Iot basics & evolution of 3 gpp technolgies for iot connectivity

IOT: INTERNET OF THINGS
Internet of Things definition: The vast network of devices connected to the Internet, including smart
phones and tablets and almost anything with a sensor on it – cars, machines in production plants, jet
engines, oil drills, wearable devices, and more. These “things” collect and exchange data.
IoT – and the machine-to-machine (M2M) technology behind it – are bringing a kind of “super visibility”
to nearly every industry. Imagine utilities and telcos that can predict and prevent service outages,
airlines that can remotely monitor and optimize plane performance, and healthcare organizations that
can base treatment on real-time genome analysis. The business possibilities are endless.
Ericsson predicts there will be around 28 billion connected devices by 2021, of which more than 15
billion will be connected M2M and consumer-electronics devices [1]. A large share of these will be
applications served by short-range radio technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, while a significant
proportion will be enabled by wide area networks (WANs) that are primarily facilitated by cellular
networks.

MASSIVE IOT USE CASE DIVERSITY

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR AN IoT STRATEGY
 IoT Security: As companies collect data beyond traditional IT boundaries, IoT security measures
will be critical. Some key considerations include being able to secure and monitor devices, encrypt
sensitive data, and build risk mitigation into systems.
 Streaming Data: IoT applications accumulate more data than traditional batch processing can
manage. Having capabilities for streaming data continually is key to reliably feeding real-time
business processes and extracting timely insights.
 IoT Platform: An IoT platform makes it possible to develop, deploy, and manage IoT and M2M
applications. Automate processes and network connections, store and manage sensor data,
connect and control your devices, and analyze your data.
 IoT Applications: “Next generation” IoT applications must be able to capture, collect, interpret,
and act on vast amounts of information – detecting connectivity gaps, handling interruptions, and
meeting specific business and industry requirements.
 IoT Cloud: IoT cloud solutions provide affordable access to high-speed data networks – to
significantly extend the reach and usability of your IoT applications. They can also offer data
storage, processing, analysis, and remote device management.
 IoT Data: IoT data management technologies ensure that you can collect the right data at the
right time, even when connectivity is interrupted. Rely on in-memory systems to process massive
data volumes generated by thousands of devices.
 IoT Connectivity: Mobile and 5G networks that form the foundation for your IoT business.
 IoT Monetization: Seize new revenue opportunities for any industry and any business model.

THE NEW IOT LANDSCAPE
 The IoT revolution offers huge potential value in terms of improved efficiency, sustainability and
safety for industry and society.
 The IoT is playing a major role across a variety of vertical sectors
 Each IoT application needs a clear value proposition and business logic in line with the prevailing
ecosystem, business models and value chains of the various stakeholders. For all applications,
solutions need to be integrated on platforms that can scale and handle millions of devices
efficiently. Business processes for administration, provisioning and charging will have to be
streamlined to minimize costs and enhance the business case. Rating cost savings, new revenue
streams and other benefits.

A WIDE RANGE of IoT REQUIREMENTS
 IoT applications also have highly diverse needs for network connectivity, reliability,
security, latency, data rate, mobility and battery life.
 For the sake of simplicity, IoT applications can be divided into three broad categories
according to the connectivity of the application and the relative importance of the cost of
the device:
 Massive IoT : Typically billions of small scale, low cost devices, such as sensors report
to the cloud on a regular basis – the end-to-end cost must be low enough for the
business case to make sense. Here, the requirement is for low-cost devices with low
energy consumption and good coverage. Yet these do not have stringent connectivity
requirements as their application can tolerate delay and they are not generally mobile
 Critical IoT : Applications will have very high demands for reliability, availability and low
latency. These use cases are enabled by LTE or 5G capabilities. Here, the volumes are
typically much smaller, but the business value is significantly higher. There are, however,
many other use cases between the two extremes, which today rely on 2G,3G or 4G
connectivity.
 Enterprise IoT: Industrial applications like maintenance monitoring and insurance
telematics require more sophisticated, higher cost devices and reliable connectivity with
reasonable throughput to handle higher volumes of detailed data.
.

