Newsroom / IERTEC
NB-IoT will populate cities from 2019 onwards
NB-IoT will populate cities from 2019 onwards. The transformation of cities is unstoppable, inevitable and necessary given the pace at which digital systems are becoming integrated into their management, just as citizens have adapted to living connected and ‘online’. In a connected world, where […]
NB-IoT will populate cities from 2019 onwards
The transformation of cities is unstoppable, inevitable and necessary given the pace at which digital systems are becoming integrated into their management, just as citizens have adapted to living connected and ‘online’.
In a connected world, where all information flows through the network, communications systems are essential to obtain more information in real time. Lighting systems, cleaning, environmental measurement, vehicle and pedestrian tracking, display panels, interaction with tourists, and so on. All these systems use various communication methods with differing levels of deployment in cities, although GSM (M2M) is generally used.
Over the past decade, low-power initiatives using radio-frequency transceivers have emerged: LoRa, Sigfox and other proprietary systems. The reality, however, is that none has received the logistical and infrastructure support needed to make a deep impact on urban transformation: they require extensive antenna and repeater installations and have not achieved the expected success. IERTEC itself has participated in initiatives such as LoRa, but quickly realised that it would not be part of the future.
IERTEC and Telefónica have just signed an agreement to test a brand-new technology (not yet deployed) that will undoubtedly transform how we communicate: Narrowband IoT, or NB-IoT.
NB-IoT coexists with 2G/3G and 4G in cities and will enable communications to and from devices of any kind with minimal energy consumption. Until now, the biggest problem in providing communications for any system has been equipping it with a long-lasting power source, but NB-IoT drastically reduces this problem.
IERTEC is already working on deploying NB-IoT in a personal tracking system and is transforming its S2N devices for tracking vehicles and people, moving from GSM M2M to NB-IoT. This would not be possible without Telefónica's collaboration: it offered support as soon as it learnt about our projects and provided all the resources needed to work on and design the necessary electronics. Quectel, a manufacturer of communications modules, is also collaborating, providing engineering technical support and the hardware needed for integration into our systems.
We are part of the change.
