What technology is NB-IoT, why smart lock manufacturers use this technology

The smart lock market is getting hotter and smarter. Just like smart homes, smart home products are divided into wired and wireless technologies. Wireless technology mainly uses ZigBee, wireless, and Bluetooth; while wired technology mainly uses bus technology. Since the smart lock is so hot, and many manufacturers recently use a technology NB-IoT technology, and in June this year, ofo hand in hand with China Telecom, Huawei officially announced that the world’s first NB-IoT Internet of Things smart lock jointly developed by the three parties officially started Commercial. So what technology is NB-IoT, in the end what is good?

What is NB-IoT technology

NB-IoT is an emerging technology in the IoT space that supports low-power devices in the cellular data connection of the wide area network. It is also called low-power wide-area network (LPWA). Cellular-based narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) has become an important branch of the Internet of Everything. It has the characteristics of wide coverage, multiple connections, low speed, low cost, low power consumption, and excellent architecture. The NB-IOT uses the license band and can adopt three deployment modes: in-band, protection band, or independent carrier, and coexist with existing networks. NB-IoT is built on a cellular network and consumes only about 180 KHz frequency band. It can be deployed directly on GSM networks, UMTS networks or LTE networks to reduce deployment costs and achieve smooth upgrades. NB-IoT supports efficient connection of devices with long standby time and high network connection requirements. The battery life of NB-IoT devices can be increased to at least 10 years while providing very comprehensive indoor cellular data connection coverage. NB-IoT is the latest technology proposed by mainstream telecommunication operators and equipment vendors for the IoT market in the global standards organization 3GPP.

The Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) also provides new physical layer signals and channels that are designed to meet the requirements of extended coverage - such as rural remote areas and deep indoor areas - and the ultra-low complexity of the equipment.

This technology is well suited for devices that generate low data traffic, which are battery-powered and typically have a long device life cycle.

NB-IoT application scenario

I. Public Facilities - Alarm and Event Detectors

Safety has always been a very important aspect of human life. People always want to ensure family safety. Alarm and event detection will help to quickly notify the user of detected intrusions. The system can not only provide intelligent protection against intrusion, but also provide intelligent judgments for detected events, such as a sudden increase in home temperature or smoke may lead to fire outbreaks. Alarm and event detection will use indoor deployed device sensors to continuously communicate with the network. This usage scenario is very suitable for low bandwidth and low power consumption scenarios such as NB-IoT.

II. Smart Industry and Agriculture - Smart Family

In general, smart home applications are deployed on short-range technologies such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, but these communication technologies require home gateways. If the device is embedded with NB-IOT chipset, there will be amazing benefits. For example, through the improvement of big data analysis, management becomes more efficient. The IOT devices mainly include LPWA applications and are designed to provide intelligence to users through sensors and devices found in the local area.

Third, personal devices - wearable devices

In the past few years, the application of wearable devices around health and fitness has become the focus of the public, and has gradually become an industry that can create huge profits. According to Cisco estimates, there will be 177M wearable connectivity devices by 2018. In 2015, it is estimated that its market value is 250 million U.S. dollars, and it will rise to 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. The report published by Berg Insight also estimated that the number of globally connected wearable devices was 19 million in 2014, and this number will reach 168.2 million by 2019, an annual growth rate of 74.8%. JawBone, GoPro and Nike have already begun to enter the industry. And smartphone giants like Apple, Sony and Samsung are more associated with smart watches.

Four main features of NB-IOT

First, the wide coverage will provide improved indoor coverage. Under the same frequency band, NB-IoT gains 20 dB over the existing network, and the coverage area is increased by 100 times. Compared with traditional GSM, a base station can provide 10 times coverage;

The second is the ability to support massive connections . A NB-IoT 200 KHz frequency sector can support 100,000 connections, supporting low latency sensitivity, ultra-low device cost, low device power consumption, and optimized network architecture.

Three more low power, NB-IoT terminal module AA battery standby time may be up to 10 years, without charge;

The fourth is lower module cost . The single consecutive module does not exceed 5 US dollars. In the future, the single module cost will be reduced to less than two or three US dollars. If the cost falls below 1 US dollar, it will bring explosive growth.

Conclusion: NB-IOT, as an emerging technology in the IOT space, provides effective technical support for modern intelligent products, and NB-IOT is an important opportunity for the cellular industry to respond to the Internet of Everything, and technology and commercial applications are gradually maturing. The open support and functionality of this technology are very much influenced by the smart lock corporate illusion. It also effectively solved the technical problems of smart locks.