A WIDE RANGE of IoT REQUIREMENTS

DIFFERENT IOT CONNECTIVITY ALTERNATIVES
 Connectivity is the foundation for IoT, and the type of access required will depend on the nature of the
application. Many IoT devices will be served by radio technologies that operate on unlicensed spectrum
and that are designed for short-range connectivity with limited QoS and security requirements typically
applicable for a home or indoor environment. Currently, there are two alternative connectivity tracks for
the many IoT applications that depend on wide-area coverage:
 Cellular technologies: 3GPP technologies like GSM, WCDMA, LTE and future 5G. These WANs
operate on licensed spectrum and historically have primarily targeted high-quality mobile voice and data
services. Now, however, they are being rapidly evolved with new functionality and the new radio access
technology narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) specifically tailored to form an attractive solution for emerging low
power wide area (LPWA) applications.
 Unlicensed LPWA: New proprietary radio technologies, provided by, for example, SIGFOX and LoRa,
have been developed and designed solely for machine-type communication (MTC) addressing the ultra-
low-end sensor segment, with very limited demands on throughput, reliability or QoS.
 One way to segment IoT applications is to categorize them according to coverage needs and
performance requirements (such as data speed or latency demands).The coverage needs of a particular
use case may be highly localized (such as a stationary installation within a building), while other use
cases require global service coverage (such as container tracking). 3GPP technologies already dominate
use cases with large geographic coverage needs and medium- to high-performance requirements. With
new feature sets specifically tailored for LPWA IoT applications, 3GPP technologies are taking a large
leap forward to cover segments with low-cost, low-performance requirements too.

CAPILLARY NETWORKS COMBINING CELLULAR AND UNLICENSED STRENGTHS
 Even when existing 3GPP end-to-end connectivity is not feasible, cellular technology can still provide
key benefits when used as a bridging option, i.e. as an aggregation and routing solution.
 This capillary network approach allows end devices to utilize varying access solutions from either the
short range or LPWA domain and access the cellular networks via a gateway device.
 Capillary networks enable the reuse of cellular functions and assets such as security, device
management, billing and QoS without requiring each end device to be cellular-enabled

ADVANTAGES OF CELLULAR TECHNOLOGIES

ADVANTAGES OF CELLULAR TECHNOLOGIES
 Cellular networks already cover 90 percent of the world’s population as been developed and deployed over
three decades, LTE & WCDMA Catching up but GSM will offer superior coverage in many markets.
 Cellular mobile industry represents a huge and mature ecosystem, incorporating chipset, device and network
equipment vendors, operators, application providers etc. and is governed by the 3GPP standardization
forum, which guarantees broad industry support for future development.
 Cellular networks are built to handle massive volumes of mobile broadband traffic; the traffic from most IoT
applications will be relatively small and easily absorbed. Operators are able to offer connectivity for IoT
applications from the start-up phase and grow this business with low TCO and only limited additional
investment and effort. Operation in licensed spectrum also provides predictable and controlled interference,
which enables efficient use of the spectrum to support massive volumes of devices.
 Cellular connectivity offers the diversity to serve a wide range of applications with varying requirements within
one network. While competing unlicensed LPWA technologies are designed solely for very low-end MTC
applications, cellular networks can address everything from Massive to Critical IoT use cases.
 Cellular systems have mature QoS functionality, and this enables critical MTC applications to be handled
together with traffic from sensors, voice and mobile-broadband traffic on the same carrier. QoS, along with
licensed spectrum as described above, provides a foundation for long-term Service Level Agreements with a
specific grade of service Traditionally, the security mechanisms of cellular networks have been based on a
physical SIM and SIM will also be essential in future IoT applications, with SIM functionality embedded in the
chipset (eUICC) or handled as a soft-SIM solution running in a trusted run-time environment of the module.
 Cellular networks will be able to support the full breadth of applications, ranging from low-end use cases in
the LPWA segment, to the high-end segments of in-car entertainment and video surveillance. One network
connecting the whole diversifying IoT market will guarantee the lowest possible TCO as well as fast time to

KEY CHALLENGES FOR MASSIVE IOT
 Device cost – clearly a key enabler for high-volume, mass-market applications,
enabling many of the use cases.
 Battery life – many IoT devices will be battery-powered, and often the cost of
replacing batteries in the field is not viable.
 Coverage – deep indoor connectivity is a requirement for many applications in the
utility area. Furthermore, regional (or even national or global) coverage is a
prerequisite for many use cases, within the transport area.
 Scalability – in order to enable a Massive IoT market, networks need to scale
efficiently. The initial investment required for supporting a limited number of devices
has to be manageable, while on the other hand, the network capacity must be easy to
scale to handle thousands – or millions – of devices.
 Diversity – connectivity should be able to support diverse requirements from different
use cases. One network supporting everything from simple static sensors to tracking
services, to applications requiring higher throughput and lower latency is essential in
terms of total cost of ownership (TCO).

