Narrowband- IoT

With many remote items of equipment and assets capable of providing business insight, now is the time to connect them. Vodafone’s solutions for Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) communication enable devices underground, across countryside or in areas with poor coverage connect millions of devices.

The two key LPWA technologies are Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and LTE-M (LTE for Machine Type Communications).

LTE-M versus NB-IoT

Both LTE-M and NB-IoT p rovide long distance communication, with LTE-M trading some battery life and distance for additional communication capabilities. LTE-M has lower latency and can support voice communications.

NB-IoT	LTE-M
Extreme reach (remote, underground)	Interactive communications
Great for very remote sensors	Enhanced reach (further, underground)
Non real-time monitoring	Asset management
Utility meters	Alternative for 2G and 3G

NB-IoT, LTE-M and LPWA availability

Please hover your mouse over or tap the diagram to check the countries where these technologies are available

Narrowband-IoT from Vodafone

push the boundaries of connectivity

Vodafone brings the next generation Internet of Things technology with Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT). NB-IoT provides long range communication, allows upto 10 years battery life and helps organisations connect a wide range of assets. Learn more about NB-IoT in this video.

Why is LPWA important?

LPWA is specifically designed for connecting devices with low bandwidth requirements, using low power, while providing wider and deeper network coverage. Many millions of devices are predicted to be connected via LPWA networks in the next few years.

The potential for LPWA technology is huge. Most devices can last ten years in the field without a battery charge, connect as far as 10km, cost only$10 each, with cell sites able to support 10,000 devices.

LPWANs driving device connectivity

Strong coverage over large areas, even underground or deep within urban infrastructure

Great power efficiency, devices can run on batteries for 10 years or more without a charge

Massive scale, connecting potentially millions of devices in a single deployment

Low cost communications hardware, enabling data collection devices to be built for less than $10

Low bandwidth, many use cases require only a few bytes of data to be transmitted per device per day

Why NB-IoT?

NB-IoT is a specification developed by 3GPP, and was standardised as part of 3GPP Release 13 in June 2016.
NB-IoT is an ‘industrial grade’ LPWA solution – it runs on licenced spectrum which guarantees quality of service and a future-proofed capability
It’s a cellular technology related to LTE, supports two way communications and is designed specifically for LPWA applications
It is designed to offer 20 dB coverage improvement versus GSM
Low device cost, and compatibility with existing cellular network infrastructure, with the same level of security as LTE.

Find out more detail about the features of NB-IoT as described in the 3GPP specification Release 13 from June 2016

Security

LTE grade security as standard, keeping your data and network safe

Existing infrastructure

Uses existing LTE networks

Open standards

Based on open standards – service is not vendor or operator dependent

Industry support

Wide industry support from service providers through to chipset makers

Two-way

Bi-directional communication

Licensed spectrum

Operates in a licensed spectrum and provides assured quality of service with minimal risk of interference

164dB propagation

Deepest and furthest reach of any LPWA network

NB-IoT is an efficient, cost effective technology for a wide range of IoT applications. Any devices that have low energy consumption, low data transfer demands and are geographically dispersed or remote can benefit from its application. Developments so far include:

Connected Cities

Street lighting
Smart waste
Smart transport
Road traffic monitoring
Smart parking
Infrastructure sensors

Connected living and working

Pet tracking
Fire safety
Asset tracking
Location security
Smart metering

Connected industry

Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring

Connected agriculture

Animal welfare monitoring
Crop monitoring
Animal tracking
Soil monitoring

Connected industry

Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring

Connected science

Smart laboratories
Asset tracking

Connected health

Drug delivery
Wearables for elderly

Connected retail

Intelligent stores
Smart connected cabinets
Smart shelves

Developer Kit from Pycom

Pycom is a global Internet of Things technology company with a vision to give all connected ideas an opportunity to succeed. The company has pioneered an innovative and highly scalable IoT platform - a unique suite of NB-IoT capable hardware and software products that connect developers, enterprises and consumers. Vodafone Narrowband IoT connectivity Partner since January 2019.

See here for more information:- https://pycom.io/

Developer Kit from Sodaq

SODAQ sees a world without batteries. Its mission is to provide sustainable IoT asset tracking solutions. Its visionary and skillful team has vast experience in developing IoT devices embedded with software that optimizes power performance along with renewable energy harvesting technologies including solar and kinetic and communicating over LTE-M, NB-IoT.

See for more information - https://sodaq.com/

Image- Pen drive2

The Vodafone USB Connect LPWA

The Vodafone USB Connect LPWA is a convenient USB modem that’s ideal for many industrial IoT applications, including healthcare, smart building sensors, metering and predictive maintenance.

USB Connect LPWA can easily bring low data rate connectivity to equipment without the need to redesign hardware. Supporting NB-IoT and LTE CAT-M1, developers may easily enable connectivity on any hardware platform running Linux Kernel 2.6 and above or Windows 10.

For more information, please contact your Vodafone Business Account Manager.

LPWA

Why is LPWA important?

LPWA is specifically designed for connecting devices with low bandwidth requirements, using low power, while providing wider and deeper network coverage. Many millions of devices are predicted to be connected via LPWA networks in the next few years.

The potential for LPWA technology is huge. Most devices can last ten years in the field without a battery charge, connect as far as 10km, cost only$10 each, with cell sites able to support 10,000 devices.

LPWANs driving device connectivity

Strong coverage over large areas, even underground or deep within urban infrastructure

Great power efficiency, devices can run on batteries for 10 years or more without a charge

Massive scale, connecting potentially millions of devices in a single deployment

Low cost communications hardware, enabling data collection devices to be built for less than $10

Low bandwidth, many use cases require only a few bytes of data to be transmitted per device per day

Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT)

Why NB-IoT?

