NB-IoT is a LPWA (low power, wide area) technology that offers low cost and long battery life for objects requiring a long-range mobile connection (e.g. in basements or shaded areas) and low power consumption (many devices are not connected to mains power or are in areas where one would not want to swap out batteries regularly). NB-IoT promises to achieve up to 10 years of battery life and deep indoor penetration, Vodafone said. The improved penetration and low power requirements make it possible to connect devices using NB-IoT simply and efficiently using an established mobile network.
The pre-NB IoT commercial technology trial used Huawei’s chipset and software and was the first of its kind to implement narrowband communications in cellular bands. Further trials and proof of concept deployments are planned by the companies. The NB-IoT standard is expected to be finalised in early 2016 as part of Release 12 from 3GPP.
