Connecting 50 Billion Devices – the Wide-area Network Perspective

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?

© u-blox AGSlide 4

The M2M universe – the supply-side view

© u-blox AGSlide 5

The M2M universe – the supply-side view

© u-blox AGSlide 6

…then there is “Dark Matter”!

IoT is for everyone…

© u-blox AGSlide 7

Unpredictable growth as machines get smarter & connected

© u-blox AGSlide 8

Source: Thanki/ICSS 2013

WANTED: Ubiquitous, Pervasive, Reliable, Secure, Economical, & Scalable communications….

© u-blox AGSlide 9

One network for the Internet of Things…

© u-blox AGSlide 10

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


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


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


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

Timescale


Proprietary specifications


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


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?


Connecting 50 Billion Devices – the Wide-area Network Perspective

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