The 'Internet of Things' or 'IoT‟ represents an exciting opportunity for device manufacturers, service providers and consumers alike. The ability to connect billions of 'things‟ to the internet is set to profoundly change the way we all interact and make use of countless devices that we encounter in our day to day lives.
There is of course nothing specifically new about this vision, machine-to-machine services (M2M) have been in existence for decades now and are well established in terms of service and
application. M2M service providers have long been using existing cellular networks to enable these services delivering applications such as logistics and asset tracking as well as some more recent examples such as in vehicle telematics.
The challenge for cellular operators moving forwards is how to continue the investment in this space in order to enable the so called IoT revolution. Today the majority of cellular M2M services are based on 2G networks such as GSM which although being a 20+ year old technology still offers many advantages in terms of low cost, low power and extensive network coverage. Increasingly 2G networks are being switched over to LTE based services to free up precious spectrum and add capacity.
Cellular today is all about the shift to LTE. This all IP technology is the fastest growing cellular technology in history with major LTE (or 4G) deployments across all major continents worldwide and subscriber rates are growing at over 130% annually according to the GSA. From the outset, LTE was conceived to deliver high throughput, low latency mobile broadband data to mobile devices to
enable devices such as smartphones and tablets and services including video on demand that require high throughput capable connectivity.
The standards body 3GPP who are responsible for LTE have been working on defining a new profile of LTE in the forthcoming Release 12 specification. The profile is termed ‟Category 0‟ (Cat-0) and promises to address the major challenges and open LTE for IoT (3GPP uses the term „MTC‟ for IoT which refers to „Machine Type Communications‟).
This paper looks from an operator‟s perspective at the attributes that Cat-0 devices will offer and how in turn this will help to drive new business opportunities. It then goes on to explain the major technical enhancements to the LTE specification that will enable a new breed of IoT devices and then takes the reader through the design choices that will help in turn spawn a new breed of connected low power LTE devices that are capable of making use of the existing LTE infrastructure.
Predictions estimate close to 30 billion internet-connected devices by 2020. IoT brings an enormous breadth of requirements and countless applications. How LTE Cat-0 will come to enable a portion of that market presents a fascinating prospect.