Cellular overview

Nordic Semiconductor offers a wide range of cellular products, particularly focusing on the LTE-M and NB-IoT standards. For more information on the products, see Cellular IoT SiPs. The following are the main key features of LTE-M and NB-IoT:

  • Purely packet-based.

  • Provides significantly high data rates.

  • Improves latency.

  • Uses the spectrum more efficiently.

  • Supports scalable carrier bandwidths.

  • Includes robust security features.

  • Designed to be backward compatible.

LTE-M and NB-IoT

LTE-M is a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) communication standard, introduced in 3GPP release 13. It offers higher bandwidth and lower latency compared to other similar technologies. This makes it suited for applications such as asset tracking, health monitors, alarm panels, environmental monitoring, and smart parking.

NB-IoT, or Narrowband IoT, is another LPWAN communication standard that was introduced in 3GPP release 13. It is designed for indoor coverage, low cost, and long battery life. NB-IoT operates in a small radio frequency band of 200 kHz. It is ideal for applications like smart metering, environmental monitoring, and smart lighting.

nRF91 Series devices such as nRF9151 DK, nRF9161 DK, nRF9160 DK, Thingy:91, and Thingy:91 X support both LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies.

Comparison between LTE-M and NB-IoT

The following table shows a comparison between LTE-M and NB-IoT in terms of advantages in using any of these standards:

LTE-M

NB-IoT

Strengths

Higher throughput

Longer range

Lower latency

Better penetration

Better roaming agreements

Power efficient at lower data rate

Power efficient at medium data rate

Suitable for TCP/TLS secure connection

You can find the key feature comparison between LTE-M and NB-IoT in the nWP044 - Best practices for cellular IoT development LTE technology documentation.

Factors to be considered for cellular IoT development

Following are the key considerations to ensure cellular support for your SiP when using Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF91 Series devices.

LTE bands

There are 56 LTE bands from 400 MHz to 6 GHz. Some bands use Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and some use Time Division Duplex (TDD). The different bands are licensed by different Mobile Network Operators (MNO) around the world. Half-duplex operation opens for much simpler multiband support and enables User equipment (UE) to operate in a larger region. For LTE-M and NB-IoT, the only known deployment is FDD.

nRF91 Series SiPs support up to 18 LTE bands for global operation. For details of LTE band support in an nRF91 Series SiP for LTE-M and NB-IoT, see the nRF9151 Product Specification, the nRF9161 Product Specification, or the nRF9160 Product Specification, depending on the SiP you are using.

Physical layer parameters

The following table provides physical layer parameters for LTE-M and NB-IoT:

LTE-M

NB-IoT

Bandwidth

1.4 MHz

200 kHz

Antenna Techniques

Single antenna

Single antenna

OFDM subcarriers

72 subcarriers

12 subcarriers

Duplexing

Full-duplex or half-duplex, but networks use only half-duplex FDD

Half-duplex

Modulation in Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL)

QPSK or 16QAM in both UL and DL depending on signal quality

BPSK or QPSK in UL depending on signal quality, only QPSK in DL

Network support

A factor governing the selection of the access technology is the MNO support in the areas where you wish to deploy your product. Most cellular operators support both LTE-M and NB-IoT, but there are geographic locations where only one of these is supported. See Mobile IoT deployment map for more information.

Certifications

Some MNOs, such as Verizon and Vodafone, have their own certification requirements. In such cases, it is advised to engage with the MNO certification programs and contact them at the earliest. This is to receive certification-related requirements and better understand the potential certification costs, processes, and timelines. But many operators only require GCF (Global Certification Forum) or PTCRB certifications that devices support as per standard, and regulatory certifications.

For more information about certification related to the nRF91 Series SiP, refer to the following pages:

SIM card support

SIMs that are used with the nRF91 Series devices must support LTE-M, NB-IoT, or both. The iBasis SIM is bundled with the nRF9160 DK and Thingy:91, the Onomondo SIM with an nRF91x1 DK and Thingy:91 X, and the Wireless Logic SIM card with the nRF9151 DK and Thingy:91 X. Check the iBasis IoT network coverage, Onomondo LTE-M coverage, Onomondo NB-IoT coverage, or Wireless Logic LTE-M/NB-IoT network coverage pages to see the network coverage for different countries, depending on the SIM card you are using.

Software SIM

The nRF91 Series supports software SIM, which allows the usage of software SIM-based solutions to reduce energy consumption associated with physical SIMs. The following are some of the key advantages of using software SIM:

  • Cost savings and simplified design by excluding the SIM hardware layer.

  • Software SIMs, unlike traditional SIMs, support the suspend/resume feature required during eDRX intervals. This feature saves power by eliminating the idle current of the SIM, which typically ranges from 30 µA to 60 µA.

    Note

    The AT%UICCPOWERSAVE AT Command, when using traditional SIMs, turns off the SIM during eDRX intervals to save power if the suspend/resume feature is not supported. See nRF91x1 UICC deactivation %UICCPOWERSAVE for more information.

See the software SIM support section of the Cellular IoT unique features documentation for information on software SIM.

The software SIM support is available in the nRF Connect SDK from the v2.5.0 release. The Onomondo SoftSIM integration with the nRF91 Series guide describes the integration of software SIM into nRF Connect SDK, and the SoftSIM guide demonstrates the transfer of SIM data between the modem and the application.

Power consumption

Both LTE-M and NB-IoT support Power Saving Mode (PSM), Extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX), and Release Assistance Indication (RAI) to minimize power consumption. For more information on power-saving techniques, refer to the DevAcademy’s Power saving techniques documentation.

Security

The nRF91 Series devices include a range of security features, such as Arm TrustZone and Arm CryptoCell for secure application and data handling. For more information, refer to the Security documentation.

Security best practices are also implemented to protect data transmitted over the cellular network. This includes using Transport Layer Security (TLS) for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) for User Datagram Protocol (UDP). For more information, refer to the Security protocol for cellular IoT documentation.

References