Without doubt, the future of technology leans towards small devices that can stay online longer without constant recharging. Addressing this trend, telecom giant Ericsson has announced new software at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016, aiming to revolutionize the small IoT device industry.
Christened as Ericsson Networks Software 17A for Massive IoT, the software claims to power the smallest of devices more efficiently. The primary goal is to connect these devices without overburdening their power resources. The target market encompasses a wide variety – ranging from metering devices for cities and companies to wearable tech and future consumer gadgets.
Cellular networks, over the years, have been built to offer unmatched speed for smartphones. Now, the industry is transforming and adapting to accommodate new kinds of devices. Devices that require gradual or ‘trickle’ data transmission – from street lights and parking meters to clip-on trackers for personal belongings.
Peter Jarich, Analyst at Current Analysis, emphasizes, “anything that doesn’t require a lot of network connections or data, but you don’t want to be changing the battery very often,” fits into this new paradigm.
The solution to this comes in the form of Ericsson’s NB-IoT (narrowband Internet of Things), an offshoot of LTE. It can be incorporated into existing networks as a software upgrade and holds the potential to connect millions of IoT devices to one cell – a task significantly higher than what current base stations can serve. The company claims that this software will allow devices to efficiently function for 10 years on a single battery.
As an important step forward, telecommunications conglomerate AT&T has expressed unwavering commitment to using NB-IoT in their networks, though detailed rollout plans remain undisclosed.
Amidst all these developments, NB-IoT faces competition from proprietary systems offered by niche LPWAN (low-power wide-area network) companies, such as SigFox and Ingenu. However, since NB-IoT is still trying to become a standard, this early competition could motivate cellular companies to fast-track their efforts in building efficient IoT networks.
The rise of these new technologies gives massive IoT users, such as large city administries, the flexibility to choose their service provider. This goes beyond the traditional mobile carriers and includes smaller companies with localized services, eliminating the need to wait for nationwide coverage.
According to Jarich, companies like SigFox and Ingenu are unlikely to morph into large mobile carriers and sell services to customers. Therefore, NB-IoT and similar technologies may find their way into wearables and other small devices in the coming years.
Network carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T are already employing low-power specifications (like LTE Category 0 and LTE Category 1, and a protocol named LTE-M, respectively) to connect devices. Large operators taking such initiatives will likely boost the popularity of cellular tools for IoT, enabling them to compete against specialized networks.
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