Mobile Phone Technology

LPWAN - Low Power Wide Area Network refers to the technologies that allows small devices such as sensors, actuators to connect to the Internet with low energy requirement and low data rates. This covers IoT applications and is key to the MMTC (Massive Mchine Type Communications) aspect of 5G, and indeed 4G.

The mobile technologies involves are NB-IoT (Narrow Band IoT) and LTE-M (LTE for MAchines). These are both low power, secure and simple protocols to transfer small amounts of data from a device. They have their different uses and perhaps the largest difference is that NB-IoT does not support handover thus making it unsuitable for moving devices, vehicle based devices. Both protocols use licensed spectrum an bound by strict protocols. Both run on very small power requirements. Once these sensors transfer their data to the hosting platform (and database) there can be mobile applications that use this data for various applications.

There are other low power technologies that compete with NB-IoT and LTE-M. These include 2G that is still active in running IoT devices including smart meters in the south of England, and many in home medical gadgets. Prior to 2030 these will all have to be replaced due to the demise of 2G.

A different non-licensed technology, LoRaWAN, is gaining popularity in providing massive IoT applications particularly in city centres. The only Mobile involvement in this technology will be to interact with the cloud data storage.

Specific applications include:

• Smart Meters
• Environmental monitoring
• Flood Management
• Street lighting management in a smart city environment
• Smart Agriculture
• Remote health care