Page 27 - ITU Journal Future and evolving technologies Volume 2 (2021), Issue 5 – Internet of Everything

ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies, Volume 2 (2021), Issue 5

dustrial monitoring and supervision applications can tol‑ technologies such as NB‑IoT, EC‑GSM‑IoT, eMTC can also
erate delays in a range of milliseconds and have update achieve a long transmission range. Bluetooth, WiFi, NB‑
frequencies in the range of seconds [5]. IoT, EC‑GSM‑IoT, eMTC have higher channel bandwidths
Cellular networks will play a major role in the IoE do‑ compared to LoRa and SigFox. Channel bandwidths for
main in supporting M2M communication networks. How‑ Bluetooth and WiFi are 2 MHz and 22 MHz respectively
ever, future cellular standards will require optimizing the while the channel bandwidth of SigFox is 100 Hz only.
access network for both broadband and M2M communi‑ Bluetooth, WiFi, NB‑IoT, EC‑GSM‑IoT, eMTC can support
cations to meet varying design challenges. In contrast high data‑rate applications while LoRa, SigFox support
to broadband networks, large‑scale deployment of in‑ low data‑rate applications.
expensive low‑complexity devices, smaller payload sizes The knowledge of application requirements and techno‑
with non‑uniform traf ic density, energy ef iciency, ex‑ logical features of any technology can help us determine
tended network coverage are required for M2M net‑ the suitability of that technology for a particular applica‑
works [4]. Some enhancements have been proposed in tion. For example, WiFi, Bluetooth, NB‑IoT will it well in
the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to ef i‑ high throughput applications while LoRa and SigFox will
ciently support M2M applications in 2G, 3G, LTE Cat‑1 and not it such applications. However, WiFi and Bluetooth
higher networks. Extended Coverage Global System for are suitable for applications that require a small network
Mobile Communications for the Internet of Things (EC‑ coverage. On the other hand, LoRa and SigFox can provide
GSM‑IoT) and Narrowband Internet of Things (NB‑IoT) larger network coverage. These observations can be col‑
are cellular‑based IoE enabling technologies. Besides lectively applied towards application‑speci ic technology
the cellular‑based technologies, short‑range technologies selection. Our concept is illustrated in Fig.1. Fig.2 shows
such as Bluetooth, ZigBee and Wi‑Fi, and non‑cellular‑ the speed at which the IoE market is growing [10]. This
based technologies such as LoRa and Sigfox will play vi‑ paper is organized as follows: various IoE application re‑
tal roles to meet the huge connectivity demand placed by quirements and network design constraints are discussed
MTC networks. in Section 2, some IoE enabling technologies and features
Application‑speci ic technology selection requires care‑ are discussed in Section 3, various IoE applications and
ful preparation such as analyzing energy ef iciency, la‑ enabling technologies are discussed in Section 4 and con‑
tency, reliability, reliability, scalability and security re‑ clusions are drawn in Section 5.
quirements. Video surveillance, a smart city application,
cannot tolerate large delays compared to other smart 2. IOE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND
city applications such as structural health monitoring and NETWORK DESIGN CONSTRAINTS
waste management. Video surveillance is an example of a
high data‑rate application while structural health moni‑ The diverse nature of IoE application scenarios may have
toring and waste management are low data‑rate applica‑ a diverse set of requirements. Some of the requirements
tions. Some industrial applications such as closed‑loop could be application‑speci ic while others fall into general
control/ interlocking and control require low data rates expectations. Some requirements arise from the typical
while delays in milliseconds are tolerated with a high up‑ IoE devices and business objectives while others are rele‑
date frequency. Average message sizes and average mes‑ vant to networks. As an example, average message trans‑
sage transaction rates also vary from one application to action rates and average message sizes are shown in Ta‑
another. For example, average message sizes and average ble 1. Long battery life, support for the massive number of
−3
message transaction rates are 20 bytes and 1.67 × 10 /s devices, extended coverage, low device cost, low deploy‑
respectively for a typical home security application, and ment cost, security and privacy etc. are some of the key
−2
1 bytes and 3.33 × 10 /s respectively for roadway signs. requirements for some applications. Network scalability,
Some of the smart city applications such as road safety throughput, cell capacity, interference and delay are im‑
in urban/highways and most of the industrial applica‑ portant considerations for other IoE applications.
tions such as factory automation/packaging machines are
latency‑critical IoE applications with high‑reliability re‑ 2.1 Energy ef iciency
quirements.
Operating frequency, bandwidth, transmission range and The most important issue in IoE networks is probably en‑
data rate are some of the technological features of any ergy ef iciency [5]. Since the end devices are operated by
technology. LoRa and Sigfox operate in the unlicensed irreplaceable batteries and the network is expected to be
Industrial, Scienti ic and Medical (ISM) spectrum band functional for a long time without human intervention in
while EC‑GSM‑IoT and NB‑IoT operate in licensed spec‑ applications such as ire warning and pipeline inspection
trum bands. Bluetooth and WiFi are two short‑range [11], battery energy should be utilized most ef iciently. A
technologies having transmission ranges of 50 m and 100 battery life span expectation of 10 years for network op‑
m respectively. Although highly dependent on commu‑ eration is reported in [5]. A signi icant amount of energy
nication environments, some researchers reported that is consumed in packet transmission and reception pro‑
LoRa and SigFox can achieve approximately 15 km and cesses compared to other processes. The author in [12]
20 km transmission ranges respectively. Cellular‑based discussed the requirement of delicate balancing between

© International Telecommunication Union, 2021 15