Presentation on low power wireless technologies and standards for the Internet of Things (iOT), given at the BCS Communications Management Association AGM on 5th April 2016
Low Power Wireless Technologies and Standards for the Internet of Things
1. Low Power
Wireless
connection
to
Your
Business
“Things”
BCS Communications Management Association
AGM
Duncan Purves
Connect2 Systems
duncan@connect2.io
2. The IoT landscape - One size doesn’t fit all
Source: Goldman Sachs, IoT Primer, September 3, 2014; ‘Internet of Things: Making sense of the next mega-trend’
Broad variety of wireless
standards, industry bodies,
technologies for different types of
networks:
§ Body Area Network (BAN)
§ Body Sensor Network (BSN)
§ Medical Body Area Network
(MBAN)
§ Personal Area Network (PAN)
§ Home Area Network (HAN)
§ Nearby Area Network (NAN)
§ Local Area Network (LAN)
§ Wide Area Network (WAN)
§ Global Area Network (GAN)
4. Layer 1/2 Wireless Network Standards
§ IEEE 802.11 (WLAN)
Ø Most wireless-capable residential devices operate at a frequency of 2.4
GHz under 802.11b and 802.11g or 5 GHz under 802.11a.
Ø Some home networking devices operate in both radio-band signals and
fall within the 802.11n or 802.11ac standards
§ IEEE 802.15 (WPAN)
Ø Working group of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
which specifies wireless personal area network (WPAN) standards
Ø Includes seven task groups
Ø 802.15.1 (Bluetooth)
Ø 802.15.3 (High Rate WPAN)
Ø 802.15.4 (Low Rate WPAN)
Ø 802.15.6 (WBAN)
Ø 802.15.7 (Visible Light Communication)
5. Higher Layer Standards
The IEEE 802.15.4 technology is used for a variety of different higher
layer standard e.g.:
§ ZigBee
§ Wireless Hart
§ MiWi
§ ISA100.11a
§ 6LoWPAN
Ø IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks
Ø Specified by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
6. 6LoWPAN
§ Open Standard networking technology
specification Developed by the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF)
§ Every node has its own IPv6 address
§ Originally conceived to support IEEE
802.15.4 low-power wireless networks in
the 2.4-GHz band
§ Now being adapted and used over a variety
of other networking media including:
Ø Sub-1 GHz low-power RF
Ø Bluetooth Smart (BLE)
Ø Power Line Control (PLC)
Ø Low-power Wi-Fi
§ 6LoWPAN adaptation layer provides:
Ø IPv6 packet encapsulation
Ø IPv6 packet fragmentation and reassembly
Ø IPv6 header compression
Ø Link layer packet forwarding
COAP, MQTT
Websocket, etc.
IPv6 with 6LoWPAN
IEEE 802.15.4 MAC
IEEE 802.15.4 PHY
LoWPAN Adaption
TCP UDP
Application
Transport
Network
Data Link
Physical
6LoWPAN Stack Example
9. Linear Technologies – SmartMesh IPTM
§ Fully Redundant Wireless Mesh Routing
Ø Compliant to 6LoWPAN and 802.15.4e standards (2.4 GHz radio)
§ >99.999% Data Reliability
Ø Time-synchronised + channel hopping
§ Ultra-low power
Ø Devices sleep between scheduled communications, typically a duty cycle of < 1%
§ Automatic node joining and network formation
§ Secure
Ø End-to-end 128 bit AES encryption, message integrity checking, and device authentication
http://www.linear.com/products/smartmesh_ip
10. Street-based wireless sensors and parking meters collect
real-time parking-space occupancy readings and payment
activity
Streetline Parking Management
Streetline,
Inc.
is
the
leading
provider
of
Smart
Parking
solutions
to
cities,
garages,
airports,
universities
and
other
private
parking
providers.
