What Is NB-IoT?

Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is an important part of the IoT. NB-IoT enables a wide range of devices and services to be connected using cellular telecommunications bands. It only consumes about 180 kHz of bandwidth, hence the name, "narrowband". NB-IoT technology can be deployed on GSM, UMTS, or LTE networks, which keeps costs down and makes it easier to upgrade smoothly.

NB-IoT is a new technology in the IoT field. It supports cellular data connection of low-power devices in a wide area network (WAN), so it is also called low-power wide area network (LPWAN). NB-IoT supports efficient connection of devices with long standby time and high network connection requirements. The battery of an NB-IoT device is expected to last at least 10 years. NB-IoT devices are also capable of providing complete indoor coverage of cellular networks.

Among the use cases of NB-IoT are smart locks, smart cities, smart water and gas meters, smart trackers, smart warehousing, and smart street lamps. In these scenarios, raw data is sent to the platform, which then uses NB-IoT modules to process the data and send it along for analysis and other uses.