EVOLVING STANDARDS To meet the new connectivity requirements for emerging Massive IoT segment, 3GPP has taken
evolutionary steps on both the network side and the device side.The key improvement areas addressed in
3GPP up to Release 13 are:
 Lower device cost – cutting module cost for LTE devices by reducing peak rate, memory requirement
and device complexity. The LTE module cost-reduction evolution started in Release 8 with the introduction
of LTE for machine-type communication (LTE-M) Cat 1 devices with reduced peak rate to a maximum of
10Mbps, and continued in Releases 12 and 13 with reduced device complexity for lower performance and
using less bandwidth or a narrowband IoT carrier to cut costs further.
 Improved battery life – more than 10 years of battery life can be achieved by introducing Power Saving
Mode and/or extended discontinuous reception (eDRX) functionality. These features allow the device to
contact the network – or to be contacted – on a per-need basis, meaning that it can stay in sleep mode for
minutes, hours or even days.
 Improved coverage – an improvement of 15dB on LTE-M and of 20dB on NB-IoT and GSM, which
translates into a seven-fold increase in the outdoor coverage area and significantly improved indoor signal
penetration to reach deep indoors. This supports many IoT devices like smart meters, which are often
placed in a basement.
 Support for massive numbers of IoT connections – specifically, one LTE cell site can support millions
of IoT devices, depending on the use case. Core network enhancements include software upgrades for
service differentiation handling, signaling optimization and high-capacity platforms (more than 30 million
devices per node).

CELLULAR LPWA SOLUTIONS
 No single technology or solution is ideally suited to all the different potential Massive
IoT applications, market situations and spectrum availability.
 As a result, the mobile industry is standardizing several LPWA technologies, including
Extended Coverage GSM (EC-GSM), LTE-M and NB-IoT.
 LTE-M, NB-IoT and EC-GSM are all superior solutions to meet Massive IoT
requirements as a family of solutions, and can complement each other based on
technology availability, use case requirements and deployment scenarios.
 LTE-M consisting of Cat 1, Cat 0 and Cat M supports a wide range of IoT
applications, including those that are content-rich; asset-tracking applications that can
support a relatively high number of messages triggered by certain events may
employ LTE-M.
 NB-IoT : covers ultra-lowend oT applications with a cost and coverage advantage
over LTE-M; ,; NB-IoT technology may be used for water-metering applications, which
have some of the most extreme coverage requirements in underground locations
 EC-GSM : serves IoT services for all GSM markets. E.g smart city application such
as waste management may use EC-GSM technology to provide LPWA connectivity in
markets where it can be deployed on existing 2G networks

EC-GSM – GLOBAL CELLULAR IOT FOR ALL GSM MARKETS
 GSM is still the dominant mobile technology in many markets, and the vast majority of cellular M2M
applications today use GPRS/EDGE for connectivity. GSM is likely to continue playing a key role in the
IoT well into the future, due to its global coverage footprint, time to market and cost advantages.
 An initiative was undertaken in 3GPP Release 13 to further improve GSM.The resulting EC-GSM
functionality enables coverage improvements of up to 20dB with respect to GPRS on the 900MHz band.
 This coverage extension is achieved for both the data and control planes by utilizing the concept of
repetitions and signal combining techniques. It is handled in a dynamic manner with multiple coverage
classes to ensure optimal balance between coverage and performance.
 EC-GSM is achieved by defining new control and data channels mapped over legacy GSM. It allows
multiplexing of new EC-GSM devices and traffic with legacy EDGE and GPRS. No new network carriers
are required: new software on existing GSM networks is sufficient and provides combined capacity of up
to 50,000 devices per cell on a single transceiver.
 Initially part of EC-GSM but now a separate 3GPP item, eDRX improves the power efficiency – and
therefore the battery life – for many use cases. eDRX improves the idle mode behavior by allowing the
use of a number of inactivity timers, where the device can choose to tune in to the network and listen for
downlink pages and traffic.
 EC-GSM extends the data handling and power efficiency advantages that GSM/GPRS technology already
offers for MTC, and it will help operators extend the service life of their huge 2G legacy base.

