(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/urbanbuzz)
Vodafone has teamed up with Huawei to trial the emerging Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) standard, a technology designed to deliver greater coverage and much lower power consumption than current 2G, 3G and 4G systems.
Trials took place in April at several live sites across central and suburban Melbourne to evaluate performance in varied real-world environments. Vodafone reports the initial NB-IoT tests were successful and says further trials will be carried out in the coming months to continue validating the technology.
Benoit Hanssen, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone, said: “We’ve been able to achieve significantly greater coverage both in terms of distance and depth compared with existing 2G, 3G and 4G technologies. Based on our testing in the Melbourne CBD, NB‑IoT can penetrate two to three double-brick walls, enabling connectivity for devices located in underground car parks and basements.”
“In suburban Melbourne we also recorded extended reach, with coverage tested up to 30 kilometres. NB‑IoT brings several advantages: deeper and wider coverage, battery life that can extend up to 10 years for many devices, increased scalability supporting as many as 100,000 devices per cell, and a low-cost modem chipset ecosystem forecast to fall below $5.”
NB‑IoT is a Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology tailored for broad, cost-effective deployments and long device battery life across much wider areas than standard mobile connections. “There’s a lot of attention around 5G right now, but there’s still considerable value left in 4G — NB‑IoT is a prime example,” Hanssen added.
He emphasised that NB‑IoT is essentially a 4G application optimized for use cases that demand extended range, deeper indoor penetration and long battery life. “We’ve invested billions in building a world-class network and we continue to enhance it with new capabilities such as NB‑IoT,” he said.
Stuart Kelly, Executive General Manager of Enterprise Business, said Vodafone is leveraging its global IoT expertise to bring benefits to Australian customers. Vodafone Group has been recognised for making strong use of IoT opportunities worldwide, and the company is applying that experience to local deployments.
“The applications for NB‑IoT are extensive, with particular promise for sectors like automotive, agriculture, healthcare and utilities,” Kelly said. “Potential use cases include gas and water metering, smart waste bins, alarms and detectors, and parking monitoring — all scenarios that benefit from low-power, wide-area connectivity and cost-efficient device hardware.”
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