White Paper | March 2017
Evolution of RAN Architectures for Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) Services
Introduction CONTENTS
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) [1], the Internet of Internet of Things (IoT) Use Cases pg. 2 Things (IoT) market is expected to grow from $655.8 billion in 2014 to $1.7 trillion in 2020. LTE is the only wide area technology that can reliably NB IoT Overview pg. 3 support this massive number of connected devices due to its scalability, Radisys NB IoT Solution Scope pg. 4 security, reliability, longevity, standards protection and proven commercial deployments across the globe. Today, LTE supports IoT with Cat-1 devices, Summary pg. 4 while LTE-Advanced extends device battery life to ten years with power References pg. 4 saving mode. LTE-Advanced Pro (3GPP Release 13/14) further optimizes coverage, device battery life, cost and capacity for connected devices with the introduction of two new technologies: • eMTC (Cat-M) • Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT)
Radisys develops high performance software and integrated systems focused on key growth markets in the telecommunications industry, including SDN/NFV and cloud architectures, LTE networks and IMS service delivery. Radisys is working with industry-leading players that are actively involved in supporting NB-IoT solutions with communication service providers. Radisys’ CellEngine™ 5G RAN software has been enhanced with NB-IoT functionality, supporting the new protocol layer interfaces / physical channels / scheduling techniques for a strong product portfolio.
This whitepaper presents key considerations for developing 3GPP NB-IoT solutions using Radisys’ CellEngine 5G RAN software frameworks. Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT): KeyDeploying Business LTE Drivers over and Unlicensed Radisys SpectrumSolutions | Radisys White Paper 2
Forcasted Growth in IoT Connected Devices While connectivity growth in fixed phones, and even mobile phones and laptop/tablet devices is orecastedf to diminish to single digit figures, it is growth in IoT devices that will make up the majority of new connected device additions over the coming years.