What's the Big Deal about the Cellular IoT Narrowband Radio Technology (NB-IoT)?

RE: What's the Big Deal about the Cellular IoT Narrowband Radio Technology (NB-IoT)?

Instructorman — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 16:28:25 GMT

From my perspective it may come down to cost. If every IoT node that is to be connected to an NB-cellular network needs a SIM card and the carriers want to charge even a small monthly access fee, then, from an economic perspective, LoRa looks better. This assumes that the technical capabilities of both are the same in a given situation. There will be cases where NB-cellular offers superior performance, or simply works where LoRa doesn't. It may be then that a hybrid ecosystem develops using several radio technologies appropriate to the installation scenario.

And yes, I would very much consider using NB-cellular technology in an IoT application.

RE: What's the Big Deal about the Cellular IoT Narrowband Radio Technology (NB-IoT)?

umeghu — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 11:16:29 GMT

In my opinion both technologie will survive, unless there is a cut-throat pricing from Telcos on NB-Iot traffic.

"Traditional" LPWA cn be very cheap if you have many/multiple devices dispersed in a limited space, so it make sense to have one or few repeater built and service provided, may be then relying data through a cell network (or land line, for that matter).

And there may be sectors/application where a relevant data stream has to be taken into account for; or mobility is important.

The great advantage of NB is that it, apparently, simplifies life for the users who have static applications, low volume data flow and limited or no mobility.

Examples: besides the water and power metering, many control functions/services for remote equipment can be designed and brought to the market with a very limited cost on deployement.

It did struck me the new of an Agreement between a noted Cell Telco and a Maritime Satellite Communicatio provider: just think of all and every plant/machine on a ship connected through NB-IoT to a "maintenance" Cloud, feeding data for predictive maintenance and allowing the delivery to exact day and Port the ship arrives.........

ALSO a direct connection from field device to Company "Cloud" will allow to immediatly control the Quality of Data, as there is no gateway and controls to go through.

We'll have to see if the players will be too greedy and kill the cchicken.....

RE: What's the Big Deal about the Cellular IoT Narrowband Radio Technology (NB-IoT)?

DAB — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:40:05 GMT

As with any new technology it all depends.

I can see where and easy to use cellular connection could be robust enough, depending upon the Iot device growth.

It will still take time to resolve useful update rates for some devices and just how the connection can handle data surges during event trigger events.

As for using cellular connection it depends on ease of use, transparency of connection and secure but robust access to the data of only your devices.

So keep us updated on this technology and the development of devices and tools for other engineers to begin playing with its potential.

Time will resolve everything.

DAB