NB-IoT is a specification developed by 3GPP, and was standardised as part of 3GPP Release 13 in June 2016.
NB-IoT is an ‘industrial grade’ LPWA solution – it runs on licenced spectrum which guarantees quality of service and a future-proofed capability
It’s a cellular technology related to LTE, supports two way communications and is designed specifically for LPWA applications
It is designed to offer 20 dB coverage improvement versus GSM
Low device cost, and compatibility with existing cellular network infrastructure, with the same level of security as LTE.

Find out more detail about the features of NB-IoT as described in the 3GPP specification Release 13 from June 2016

Security

LTE grade security as standard, keeping your data and network safe

Existing infrastructure

Uses existing LTE networks

Open standards

Based on open standards – service is not vendor or operator dependent

Industry support

Wide industry support from service providers through to chipset makers

Two-way

Bi-directional communication

Licensed spectrum

Operates in a licensed spectrum and provides assured quality of service with minimal risk of interference

164dB propagation

Deepest and furthest reach of any LPWA network

LTE-M Applications

NB-IoT is an efficient, cost effective technology for a wide range of IoT applications. Any devices that have low energy consumption, low data transfer demands and are geographically dispersed or remote can benefit from its application. Developments so far include:

Connected Cities

Street lighting
Smart waste
Smart transport
Road traffic monitoring
Smart parking
Infrastructure sensors

Connected living and working

Pet tracking
Fire safety
Asset tracking
Location security
Smart metering

Connected industry

Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring

Connected agriculture

Animal welfare monitoring
Crop monitoring
Animal tracking
Soil monitoring

Connected industry

Warehouse monitoring
Safety and security
Wear monitoring

Connected science

Smart laboratories
Asset tracking

Connected health

Drug delivery
Wearables for elderly

Connected retail

Intelligent stores
Smart connected cabinets
Smart shelves

DevKits

Developer Kit from Pycom

Pycom is a global Internet of Things technology company with a vision to give all connected ideas an opportunity to succeed. The company has pioneered an innovative and highly scalable IoT platform - a unique suite of NB-IoT capable hardware and software products that connect developers, enterprises and consumers. Vodafone Narrowband IoT connectivity Partner since January 2019.

See here for more information:- https://pycom.io/

Developer Kit from Sodaq

SODAQ sees a world without batteries. Its mission is to provide sustainable IoT asset tracking solutions. Its visionary and skillful team has vast experience in developing IoT devices embedded with software that optimizes power performance along with renewable energy harvesting technologies including solar and kinetic and communicating over LTE-M, NB-IoT.

See for more information - https://sodaq.com/

Image- Pen drive2

The Vodafone USB Connect LPWA

The Vodafone USB Connect LPWA is a convenient USB modem that’s ideal for many industrial IoT applications, including healthcare, smart building sensors, metering and predictive maintenance.

USB Connect LPWA can easily bring low data rate connectivity to equipment without the need to redesign hardware. Supporting NB-IoT and LTE CAT-M1, developers may easily enable connectivity on any hardware platform running Linux Kernel 2.6 and above or Windows 10.

For more information, please contact your Vodafone Business Account Manager.

LPWA OpenLabs

We have a number of NB-IoT OpenLabs available for customers, partners and vendors to test their applications, devices and chip sets in a secure, live environment.

Main OpenLab sites:

UK (Newbury)
Germany (Dusseldorf)
Italy (Milan)
South Africa (Vodacom, Midrand)
USA (Redwood City, CA)

Our OpenLabs are innovative places that provide an environment for application developers and device, module and chip manufacturers to test their products. This accelerates their time to market for NB-IoT devices and services. It also allows device manufacturers to verify that their products meet the exceptional sensitivity and battery life performance requirements of NB-IoT devices.

Services offered at our Open Labs include:

NB-IoT device test for network integration
E2E testing from device to network, and from network to the internet and user applications
Power consumption testing
Extended coverage testing (ECL0 / ECL1 / ECL2)
NB-IoT GCF Certification

Why LTE-M?

Like NB-IoT, LTE-M is an ‘industrial grade’ LPWA solution – it runs on licenced spectrum which guarantees quality of service and a future-proofed capability
It’s a cellular technology related to LTE, supports two way communications such as voice and is designed specifically for LPWA applications
Higher throughput when compared to NB-IoT, and also has an enhanced coverage performance
Low device cost, and compatibility with existing cellular network infrastructure, with the same level of security as LTE.

Vodafone offers a range of consultancy services to assist you with your Narrowband-IoT deployment

NB-IoT proposition Explorer

NB-IoT Proposition In-Depth

NB-IoT Proposition Tailored

Image-Tailored api

NB-IoT Proposition Tailored API

Related documents

Narrowband-IoT: pushing the boundaries of IoT

An overview of NB-IoT, the communications technology that will underpin industrial-grade internet of things deployments.

Download the white paper (5.98MB)

Image- document techem

Techem increases energy efficiency

With Narrowband-IoT from Vodafone, Techem can track energy consumption reliably and cost-effectively.

Download the case study

Learn how NB-IoT helps Emilio Moro to manage their winery

Winery of the future

Did you know?

Gartner has positioned Vodafone as a Leader in its Magic Quadrant for IoT Connectivity Services, Worldwide report 2019, for the sixth consecutive year

Vodafone IoT have connected over 100 million devices worldwide

We are the world's largest IoT services provider