NB-IoT Galore at MWC

Article By : Rick Merritt

加利福尼亚州圣何塞。 - 本周在移动世界大会上，互联网的LTE的窄带-STE在移动世界大会上进行了大量的跨越式推出了新的筹码，软件和服务产品。NB-IOT是predicted to take the lion’s share of cellular IoT connections over the next few years，与LTE M1并行生长，并由LORA领导的一系列非蜂窝的远程网。

Sequans Communications宣布其第一芯片针对NB-IOT进行了优化，跨越式Qualcomm。启动RIOR MICRO与软件开发人员组成，以显示双模（NB-IOT / LTE M1）网络，Qorvo为所有低功耗广域网提供了其低频RF芯片的投资组合。

LPWANs will be the world’s fastest-growing connectivity technology through 2025, supporting 4 billion IoT devices by that date, according to market watcher ABI Research. For its part, Qorvo said that it saw 20% growth in the market for low-band products in 2017.

中国Mobile reported at MWC that it has launched NB-IoT networks in 346 cities using chipsets from five companies — Huawei, Mediatek, Qualcomm, RDA, and ZTE. The carrier has approved for use on its network 15 NB-IoT modules using the chips, according to来自TechInsights的报告analysts at the event.

Goodix是触摸屏控制器和指纹传感器所称中国的芯片供应商，宣布它将使用IP从其收购德国Commsolid GmbH出售NB-IOT芯片。它表明，在这位技术人士电话中展示了它在巴塞罗那的沃达丰网络上的技术演示。

Separately, Cisco reported on trials with China Unicom of an NB-IoT management system, the Cisco Jasper Control Center for NB-IoT. It helps automate control for a wide range of applications from agriculture and building automation to smart metering, parking, fire control, and street lighting.

“We expect to have more than 100 million NB-IoT connections on our network by 2020,” said Xiaotian Chen, general manager of China Unicom’s IoT group, speaking in a Cisco press statement.

中国’s other major carrier, China Telecom, gave an update on its aggressive deployments of NB-IoTat a U.S. version of the MWC event last year. The three China carriers are racing to carry out government mandates to deploy cellular IoT.

Sequans, Riot, Qorvo parts and demos

For its part, Sequans announced its Monarch N, a single chip optimized for LTE Cat NB1/NB2, compliant with 3GPP release 14/15. The company claims that it significantly reduces size and cost compared to its existing dual-mode chip but gave no details other than that it enables modules smaller than 10 mm².

Sequans said that Monarch N targets markets such as industrial sensors and utility meters. The chip got praise from Verizon for possible use in its guard-band deployments.

“Sequans是IOT LTE的领导者，他们的君主技术在推出我们的LTE CAT M1网络中是有用的，”Verizon执行董事Chris Schmidt说，依靠承运人是否使用NB的问题。-iot版本。

Startup Riot Microdebuted in Decemberits NB-IoT-only chip that draws milliamps to microamps of power and could sell for well below the industry’s target of a $5 module. At MWC, it partnered with telecom software vendor Amarisoft to demo a dual-mode network using the Riot RM1000 chip and Amarisoft’s Amari LTE 100 software, presumably running on an x86 server.

对于其部分，Qorvo详细介绍了任何类型的IOT网络的九个低频RF芯片组合。

The Qorvo parts span bands from 50 to 4,200 MHz. They include transmit linear amplifiers, gain blocks, variable gain amplifiers, attenuators, switches, filters, duplexers, and low-noise amplifiers, optimized for low power and small size.

— Rick Merritt, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, EE Times