Will LoRa and NB-IoT coexist for a long time?
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This post was last edited by Hot Ximixiu on 2023-5-20 14:11
There are many wireless communication technologies for IoT, mainly short-range communication technologies such as ZigBee, wifi, Bluetooth and Z-wave, and the other is LPWAN. One of the two types of LPWAN works on unlicensed spectrum. The other is 2G/3G/4G cellular communication technology, which works under the spectrum with administrative license, such as EC-Global System for Mobile Communications, LTE-cap, etc.
The value of the NB-IoT plan lies in its wide and deep coverage, low power consumption, low cost and large connections. Since it is developed based on LTE, the licensed bandwidth can be used in the existing 2G/3G/LTE cellular network. At present, it has been adopted by large operators such as Vodafone, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, and has been supported by upstream manufacturers of the industry chain such as Huawei, Qualcomm, Intel and ZTE.
1. From the application perspective
LORA and Sigfox have proven to be important development technologies. Among them, Sigfox has been used in 24 countries, and LoRa continues to be used in the construction of professional networks and community networks in some countries. Both NB-IoT and LoRa are in the stage of satellite TV, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and requires investment and joint development from all parties.
2. From the perspective of chips, wireless modules, terminals, service providers and application links
Multiple links in the NB-IoT industry chain have a high degree of market concentration. Most of the content in this field is the chip link in the LoRa industry chain dominated by large companies. A high degree of concentration has been formed, while other links appear in the form of a large number of participants. The subsequent innovation of profit models and close integration with the application industry will have a subtle impact on future trends.
To this end, Zhou Jin, director of the wireless terminal market planning department of ZTE Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., said that although the demand for the Internet of Things is diversified, LoRa modules and NBIOST modules will coexist for a period of time.
1. How to speed up deployment
NB-IoT has taken advantage of its advantages and is very popular among major operators and equipment manufacturers. However, expectations and challenges often coexist, otherwise the "expectations" will be greatly discounted, which is inevitable. Initially, it should be the cost of chips and modules. The cost of large applications is $1, and the cost of the connection module is about $5, so it is difficult to "balance" with this expectation in a short time.
Chips are the core business strength of NB-IoT technology. Chip giant Qualcomm first versioned the structure of NB-IoT and combined the advantages of the industrial chain to promote its application. Against the background of active and proactive configuration by various operators and factories, it is necessary to develop the entire ecosystem, build a stable and open NB-IoT ecosystem from infrastructure, chips, modules and devices, and promote NB-IoT technology innovation and development of commercial use.
In addition, in terms of network deployment and optimization, the biggest problem is time and cost. Vodafone estimates that 85% of enterprise base transceivers can communicate with NB-IoT and only require software upgrades, but for network operators with older base transceivers, hardware upgrades are required, which will increase the cost and time consumption of NB-IoT network construction.
In addition, the introduction of the network is also faced with various challenges, especially many complex and harsh environmental factors, which have caused great interference and attenuation to the network's prospects and signal transmission. Therefore, various new technical methods and optimization tools are needed to reasonably adjust network parameters and improve network quality.
In terms of application and policy models, this issue cannot be ignored. NB-IoT has a wide range of application scenarios and markets, covering smart cities (smart electricity meters, smart water meters, smart street lights), smart transportation, smart environments, smart homes (smart locks, smart lights, market sockets, etc.), consumer electronics, item tracking, industrial control, agricultural monitoring, etc., but each industry is in the process of promotion.
2. Are chip and module costs difficult to control?
The Internet of Things is a long-tail market that covers multiple fields such as chips, wireless modules, terminals, networks, platforms, and applications. Therefore, the official launch of NB-IoT is a complete industry chain for terminal operator applications starting from the "basic chip module". It can be said that chip performance and module cost have a crucial impact on the process of the NB-IoT industry chain.
Analysis shows that NB-IoT chips can lower the threshold of business. The price is $1 and the module is $5, which is obviously too high now. Major operators have invested in the NB-IoT camp with firepower, but its political nature and the different frequency bands of communication ports not only cause obstacles to data exchange in the middle network layer, but also because of the different frequency bands, they are for the chip and module industry, according to the demand for multi-band sensor communication ports, on the other hand, the competitive relationship with eMTC is also facing a delicate trade-off, but it is difficult to figure out whether it should be in a unified mind or separate.
How much market and application scenarios NB-IoT can occupy in the Internet of Things, chips, modules, terminals, operators and vertical industries, requires joint efforts and exploration. At present, there are still differences in the development of LPWAN technology, but NB-IoT needs to accelerate its development to gain market opportunities.
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