
On-purpose experiments
Connectivity (RACH) and DL/UL
performance
Focus on the “serving” technology,
operator and BS

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 NB-IoT testing in Oslo/Rome
§ Extensive testing of NB-IoT
deployment in Oslo
§ Complementary testing in Rome Scanner: R&S®TSMA6

§ Passive + Active measurements

under several conditions and System-in-a-box: PC and
scenarios, including:
− 5 mobile network operators Scanner
− Indoor vs. Deep indoor
− Outdoor: Walking vs Driving UE: Exelonix NB-R410M
§ Analysis Focus
− NB-IoT and LTE coverage Based on Qualcomm
− Inband vs guardband

MDM9206 chipset

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NB-IoT detection
§Is NB-IoT here? No!

LTE Band 7
Empty Guard-bands

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NB-IoT detection
§Is NB-IoT here? Yes!

LTE Band 20
Guard-bands filled with NB-IoT

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NB-IoT detection

§A closer look …

!
rriers
T ca
-Io
Time

NB

Frequency

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Coverage Maps and Data Visualization

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Network Deployment Strategy

Operators leverage Nearly 86%

the already of the Operators
existing LTE detected LTE leverage a
infrastructure for eNBs have different number
deploying NB-IoT, been of EARFCNs for
with no additional reconfigured LTE, while only
eNBs installed. for NB-IoT one for NB-IoT
uniquely identify the
LTE band and carrier
frequency.

Network deployment statistics with regard to number of eNBs and EARFCNs

per technology. eNBs% is defined as the ratio between the number of LTE/NB-
IoT eNBs and the total number of eNBs. Absolute numbers are provided in
parenthesis.

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Is the deployment Optimal?

Both operators approach

deployment optimality in
several indoor scenarios,
while slightly deviate in
outdoor sub-campaigns.

Scatterplot between average distance to the eNB with highest

RSRP and average distance to the nearest eNB for Op1,N (left)
and Op2,N (right). Different colors represent different scenarios.

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Radio Coverage

NB-IoT provides
statistically significant
RSRP boosts in line with
the power boosting
expected by 3GPP TS
36.104.

Op2,N has slightly lower

RSRP compared to
Op1,N.

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Coverage Level Distribution

Operators apply different

RSRP thresholds for the
CL estimate, 5 dB more
conservative for Op2,N.

Op2,N tries to enhance

NB-IoT reliability by
operating at higher CLs
more, at the cost of
higher energy
consumption and more
repetitions.
Ratio of being in a specific CL, grouped by scenario, for Op1,N (left)
and Op2,N (right). The ratio is evaluated as the number of readings
for a CL divided by the number of readings for all CLs.

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Statistical Significance
Dunn’s test is used to identify significant difference between the
means of two distributions for a given confidence interval

§ Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the

two distributions
§ Alternative Hypothesis: There is significant difference between
the two distributions.

§ We report the p-values below — Significant codes: ‘*’ 0.05 ,

‘**’ 0.01, ‘***’ 0.001

§ The lower the p-value, the more significant the difference is!

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Operator and Technology comparison

Technology DI I OW OD

LTE 0.2906 0.0274 * 0.2480 0.3581

NB-IoT 0.1594 0.00033 *** 0.1152 0.1439

Operators have
Operator comparison significant differences
especially for Indoor
scenarios.

Operator DI I OW OD

1 0.0021 ** 2.3e-09 *** 0.0117 * 1e-05 ***

2 0.0133 * 1e-06 *** 0.00078 *** 1e-05 ***

Different technologies
Technology comparison have significant
differences for both
operators.
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Scenario Comparison

Tech/
DI-I DI-OW DI-OD I-OW I-OD OW-OD
Operator

LTE/1 4.8e-08 *** 6.4e-06 *** 0.00041 *** 0.36033 0.30055 0.17261

LTE/2 5.7e-07 *** 6.4e-06 *** 3.6e-06 *** 0.3686 0.5752 0.6063

NB-IoT/1 5.7e-07 *** 3.1e-05 *** 3.1e-06 *** 0.5299 0.5299 0.9434

NB-IoT/2 3.1e-06 *** 1.1e-06 *** 1.6e-07 *** 0.0492 * 0.0442 * 0.8244

Deep indoor has

significant differences
compared to other
scenarios.

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NB-IoT Spectrum

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In-band vs guard-band
• Guard-band deployment could be preferable, since it
can reduce possible interference to/from
surrounding LTE /LTE-A cells

No interference Extreme LTE Interference

Example of NB-IoT In-band deployment in Italy

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In-band vs Guard band - Topology

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In-band vs Guard-band

The in-band mode poses

coexistence challenges
that need to be carefully
considered.

Performance comparison between in-band Op1,I (left) and

guard-band Op2,I (right) deployments

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NB-IoT Coverage Modelling

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Coverage data ➜ Propagation modeling
§ Coverage data can be used to derive an empirical model of
signal propagation, e.g., in terms of path loss (PL)
§ In short:
−PL tells how the signal power decreases on the cell (Tx)
➜ device (Rx) path
−PL (in dB) is the difference between transmitted (Ptx) and
received powers (RSRP), both in dBm, assuming
negligible antenna gains
§ Realistic PL models are important: they are used in simulation-
based studies (data are not always available and experiments
are not always feasible…)

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A simple example: Free Space propagation
§ PL is usually modeled as:

Average Deviation (random

variable)

§ Example: Free Space ➜ Line of Sight (LoS) between Tx and Rx, no

obstacles:
Speed of light ≈ 3×10! m/s

Dependence on Tx-Rx distance ≈ 32.44 dB (d in km and fc in MHz)

