locate, communicate, accelerate
Connecting 50 Billion Devices – the Wide-area Network Perspective
John Haine
7 Nov 2013
locate, communicate, accelerate
Connecting 50 Billion Devices – the Wide-area Network Perspective
John Haine
7 Nov 2013
StandardsStandardsStandardsStandards
© u-blox AG
u-blox at a glance
• Swiss high-tech company
• Founded in 1997
• Listed on SIX since 2007
• Fabless silicon & electronic product supplier
• R&D in Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Finland, UK, Ireland, USA, Pakistan
• Core technologies
• GPS, GLONASS,GALILEO, Compass and QZSS positioning (“GNSS”)
• 2G, 3G, 4G wireless communications
• Products
• GPS/GNSS chips and modules
• Wireless modules
• Commercial, off-the-shelf products
• Positioning and wireless services
• Market focus
• Industrial – durable solutions for professional electronics
• Automotive – robust, automotive grade products
• Consumer – mass market solutions
• Global sales
Slide 3
IoT or M2M?
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The M2M universe – the supply-side view
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The M2M universe – the supply-side view
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…then there is “Dark Matter”!
IoT is for everyone…
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Unpredictable growth as machines get smarter & connected
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Source: Thanki/ICSS 2013
WANTED: Ubiquitous, Pervasive, Reliable, Secure, Economical, & Scalable communications….
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One network for the Internet of Things…
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Ubiquitous
• A utility, available everywhere
Pervasive
• Cover hard-to-reach locations
• Little or no “rf engineering”
Reliable
• Data “just gets through”
• Link- and application-layer ARQ
Narrow-band, high latency
• Generally small, infrequent messages
• Occasional need for high-priority “alarm / action” messages
• Firmware download
Low power
• Terminal can operate for “10 years on
2 AA cells”
Secure
• Protect access and data transfer
• Support Critical Infrastructure & Services
Economical
• Low cost modem - disposable?
• Very low cost service
Scalable
• To reach “50 billion devices”
Today’s wide-area network standards
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GSM
• Well-established
• Relatively low tariffs (with the right carrier deal)
• Low-cost modem modules (in volume)
• Reasonably low power, can’t support
10-year target
• Generally good coverage (for 850/900 MHz networks)
• Reasonable link budget, but could give better penetration into locations such as manholes - needs another 20
dB!
• Most wide-area M2M applications use GSM today
• Operators want to turn off GSM networks!
3G / HSPA
• Generally inferior coverage to GSM (but being rolled out at 900 MHz)
• Supports broadband – but un-necessary for most applications
• Virtually all chipsets support GSM too
• Modem is significantly more expensive than GSM (NB high royalty
costs)
• Higher power consumption than GSM
• Growing market share because of concerns over GSM longevity
• But maybe 3G will be turned off first?
Today’s wide-area network standards
LTE
• Relatively early stage rollout
• Bands <1GHz available for coverage
• Designed mainly for mobile broadband – not needed for most IoT applications
• Modem cost significantly greater than 3G
• Higher power consumption than 3G
• Coverage equivalent to 2G / 3G for the same bandwidth
• “The future of cellular” – will be rolled out in all bands eventually to replace 2G & 3G, driven by explosive smartphone & tablet growth
• Not a good fit to most “IoT” requirements
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The ideal network for the IoT
• Operate below 1 GHz for best coverage
• Use licensed spectrum for QoS
(probably means cellular spectrum)
• Coexist with existing network infrastructure
• Trade-off bandwidth and latency for coverage and low power consumption
• Standardised – economy of scale
• Scalable to support billions of devices
• Enable significantly lower terminal cost than GSM in equivalent volume
• Significantly better link budget than GSM by ~20 dB
• Enable low power terminals to meet the “10 year on 2 AA” target
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Cellular for the IoT?
• New broadband M2M applications (e.g. interactive signage)
• Higher bandwidth / longevity
• Today’s workhorse, growing legacy problem
• No standardised
solution
COST
BANDWIDTHLTE
≥CAT 3
~100 Mbps
HSPA
EGPRS
????
VOLUME
Evolution of LTE for “MTC”* in 3GPP
• New UE category defined to fill the EGPRS niche
• Simplified protocols to reduce complexity, cost, power consumption
• Target to have equivalent
bit-rate & cost to EGPRS modem
• Work item for Release 12
• Unlikely to fully meet IoT
cost & performance needs
• Possibility of further evolution in Release 13?
COST
BANDWIDTHLTE
≥CAT 3
~100 Mbps
“Category 0”
UE type
????
*MTC = Machine Type Communications
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Timescale
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Timescale
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Proprietary specifications
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Sigfox
• UHF ISM band
• Low power, “ultra narrow band”
(UNB)
• Mainly for short, infrequent uplink
messages
• Limited capability for acknowledged transmission
• Very low cost modem claimed
• Specification now in ETSI ISG
Telensa
• Based on well-proven Plextek 2-way UNB air interface in UHF ISM band
• Targeted at street lighting control
• Widely deployed in UK
• Long range, low bandwidth
• Fully acknowledged, secure &
reliable
• Very low cost terminals
Proprietary (?) specifications
Weightless
• General purpose air interface designed for the IoT
• Initial target TV white-space spectrum, now also looking at other bands
(including licensed?)
• Flexible bandwidth & latency
• Enables very long battery life
• Initial chipset launched by Neul Ltd, claim very low cost in volume
• Open specification managed by industry SIG
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The IoT network “niche”
• IoT needs a ubiquitous, pervasive, low-cost, low-energy, secure & reliable network to enable its growth
• GSM is the de-facto choice today, but has significant shortcomings
• Longevity / legacy
• Coverage
• Cost
• UE energy consumption
• 3GPP LTE standardisation for MTC is slow and today aims only to replace
EGPRS
• Proprietary / “industry-standard” specifications are emerging, but spectrum
is an issue
• Will the networks delay the development of the Internet of Things?
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