11. Building Monitoring
§ Low
power
motes
at
The
Metropolitan
Museum
of
Art
monitoring
temp,
humidity
§ The
wireless
sensor
network
helps
preserve
the
works
of
art
13. “Thread was designed with one goal in
mind:
To create the very best way to connect
and control products in the home”
Thread Group
14. Thread Design Features
§ Specification released July 14, 2015
§ Security Architecture to make it
simple and secure to add and
remove products
§ Designed for very low power
operation
§ Uses 6LoWPAN and carries IPv6
natively
§ Runs over standard 802.15.4 radios
§ Based on a robust mesh network
with no single point of failure
§ Designed to support 250+ products
per network for the home
17. EnOcean
§ An energy harvesting wireless technology
§ Combines micro energy converters with ultra low power electronics
§ Enables wireless communications between battery less wireless sensors, switches,
controllers and gateways
§ Ratified as the international standard ISO/IEC 14543-3-10
§ Wireless range up to 300 meters in the open and up to 30 meters inside buildings
§ Data packet only 14 bytes long and are transmitted at 125 kbit/s
§ RF energy is only transmitted for the 1's of the binary data, reducing the amount of
power required
§ Transmission frequencies used for the devices are 902 MHz, 928.35 MHz, 868.3 MHz
and 315 MHz
https://www.enocean.com/en/home/
18. EnOcean Alliance
§ EnOcean, Texas Instruments, Omnio, Sylvania, Masco, and MK Electric formed the
EnOcean Alliance in April 2008 as a non-profit, mutual benefit corporation
§ Aims to internationalise this technology, and is dedicated to creating interoperability
between the products of OEM partners
§ More than 250 companies currently belong to the EnOcean Alliance
https://www.enocean-alliance.org/en/home/
19. ZigBee
ZigBee Alliance
§ Non-profit association established in 2002
§ Driving the development of ZigBee standards
ZigBee uses the PHY and MAC defined by 802.15.4
Markets:
§ Smart Home
§ Connected Lighting
§ Smart Meters - ZigBee Smart Energy
Ø UK DECC announced SMETS 2 which cites ZigBee Smart Energy 1.x
§ Retail
20. ZigBee Stack Layers
Application Layer
Network Layer
Media Access Control Layer (MAC)
Physical Layer (PHY)
ZigBee
IEEE
802.15.4
ZigBee
Device
Objects
Application Support Sub Layer
Application Framework
Application
Object 1
Application
Object N
……….....
21. ZigBee Pro
§ Support for larger networks comprised of thousands of devices
§ Global operation in 2.4 GHz Band (IEEE 802.15.4)
§ Frequency agile operating over 16 channels in the 2.4GHz band
§ Regional operation in the 915Mhz (Americas) and 868Mhz (Europe)
§ Optional - Green Power to connect energy harvesting or self-powered devices
22. ZigBee Application Profiles
§ ZigBee defines application-level compatibility with application profiles
§ Allows multiple OEM vendors to create interoperable products
§ Describes how various application objects connect and work together,
such as lights and switches, thermostats and heating units
§ Application profiles can be public or private
§ Public Profiles:
Ø ZigBee Building Automation
Ø ZigBee Health Care
Ø ZigBee Home Automation
Ø ZigBee Input Device
Ø ZigBee Network Devices
Ø ZigBee Remote Control
Ø ZigBee Retail Services
Ø ZigBee Smart Energy
Ø ZigBee Telecom Services
Ø ZigBee 3D Sync
23. ZigBee 3.0
§ Unification of the Alliance’s wireless standards into a single standard
§ Initial release of ZigBee 3.0 includes:
Ø ZigBee Home Automation,
Ø ZigBee Light Link
Ø ZigBee Building Automation
Ø ZigBee Retail Services
Ø ZigBee Health Care
Ø ZigBee Telecommunication services
§ Currently undergoing testing
§ Enables communication and interoperability among devices