Dependence on frequency

§ FS model can be generalized:

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Model fitting on real data
§ The values for 𝛾, 𝛽, and 𝑙% can be derived from real measurements
§ Several procedures (e.g., least squares) aim at minimizing the difference
between PL measurements and average model estimates

§ The deviation between the fitted model and real measurements reveals the
characteristics of 𝛸 (e.g., its distribution)

§ Hypothesis: 𝛸 models the effect of obstacles and mobility, i.e., large-scale fading
(or shadowing) ➜ commonly assumed as a zero-mean Normal distribution:

𝜎 depends (once again) from the measurements

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Fitting a model for NB-IoT
§Let’s derive the PL model using the measurements from a
single NB-IoT cell in our dataset (from an outdoor
campaign)
§Data, as always, need preprocessing:
1. We need to average out
signal deviation due to
further factors (e.g., small-
scall fading)
2. Position of cells and
measurements points are
estimated (GPS) ➜ we need
to limit the cell/device
distance range under study
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 Fitting a model for NB-IoT
§ For 1. ➜ we use the 40𝜆
= 40 𝑐⁄𝑓! rule from [1985
Lee]*, i.e., data in a point is
averaged with data in a moving
average window of ±20𝜆 (≈
37.5 cm for NB-IoT @ 𝑓!
= 800 MHz)
§ For 2. ➜ we discard
measurements points at a
distance ≤ 50 meters from
the cell under study

* W. C. Y. Lee, “Estimate of Local Average Power of a Mobile Radio Signal”, IEEE Trans. on Veh. Technol., Vol. 34, no. 1, 1985.

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Fitting a model for NB-IoT
Now, we can fit via Least Squares the generalized FS on the cell

1. 𝛾 ≈ 2.56, 𝛽 ≈ 2.97
Higher than FS (indeed, the
propagation is also non LoS
(NLoS)
2. 𝑙! ≈ 32.27 dB Fitted FS follows
the
measurements
Similar to FS!

3. X~𝑁(𝜇 ≈ 0, 𝜎 ≈ 4)
Normal distribution approximates
FS underestimates PL
well the deviations from average
PL, but is clearly not zero-mean
for unfitted FS

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Fitting a model for NB-IoT
§ What can be done next?
§ Note that the obtained model is representative of a single cell but…
1. The same procedure can be executed on multiple cells
2. Most likely, the values for 𝛾, 𝛽, 𝑙! , and 𝜎 change over the
cells but…
3. …their distribution and statistics (e.g., mean value) allow to
generalize the model on large and heterogeneous areas
(e.g., LoS/NLoS, urban, dense urban)
4. The comparison with (deep) indoor measurements allows
to derive further losses to be considered when NB-IoT is
deployed in (deep) indoor locations (e.g., for smart
metering)
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Behind the Doors:
NB-IoT Dataset

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Data Sources
§ Coverage data:
− Each batch of samples sharing the same timestamp represents a
single measurement point (in space).
− Each sample holds information for the UE - cell connection (e.g.,
GPS UE location, RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, cell identifiers, etc.)
§ Cell data:
−A separate set of data with additional information for each cell (e.g.,
GPS cell location, power, cell identifiers, etc.)

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 Preprocessing (1)
§ Missing Data:
−Handle missing data (if possible)
• Find and retrieve missing values using both data sources
§ Invalid Data (Requires domain knowledge):
−Look for outliers and extreme values
• Determine either extreme (of interest) behavior or
measurement error

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 Preprocessing (2)
§ Merging Data:
− Merge the two data sources into a single cleaned dataframe

• Challenge: Define primary keys and secondary rules to break ambiguity

§ For example, determine cell location using multiple GPS measurements.
Due to measurement error, GPS values slightly differ.
q Solution: Mean/Median values, use additional information (e.g.,
vertical/horizontal estimation error)
§ Reshape/Summarize Data:
− Compute mean/std values for the metrics of interest (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, SINR)

− Add external features to group the data (e.g., DI, I, OW, OD)
− Engineer new features to understand the data (e.g., distance to the cell)

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Visualization
§ Illustrate the data using map visualization tools
−Pinpoint areas with coverage degradation at glance
−Understand cell and measurement spatial distribution
−Can be generalized or expanded with new data
• Coverage: https://mosaic-simulamet.com/wp-
content/uploads/2020/02/coverage_map.html
• Cell: https://mosaic-simulamet.com/wp-
content/uploads/2020/02/eNB_map.html

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Assignment

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Dataset Description
§ Campaigns
− LTE and NB-IoT
− Deep Indoor, Indoor, Outdoor walking, Outdoor driving
− Multiple repetitions
§ Dataset fields
Feature Description
Time Measurement Timestamp
Latitude Latitude
Longitude Longitude
MNC Mobile Network Operator identifier
campaign Name of the measurement campaign
distance Distance to the cell
RSRP Reference Signal Receive Power
RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality
SINR Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio

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What to evaluate
§ Coverage performance comparison
− Given a selected number of different campaigns, compare the coverage
performance for different operators and different technologies (NB-IoT
and LTE)
− Given two or more campaigns on the same path (e.g., repetitions of
walking pilestredet, or driving from simulamet to simula and back), show
how the coverage changes over time. Is this change significant? (Do this
for a given operator and for a given technology)
− Given two or more campaigns at the same location (e.g., repetitions of
indoor or deep indoor campaigns), show how the coverage changes over
time. Is this change significant? (Do this for a given operator and for a
given technology)
− Given a region where we have both (deep) indoor and outdoor
measurements, compare the indoor coverage with the outdoor coverage

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