LTE-M – SUPPORTING A WIDE RANGE OF MASSIVE IOT USE CASES
 LTE is the leading mobile broadband technology and its coverage is expanding
rapidly. So far, the focus has been on meeting the huge demand for mobile data with
highly capable devices that utilize new spectrum. With features like Carrier
Aggregation, MIMO and Lean Carrier, the gigabit per second performance for LTE
cell throughput is now reaching levels that result in an excellent mobile broadband
user experience.
 The advent of LTE-M signifies an important step in addressing MTC capabilities over
LTE.LTE-M brings new power-saving functionality suitable for serving a variety of IoT
applications; Power Saving Mode and eDRX extend battery life for LTE-M to 10 years
or more.
 LTE-M traffic is multiplexed over a full LTE carrier, and it is therefore able to tap into
the full capacity of LTE.Additionally, new functionality for substantially reduced device
cost and extended coverage for LTE-M are also specified within 3GPP.

NB-IOT ULTRA-LOW-END MASSIVE IOT APPLICATIONS
 NB-IoT technology is being standardized in time for 3GPP Release 13.
 NB-IoT is a self-contained carrier that can be deployed with a system bandwidth of only 200kHz, and is
specifically tailored for ultra-low-end IoT applications. It is enabled using new network software on an existing
LTE network, which will result in rapid time to market.
 NB-IoT provides lean setup procedures, and a capacity evaluation indicates that each 200kHz NB-IoT carrier
can support more than 200,000 subscribers. The solution can easily be scaled up by adding multiple NB-IoT
carriers when needed. NB-IoT also comes with an extended coverage of up to 20dB, and battery saving
features, Power Saving Mode and eDRX for more than 10 years of battery life. NB-IoT is designed to be
tightly integrated and interwork with LTE, which provides great deployment flexibility.
 The NB-IoT carrier can be deployed in the LTE guard band, embedded within a normal LTE carrier, or as a
standalone carrier in, for example, GSM bands. Standalone deployment in a GSM low band: this is an option
when LTE is deployed in a higher band and GSM is still in use, providing coverage for basic services.
 Guard band deployment, typically next to an LTE carrier: NB-IoT is designed to enable deployment in the
guard band immediately adjacent to an LTE carrier, without affecting the capacity of the LTE carrier. This is
particularly suitable for spectrum allocations that do not match the set of LTE system bandwidths, leaving
gaps of unused spectrum next to the LTE carrier.
 Efficient in-band deployment, allowing flexible assignment of resources between LTE and NB-IoT: it will be
possible for an NB-IoT carrier to time-share a resource with an existing LTE carrier. The in-band deployment
also allows for highly flexible migration scenarios. For example, f the NB-IoT service is first deployed as a
standalone deployment in a GSM band, it can subsequently be migrated to an in-band deployment if the GSM
spectrum is re-farmed to LTE, thereby avoiding any fragmentation of the LTE carrier.
 NB-IoT reduces device complexity below that of LTE-M with the potential to rival module costs
 of unlicensed LPWA technologies, and it will be ideal for addressing ultra-low-end applications
 in markets with a mature LTE installed base.

IOT-5G
 A 5G solution for cellular IoT is expected to be part of the new standards set by 3GPP
in the next few years. Supporting diverse throughput, latency and reliability
requirements, 5G will be highly adaptable to efficiently and flexibly address the needs
of all use cases across multiple verticals, something not possible with 4G alone.
 5G provides more than simple connectivity, it will allow the intelligent control of all
machines and enable the automation of everything.
 There is nearly complete industry consensus about the technology foundation of 5G
resulting in an ambitious and accelerated standardization roadmap. By the end of
2017 the standardization of 5G radio Phase 1 is expected to be complete, ahead of
the original timeline.
 5G will be a collection of technologies that achieve very high performance targets in
terms of capacity, throughput, latency, spectral efficiency and energy efficiency. The
biggest difference between 5G and previous generations is the diversity of
applications that 5G networks will support.
 5G technology will enable operators to provide all stakeholders with solutions tailored
to their specific needs. Devices, data and services critical to vertical customers can
be allocated the appropriate resources throughout a 5G network to ensure reliability
and availability. Network slicing will enable a single physical network to support a vast
variety of 5G applications by creating sub-networks from existing resources in radio,
core, transport, application servers, edge clouds and central clouds.