§ Uses ZigBee PRO networking
24. ZigBee IP, ZigBee 2030.5 and 920IP
ZigBee IP:
§ IPv6-based wireless mesh networking
§ Designed to support ZigBee 2030.5 -
formerly ZigBee Smart Energy 2
Ø IP-based implementation of IEEE 2030.5-2013
for energy management in Home Area
Networks (HANs)
§ Updated to include 920IP, which provides
specific support for
Ø ECHONET Lite
Ø Japanese Home Energy Management systems
25. ZigBee, EnOcean & Thread Group
ZigBee and EnOcean Alliances collaborate1
§ Combining the benefits of EnOcean energy harvesting wireless solutions
with ZigBee 3.0 for worldwide applications
§ Define the technical specifications required to combine standardized
EnOcean Equipment Profiles (EEPs) with the ZigBee 3.0 solution
ZigBee Alliance and Thread Group collaborate2,3
§ Creating End-to-End IoT Product Development Solution
§ Brings ZigBee’s Applications Library to Thread Group’s IP Network Protocol
§ Roadmap for specifications, branding, and a test and certification program
1. ZigBee Press Release, Dec 2015:
http://www.zigbee.org/zigbee-and-enocean-alliances-collaborate-to-combine-benefits-of-enocean-energy-harvesting-wireless-with-zigbee-3-0/
2. . ZigBee Press Release, Apr 2015
http://www.zigbee.org/zigbee-alliance-press-release-zigbee-alliance-and-thread-group-collaborate-to-aid-development-of-connected-home-products/
3. 2. . ZigBee Press Release, Jan 2016
http://www.zigbee.org/zigbee-alliance-creating-end-to-end-iot-product-development-solution-that-brings/
26. ZigBee – Smart Street Lighting
§ Mayflower, part of SSE, have installed 250,000 nodes across UK
§ 150,000 nodes across the Hampshire County
§ Since 2010 it has reduced Hampshire’s street lighting energy
consumption by 21GW/hr per annum
Ø Equates to a reduction of 41% - or enough electricity to power 3,500 homes for a year
Source: Mayflower Complete Lighting Control: http://www.mayflowercontrol.com/
27. Wireless Wide Area Networks
Cellular Networks
§ GPRS, EDGE
§ UMTS (3G) HSPA+
§ LTE (4G) Long Term Evolution
Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN)
§ Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) from Sigfox
§ Weightless, from the Weightless SIG
§ LoRaWAN, Long Range WAN, from the LoRa Alliance
Cellular IoT
§ LTE-M LTE for M2M (1.4 MHz)
§ EC-GSM Extended Coverage GSM
§ Narrowband IoT
28. Sigfox
§ French M2M/IoT Network Operator and technology company
§ Uses UNB (Ultra Narrow Band) based radio technology to connect
devices to global network
§ Seeking to develop an international presence with partners
§ Seeks to differentiate itself as a low cost alternative to cellular and a
low power solution
29. Sigfox Technology
§ Uses ISM bands (license-free frequency bands)
§ Uses the most popular European ISM band on 868 MHz (as defined by
ETSI and CEPT)
§ Uses ISM band 902MHz in the USA
§ Up to 140 messages per object per day
§ Payload size for each message is 12 bytes
§ European regulation governing the 868MHz band enforces a
transmission duty cycle of 1%
Ø A unique device is therefore not allowed to emit more than 1% of the time each
hour
Ø Since emission of a message can take up to ~6 seconds, this allows up to 6
messages per hour
§ Long range 30-50km in rural areas
§ Range reduced to between 3 and 10km in urban areas
§ Communication with buried, underground equipment possible
31. Sigfox UK Partner Arqiva Coverage
§ Birmingham
§ Bristol
§ Edinburgh
§ Glasgow
§ Leeds
§ Leicester
§ Liverpool
§ London
§ Manchester
§ Sheffield
32. Weightless
Weightless is both the name of a group, the Weightless Special Interest
Group (SIG), and the technology
Weightless SIG is a non-profit global standards organisation
