Four LTE Standards for Large-Scale Internet of Things

When you design a cellular IoT product, you must plan for connectivity from the beginning. Soon, you are faced with a difficult choice: choose the LTE standard. Which 4G LTE (or 5G NR) standard should you design for? The answer will determine the direction of your connectivity technology, from which chipset and module to use to which mobile network operator you work with.

If you're designing for large-scale IoT deployments, from smart meters to wearable consumer devices to industrial self-driving cars, LTE cellular networks give you four options. (These are likely to change as we approach 2030, with 4G LTE networks giving way to 5G new radios [NR] … But we will discuss this shift and its implications for device manufacturers in a separate article.) For now, read on for tips on which LTE standard will provide the most value for your product, including common use cases for each.

Four LTE Standards for Large-Scale Internet of Things

Today's massive IoT connectivity ecosystem offers these LTE standards, each for different scenarios. Here are today's choices, along with some standard applications for each:

1. LTE Cat 1

Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks impose a size limit on data as it travels through the cellular network. In 2008, the standardization authority 3GPP released Release 8, which defines specifications for user equipment (UE) into five categories.

The first of these — LTE Cat 1 — defines a maximum data transfer rate of 5 megabytes per second upload (5 Mbps UL) and 10 Mbps per second download (10 Mbps downlink). This makes LTE Cat 1 the first standard designed specifically for the Internet of Things, which typically requires lower data rates than Netflix streams on mobile phones.

You may think that the standard, which first appeared in 2008, is outdated. In fact, the opposite is true: because LTE Cat 1 is a mature technology, it's basically available everywhere, and it provides enough data throughput to support a wide variety of use cases. This is not always the case, and we will discuss the third and fourth items on this list in our coverage of NB-IoT and Cat-M.

2.LTE Cat 1bis

The LTE Cat 1 module uses two antennas. For equipment manufacturers looking to save space or cut costs, one antenna may be more appropriate. Enter LTE Cat 1bis, which is essentially a version of the LTE Cat 1 standard (5 Mbps UL and 10 Mbps DL) on single-antenna hardware.

Cat 1bis modules may lose some coverage compared to dual-antenna modules, but the difference rarely translates into user experience. When Se Quans, the producer of the Calliope chipset (the first LTE platform optimized for Cat 1), conducted field tests, they found that the single antenna lost only a few decibels of coverage compared to the two-antenna Cat 1 module and that the platform's advanced signal processing technology could mitigate this loss.

In addition, cellular networks are often limited by uplinks, resulting in little or no difference in how customers feel when using one or two antennas, as reported by millions of customers using only one antenna in real-world deployments. This demonstrates the relevance of the Cat 1bis Optimized Platform to provide cost improvements while providing nearly equivalent Cat 1 performance. Finally, it is important to emphasize that any Cat 1 network can enable Cat 1bis devices without any network changes or upgrades.

All of this makes the LTE Cat 1bis a great choice for small devices with moderate data needs, including voice or video data.

Common IoT use cases for LTE Cat 1 and LTE Cat 1bis

Because LTE Cat 1 and Cat 1bis use essentially the same baseline specifications, the same types of applications are covered. The difference is whether a single antenna design is better for your product because it saves space or cost. (Benefits vary from project to project, which is why choosing a chip/module provider with expertise can help guide you to your ideal technology).In addition, when using the new generation of dedicated Cat 1bis modules, users can benefit from optimized RF and power performance, as well as additional features such as integrated GNSS or integrated eSIM.

These standards provide near-universal coverage and higher data limits than NB-IoT or LTE-M. This makes them particularly flexible for devices with different data throughput needs and/or cross-country deployments. Common use cases for LTE Cat 1 include:

● Internet of Things retail kiosk

● Hot spot in the car

● Gaming equipment

● Smart Grid Products

● Home Security System

● Wearable camera

● Point of sale terminal

● Health Monitor

● Smart Watch

● However, for lower data requirements, 3GPP does offer two LTE standards designed for large-scale IoT projects: NB-IoT and LTE-M.