WIDE AREA TECHNOLGIES FOR UNLICENSED BANDS
 MulteFire for IoT
 MulteFire combines the high performance (enhanced capacity, range, coverage,
security, mobility and quality-of-experience) of LTE with the simple deployment of
Wi-Fi. Using unlicensed spectrum, it can be deployed by operators, cable
companies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), building owners and enterprises.
 MulteFire enables LTE to fairly share unlicensed spectrum with other
technologies, such as Wi-Fi. MulteFire is suitable for services where “any
deployment” can serve “any device” out-of-box, using unlicensed spectrum like 5
GHz.
 Major benefits for mobile operators include access to markets where they don’t
have licensed spectrum, co-existence with LTE licensed, simple and rapid
deployment using small cells without needing costly licensed spectrum and
carrier grade security.
 MulteFire provides a cost-effective, predictable network for a large number of IoT
sensors, whereas Wi-Fi is not designed to support many IoT connections.
 For internet service providers (ISPs) and enterprises, MulteFire offers the chance
to own and control their own LTE network to provide wide coverage and
improved performance. Enterprises will gain the scalability to serve an ever
increasing number of users and IoT devices.
 MulteFire offers superior mobility combined with a smooth handover to 3GPP
technologies. It also provides end-to-end quality of service and experience and a
seamless connection.

WIDE AREA TECHNOLGIES FOR UNLICENSED BANDS
 LoRaWAN
 LoRaWAN™ is an open global specification for secure, carrier-grade IoT LPWA
connectivity. Backed by the LoRa Alliance, an open, non-profit association, the
standard is supported by a certification program that ensures interoperability.
 According to the LoRa Alliance, LoRaWAN™ (long range) is a Low Power Wide
Area Network (LPWAN) specification intended for wireless battery operated
Things in regional, national or global network5. It supports a variety of
bandwidths suited to the data requirements of the application as well as the link
conditions. The selection of the data rate is a trade-off between communication
range and message duration.
 LoRaWAN data rates range from 0.3 kbps to 50 kbps6. An adaptive data rate
(ADR) scheme is used to change the transmit power levels in order to maximize
device battery life and overall network capacity.
 LoRaWAN is optimized for low power consumption to support large networks
with millions of devices. LoRaWAN includes support for redundant operation,
geolocation, low cost and low power devices that can run on energy harvesting
technologies for mobility and ease of use of IoT.

SHORT RANGE CONNECTIVITY
 Wi-Fi is well positioned to serve IoT connectivity needs whenever a device needs to connect to a cloud
service. Wi-Fi is a strong candidate to provide wireless connectivity for IoT devices from domestic
appliances and surveillance cameras to small control devices like thermostats.
 Beyond this, standardization organizations are developing Wi-Fi features aimed specifically at IoT to
simplify connectivity, extend range, operate at low power and provide location information.
 Since the first Wi-Fi technical specification was released by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) in 1997, further features have been developed for ever higher bit rates and throughput.
Wi-Fi is commonly perceived as the way to connect wirelessly to the internet in closed locations such as
homes and in public hotspots such as hotels.
 All Wi-Fi devices use IP for connectivity and that applies also in the IoT domain. An IoT device may use
IP and Wi-Fi to connect to a cloud service similarly to smartphones, laptops and internet tablets.
 The Wi-Fi standardization organizations like IEEE 802.11 Working Group (WG) and Wi-Fi Alliance are
developing features for IoT. The most relevant of these developments include:
 • A Wi-Fi variant for sub-1 GHz license-exempt bands for extended range and lower power energy
consumption Wi-Fi networks, compared to conventional Wi-Fi networks in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
bands. The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced Wi-Fi HaLow for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah
technology.
 • Mechanisms for easy and secure setup of devices and their connectivity are being developed in Wi-Fi
Alliance in programs like Device Provisioning Protocol and Wi-Fi Aware. These will facilitate the use of
Wi- Fi in IoT devices and extend Wi-Fi’s capabilities with an energy-efficient discovery mechanism.
 • I t’s essential to know the location of a device in many IoT cases. The Wi-Fi Alliance is developing a Wi-
Fi-enabled location component for an interoperable indoor location solution, while the IEEE 802.11 WG is
specifying a variant that enables absolute and relative position to be determined accurately.
 • The IEEE 802.11 WG is defining low power wake-up radio as a companion radio for Wi-Fi. The
objective is to reduce overall power consumption of a Wi-Fi device significantly while also potentially
decreasing downlink delays.