Delivers wireless connectivity for low power, wide area networks (LPWAN)
34. Three Open Standards – Weightless-W, -N, -P
Weightless-W
§ Designed for TV White
Space operation
Ø 470MHz–790MHz
Ø 150MHz of spectrum
available in US and soon UK
and Singapore
§ Data rate – 1 kbits/s to
10Mbits/s
§ 5km indoor range
§ 128-bit encryption and
authentication based on a
shared secret key
Weightless-N
§ Designed for license-
exempt ISM spectrum
operation
Ø Available globally now in
868MHz and 915MHz bands
§ Uses ultra narrow band
(UNB) technology
§ Uplink Data rate - Up to
500bits/s
§ Up to 10 km range
§ Star network architecture
§ 128-bit encryption and
authentication based on a
shared secret key
34
Weightless-P (New)
§ Operates license-exempt
sub-GHz ISM/SRD bands:
Ø 169/433/470/780/868/915/9
23 MHz global deployment
§ Uses narrow band
modulation scheme
§ Adaptive data rate - 200bps
to 100kbps
§ 2km range in urban
environment
§ Bi- Directional
Ø Network-originated and
device-originated traffic
§ Support for over-the-air
firmware upgrade and
security key negotiation or
replacement
§ 128-bit encryption and
authentication
35. Nwave - Weightless-N Network Deployments
§ Copenhagen & Esbjerg
Ø Smart City network
§ London
Ø Has been deployed in conjunction with the Digital Catapult
36. LoRaWAN & LoRa Alliance
§ LoRaWAN is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) specification
§ Intended for wireless battery operated ‘Things’ in regional, national or
global network
§ Allows low bit rate communication from and to connected objects
§ This technology is standardized by the LoRa Alliance
37. LoRa Alliance
§ An open, non-profit association of members
§ Founded in March 2015 (at Mobile World Congress)
38. LoRaWAN
Ø Secure bi-directional communication
Ø Data rates range from 0.3 kbps to 50 kbps
Ø Network architecture is typically laid out in a star-of-stars topology
Ø Gateways are a transparent bridge relaying messages between end-devices and a
central network server in the back-end
http://lora-alliance.org
39. LoRa/LoRaWAN Deployments
§ Orange selects Semtech’s LoRa RF for low-power wide area
networks in France’s smart cities
Ø http://www.iot-now.com/2015/10/12/37839-orange-selects-semtechs-lora-rf-for-low-power-wide-area-networks-in-frances-
smart-cities/
§ KPN launches LoRa network in Rotterdam, The Hague
Ø http://www.telecompaper.com/news/kpn-launches-lora-network-in-rotterdam-the-hague--1111547
§ Semtech and Tata Communications Partner to Build Internet of
Things Network in India
Ø http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151105005436/en/Semtech-Tata-Communications-Partner-Build-Internet-
Network
§ Wireless Sensor Networks Monitor Active Volcanoes in Japan
Ø http://electronicdesign.com/iot/wireless-sensor-networks-monitor-active-volcanoes-japan
§ Bouygues unveils dedicated IoT subsidiary for new LoRa network
Ø http://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/bouygues-telecom-unveils-iot-subsidiary/
§ SK Telecom plans nationwide LPWA network based on LoRa
Ø http://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/skt-plans-nationwide-lpwa-network-this-year/
41. The Things Network Oxford & Flood Network
Source: Ben Ward, TTN Oxford and Flood Network:
http://thethingsnetwork.org/c/oxford
http://flood.network/
42. Cellular IoT
LTE was designed in 3GPP Rel. 8 to provide affordable mobile broadband
and has been developed by subsequent 3GPP releases
Three tracks are being standardized in 3GPP for Cellular IoT:
§ LTE-M an evolution of LTE optimized for IoT
Ø First released in Rel. 12 in Q4 2014
Ø Further optimization will be included in Rel. 13
