What Is an IoT Network?

An IoT network refers to a collection of interconnected devices that communicate with other devices without the need for human involvement, such as autonomous cars, smart appliances, and wearable tech.

The network infrastructures most associated with IoT networks are 4G LTE and 5G which are built to support the resource demands of the IoT.

IoT Networks: 5G

IoT is a central use case of 5G infrastructure. This is because the current mobile networks are already struggling to keep up with the resource demands of the exploding IoT device market.

All three major usage scenarios for 5G networks as described by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) support IoT devices to some extent: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC).

Enhanced Mobile Broadband

According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index published in 2019, it is predicted that “IoT connections will represent more than half (14.6 billion) of all global connected devices and connections (28.5 billion) by 2022.” eMBB will be needed to handle this massive amount of traffic.

Massive Machine-Type Communications

Standards set by ITU for 5G networks mandate they be able to handle 1 million devices per square kilometer. This is especially needed for factories using Industrial IoT (IIoT) devices where there is a relatively low volume of non-delay-sensitive data, such as sensors. In a 5G network supporting an IIoT deployment, a single base station can be used to serve the deployment, thanks to the mMTC standard. Data packet sizes are small, which reduces congestion when there is a large amount of data from a large number of concurrent connections.

Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications

Mission-critical applications and IoT use cases that demand safety as a priority need highly-reliable connections with low latency. Those requirements necessitate the URLLC standard of 5G networks. For example, self-driving cars require low-latency. An autonomous car doesn’t need a constant internet connection to run. However, when it needs to communicate with other cars or edge computing installations, low latency is mandatory so the car can make a decision before it hits another car, pedestrian, or other object. IoT medical devices need both reliable and low-latency connections. In the case of remote surgery, the connection between the devices on-site and the remote surgeon must be below 10 milliseconds. A bad connection or a slow one can have drastic life-or-death consequences. 5G networks have the potential to provide that with URLLC where latency is as low as 1millisecond in ITU standards.

This diagram shows the primary concern for each mobile broadband (MBB) usage scenario. Source: Springer

IoT Networks: 4G LTE

The internet of things is not waiting patiently for 5G networks to mature. According to Cisco, IoT devices have been around since between 2008 and 2009, long before 5G network development. For machine to machine (M2M) connections, LTE networks use the Cat-M1 chipset. M2M connections are the basis of mMTC. Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is a type of low power wide area (LPWA) technology that supports IoT devices. NB-IoT improves device power consumption, the capacity of the network system, and how efficiently the available spectrum is used.

The inclusion of Cat-M1 and NB-IoT means LTE networks can work with 5G network use cases, such as M2M communications. However, the number of devices served in a given geographic area is much less than in 5G networks. LTE networks can provide coverage of 60,680 LPWA devices per square kilometer. Compare this number to the one given above in the mMTC usage scenario.

According to Qualcomm, Cat-M1 chips and NB-IoT technology will be adopted by 5G networks for in-band deployments to connect low-complexity IoT devices. The standards organization, 3GPP, said in its Release 13 standards how mMTC and NB-IoT can work with both LTE networks and the 5G New Radio (NR) technology.

What Is an IoT Network: Key Takeaways

1. 5G standards have set expectations for the network to handle tens of billions of IoT network connections, 1 million connections per square kilometer, and scenarios where IoT devices need a reliable connection with low latency.
2. 4G LTE networks have long supported IoT devices with technology like the Cat-M1 chipset.
3. The growth of IoT devices and connections will eventually outstrip the capacity of LTE networks and will require the capabilities of mature 5G networks.

Updated September 2020 by Connor Craven