 Z-Wave and ZigBee
 Z-Wave provides reliable, low-latency transmission of small data packets at up to 100 kbps
making it suitable for control and sensor applications. A Z-Wave network can support up to
232 devices, and bridging networks can be used if more devices are required.
 ZigBee is a standard for low-cost, low-power, wireless mesh networks to support long
battery life devices sued for control and monitoring. ZigBee chips are typically integrated
with radios and with microcontrollers that have between 60-256 KB of flash memory.
 Z-Wave and ZigBee both use the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band
and are low rate technologies unlike Wi-Fi and other IEEE 802.11-based wireless LAN
systems designed primarily for high data rates.
 Z-Wave devices can communicate with each another by using intermediate nodes in the
mesh network arrangement to route around and household obstacles or radio dead spots
that might occur in the multipath environment of a house. Communication range is about
30m, but messages can hop up to four times between nodes providing enough coverage
for most residential homes. However, several hops may introduce a delay between the
control command and the desired result. On the other hand, ZigBee devices have low
latency. ZigBee builds on the physical layer and media access control defined in IEEE
standard 802.15.4 for low-rate WPANs. The specification includes four additional key
components: network layer, application layer, ZigBee device objects (ZDOs) and
manufacturer-defined application objects which allow for customization and favor total
integration. ZDOs run various tasks, including tracking device roles, managing requests to
join a network, and device discovery and security.

 Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE)
 The low power version of classic and well-known Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low
Energy (BTLE) is aimed at devices that need to run for long periods on small
batteries or energy-harvesting devices. Bluetooth technology is supported by
every major operating system to support a broad range of connected devices,
from home appliances and security systems to fitness monitors and proximity
sensors.
 Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) is classed as a low data-rate technology for control
and telemetry application, but offers a higher throughput, of about 200 kbps, than
ZigBee and Z-Wave. Bluetooth Smart technology operates in the same spectrum
range (the 2.400 GHz-2.4835 GHz ISM band) as classic Bluetooth technology,
but uses a different set of channels.
 BTLE is built on a new development framework using Generic Attributes, or
GATT. GATT is extremely flexible from a developer’s perspective and can be
used for just about any scenario. Bluetooth not only connects devices together in
an ultra-power efficient way, but also directly connects devices to applications on
a smartphone, PC or tablet

PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING A SUCCESSFUL IOT
STRATEGY
 As we have described, different IoT devices need different connectivity services. Some only
need to send a few bytes at long intervals, while others require continuous high bandwidth
connectivity with low latency. Operators, therefore, need to define a strategy that describes
in which segments they want to compete and which will then guide them on how to tailor
services for these segments and what technologies to deploy.
 Frequency licenses are a key operator asset. If the operator has available FD-LTE capacity
in sub-GHz frequencies, implementing NB-IoT functionality is a natural choice. If TDD-LTE
capacity is available, then both NB-IoT and LTE-M are feasible. If GSM is available, EC-
GSM IoT can be deployed and if 3G is available, spectrum can be refarmed to support NB-
IoT.
 If no sub-GHz capacity is available, then LoRa is the choice to enter the LPWA market.
 Even when an operator has sub-GHz frequencies available, it may be feasible to implement
LoRa (in addition to NB-IoT).
 Correct pricing and price differentiation are essential. As the LPWA IoT market expands,
lower prices for connecting devices to the internet will support the emergence of new
applications with new types of sensor.
 For operators, IoT connectivity is a clear differentiator against companies like Amazon, IBM
and Microsoft which all compete in the IoT arena, but offer no IoT connectivity.
 As well as connectivity, operators can offer additional services such as devices and device
management, as well as applications and services related to those devices. There are a
huge number of different applications, so operators need to select which applications to
provide. This is important because applications could potentially generate the biggest share
of all IoT-related operator revenues