§ EC-GSM Extended Coverage GSM
Ø Evolutionary approach being standardized in GSM Edge Radio Access Network (GERAN) Rel. 13
§ NB-IoT Narrowband IoT
Ø Part of 3GPP RAN Rel. 13
Ø Proposals for the new NB-IoT standardization were agreed September, 2015 with specifications
expected to be completed by Q2 2016
Ø There were originally two competing solutions:
- Narrowband Cellular IoT (NB-CIoT) backed by Huawei Technologies, Vodafone, China Unicom
- Narrowband LTE (NB-LTE) 200 kHz narrowband evolution of LTE-M – backed by Ericsson,
Nokia, Intel
43. 3GPP Release 12 updates for LTE-M
§ Rel. 12 looks at how to reduce complexity and accommodate LTE-M requirements and a
new Category of UE (Cat 0) was introduced, thereby providing significant cost reductions:
§ Antennas
Ø There is the capability for only one receive antenna compared to two receive antennas for other
device categories
§ Lower data rate requirement (to 1 Mbs)
Ø The complexity and cost for both processing power and memory will be reduced significantly
§ Half Duplex Operation
Ø Half duplex devices are supported as an optional feature - this provides cost savings
3GPP Release 8 8 12 13
Cat 4 Cat 1 Cat 0 “Cat 1.4 MHz”
Downlink peak rate (Mbs) 150 10 1 1
Uplink Peak rate 50 5 1 1
Number of antennas 2 2 1 1
Duplex Mode Full Full Half Half
UE receive bandwidth 20 20 20 1.4
UE Transmit power (dBm) 23 23 23 20
44. LTE-M features planned for 3GPP Release 13
There are several features that are being proposed and prepared for the next release of
the 3GPP standards in terms of LTE M2M capabilities:
§ Reduce bandwidth to 1.4 MHz for uplink and downlink
§ Reduce transmit power to 20dBm
§ Reduce support for downlink transmission modes
§ Relax the requirements that require high levels of processing
3GPP Release 8 8 12 13
Cat 4 Cat 1 Cat 0 “Cat 1.4 MHz”
Downlink peak rate (Mbs) 150 10 1 1
Uplink Peak rate 50 5 1 1
Number of antennas 2 2 1 1
Duplex Mode Full Full Half Half
UE receive bandwidth 20 20 20 1.4
UE Transmit power (dBm) 23 23 23 20
45. 3GPP Cellular NB-IoT Features
§ Network can be deployed in very small bandwidth
Ø 180 kHz RF bandwidth for both downlink and uplink
§ Improved indoor coverage (20 dB enhancement)
§ Ultra low device cost (<$5)
§ Low device power consumption (>10 year battery life)
§ Support for massive number of low throughput devices
46. 3GPP NB-IoT Modes of Operation
NB-IoT should support 3 different modes of operation:
§ ‘Stand-alone operation’ utilizing for example the spectrum currently
being used by GERAN systems as a replacement of one or more
GSM carriers
§ ‘Guard band operation’ utilizing the unused resource blocks within a
LTE carrier’s guard-band
§ ‘In-band operation’ utilizing resource blocks within a normal LTE
carrier
47. Cellular NB-IoT Proof of Concept
From – “Vodafone and NB-IoT”:
http://www.gsma.com/connectedliving/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Presentation-3_Vodafone-keynote-v5.pdf
48. Cellular NB-IoT Proof of Concept
From – “Vodafone and NB-IoT”:
http://www.gsma.com/connectedliving/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Presentation-3_Vodafone-keynote-v5.pdf
49. NB-IoT - Vodafone Timeline
From – “Vodafone and NB-IoT”:
http://www.gsma.com/connectedliving/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Presentation-3_Vodafone-keynote-v5.pdf
51. About Connect2 Systems
We specialise in helping helping companies integrate:
§ Sensors, data, networks and control systems
§ Wireless Sensor Network products
With IoT Application Platforms and Enterprise Systems
We offer:
§ Custom hardware and embedded software services
§ Remote Device Management Solution for constrained IoT devices