Global statistics showed that cellular networks already cover 90 per cent of the world’s population, but even with the networks in place, a number of roadblocks to supporting mass-market adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) have remained.
In order to address the global challenge, Ericsson has come up with a targeted new suite of software upgrades and ecosystem advances that will accelerate the uptake of IoT for the benefit of both industry and consumers.
Speaking on the new solution, Senior Vice President Orange Labs Networks, Orange, Alain Maloberti, said: “The Internet of Things has so much potential. We are committed to working with key IoT companies to support innovations that enhance the day-to-day lives of our consumer and business customers. We are really pleased to see Ericsson working with leading ecosystem players to address the cost, coverage and battery life issues that have hindered broader mass uptake of IoT applications. We see that the best is yet to come.”
Senior Vice President and Head of Network Center, SK Telecom, Park Jin-hyo, said: “Our ambition is to set the pace for mobile networks, so we are already proactively building toward 5G technology, which will include an evolution of today’s LTE and innovations driven by new IoT use cases. Connectivity underlies everything we do and Ericsson’s latest innovations enhance both networks and devices so that we can develop new IoT opportunities in Korea. This is sure to accelerate uptake of IoT and allow us to quickly reach our customers with useful IoT services.”
There are already more than 230 million cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions for IoT devices, but certain challenges have limited the potential for large-scale adoption across a variety of use cases, namely: the cost of IoT devices, device battery life, and cellular coverage in both remote areas and deep inside buildings. Founder and CEO, Machina Research, Matt Hatton, said: “For IoT to truly erupt, standardization is vital and interoperability is key. By working with big names like Intel and other IoT ecosystem players like Altair, Sequans and Telit, Ericsson is ensuring that opportunities for efficiencies are not missed and that the device and network ecosystem develop in synch.”
Working with its ecosystem partners, advances in Ericsson’s new IoT Networks Software, is expected to reduced IoT device cost, extend battery life, improve device power saving mode, and enhance the usage of IoT applications.
The new software supports LTE Category with half-duplex operation in foreign direct investment, which effectively limits functionality and capability to those specifically required for IoT applications, such as large-scale sensor and smart meter deployments. This reduced complexity cuts device cost by 60 per cent.
In the area of extended battery life, the solution enhances 10-year battery life of devices, which is one of the goals for 5G and Ericsson is introducing two new software upgrades for energy efficiency that achieve that goal on today’s IoT devices.
Device Power-saving Mode for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), is a new device power-saving capability that introduces a deep sleep state, while Extended Discontinuous Reception (DRX) for GSM extends the sleep cycles in inactive mode.
Improved indoor coverage is another feature of the Ericsson solution to extended coverage software for GSM and enhances improvement, leading to a seven-fold extension in the range of low-rate applications. This enables the usage of IoT applications in remote locations and deep within buildings underground.
Chief Wireless Technologist and Fellow, Intel Corporation, Ken Stewart, said: “Connectivity is critical to mass adoption of new IoT applications for smart cities and industries. Intel is helping clear the path for IoT’s rapid growth through its research and development of cutting-edge new technologies, and by working closely with ecosystem partners. We are pleased to collaborate with Ericsson to jointly drive standards adoption of solutions that can be used immediately on existing operator networks.”
An additional capability included in the Ericsson software release, is the enablement of service prioritisation to optimise network resources while addressing the diversity of IoT use cases. As more IoT devices connect to the network, it is important that they and the services they provide can be prioritized, especially during times of heavy traffic, Stewart said.