IoT OPTIMIZATION IN THE CORE
 LTE was designed for users of mobile broadband with high data rates. IoT traffic requires
support for a massive number of devices, many having a very low data rate. Figure 10
shows some areas in the core network that can be optimized for LTE-M and NB-IoT.
 Some of the optimizations for the core network include:
 A dedicated core network can be deployed to serve IoT devices in an optimized manner.
Typically the dedicated core network contains the PGW and HSS but may also contain
the MME and control elements. IoT specific features are supported in the dedicated core
network. Cloud deployment is beneficial for IoT as it brings scalable capacity, elasticity
and efficient use of resources
 Signaling can be reduced by guiding IoT devices to perform periodic location updates
less frequently and by optimizing paging. Reducing signaling destined for overloaded
elements can help avoid overload situations
 We can increase the battery lifetime of IoT devices by, for example, allowing the IoT
devices to switch off functionality and go to sleep
 For a large number of IoT devices sharing the same subscriber attributes, we can
optimize the subscriber data storage in the HSS as well as the signaling to retrieve
subscriber data
 We can optimize network resource use for IoT devices doing small data transmission
infrequently using methods such as bearerless solutions.
 Monitoring can allow IoT applications to get information on the connectivity status of IoT
devices.

CONCLUSION
 Uptake of Massive IoT is set to take off, and operators have a unique opportunity to drive the
 implementation of new IoT applications by offering affordable connectivity on a global scale.
 For IoT applications, existing cellular networks offer distinct advantages over alternative WAN
technologies, such as unlicensed LPWA. The global reach, QoS, ecosystem, TCO, scalability,diversity and
security of cellular networks are all vital factors that can support the fast uptake and success of IoT.
Enabled by new software in existing legacy networks, cellular networks can support a diverse range of IoT
applications – ensuring the lowest possible TCO.
 3GPP standardization work for GSM and LTE, and the recent addition of NB-IoT, is further improving the
ability of cellular networks to address the Massive IoT market, where ultra-low end-to-end cost is a
prerequisite. GSM/GPRS, which already serves the majority of cellular-based MTC applications, is
evolving with a new EC-GSM standard, which delivers significantly better energy efficiency and increased
coverage. EC-GSM enhancements will cement GSM’s position as a highly relevant connectivity platform
for low-end, Massive IoT applications globally.
 New downsized NB-IoT and LTE-M chipsets, designed for MTC, and features that improve both coverage
and device battery life will boost the ability of LTE infrastructure to address the IoT market. One network
that supports all applications – from advanced mobile broadband services, VoIP and all kinds of low- to
high-end IoT use cases – creates a very strong value proposition. Whether operators choose the GSM,
NB-IoT or LTE-M track – or a combination of these – will depend on several factors such as technology
coverage, future technology strategies and targeted market segments. Whichever path they take, they
have a huge opportunity to benefit from the emerging IoT revolution. Operators can choose to continue
offering telecom-grade connectivityas they do today, or they can evolve to become a platform or fully-
fledged IoT service provider
 targeting a larger slice of future IoT revenues.

GLOSSARY
 EC-GSM Extended Coverage GSM
 eDRX extended discontinuous reception
 eUICC embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card
 IoT Internet of Things
 LPWA low power wide area
 LTE-M LTE for machine-type communication
 M2M machine-to-machine
 MIMO multiple-input, multiple-output
 MTC machine-type communication
 NB-IoT narrowband IoT
 TCO total cost of ownership
 UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card
 WAN wide area network

REFERENCES
 1.https://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/whitepapers/wp_iot.pdf
 2.https://novotech.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/lte-m-
optimizing-lte-for-the-internet-of-things.pdf?sfvrsn=0
 3.http://resources.alcatel-lucent.com/asset/200178
 4.IoT-by-UT-Dallas-022416.pptx

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