DNA, Ericsson, Enermix and UnSeen Technologies have cooperated to produce an NB-IoT technology-based service for measuring indoor air conditions. The new service is provided to customers through the Talotohtori cloud service.
Tests have shown that the new NB-IoT (Narrow Band Internet of Things) technology makes it possible to connect an increasingly broad range of devices to the Internet. This means that broader selection of sensors and devices can be connected in the Internet in increasingly challenging locations to facilitate, for example, the monitoring of humidity and air quality in buildings.
Building technology and retail store sensors to the mobile network in a pilot project
Together with its partners, DNA has successfully tested the NB-IoT technology in practice in a commercial mobile network. The participants in the pilot project included UnSeen Technologies, Enermix, a Kesko retail store and a number of suppliers. In the pilot project, sensors measuring air pressure and temperature were connected to the Internet. UnSeen Technologies was responsible for connecting the devices to the network.
The benefits of the 4G-network-based technology include long battery life and reliability for devices in challenging coverage areas. NB-IoT is well suited for sites where the volume of transferred data is relatively small. Other advantages of NB-IoT include low energy consumption. This reduces the need for maintenance significantly.
"We believe that NB-IoT technology will benefit the Talotohtori property management service. It enables a new, cost-effective way of connecting more and more individual sensors to our service," says Janne Heinonen, CEO of Enermix.
"The aggregate costs of data transfer will fall considerably. The number of business viable applications will increase remarkably. Competent use of technology provides opportunity to enhance the business competitiveness," says Esa Alanen, CEO of UnSeen Technologies.
A network of millions of devices
"The Internet of Things sets new challenges for network resources, as the number of connected devices will multiply. The Narrow-Band IoT, or NB-IoT, will respond to this challenge. Depending on the customer need, DNA will extend its NB-IoT technology considerably during 2017", says Jarkko Laari, Director of Radio Networks at DNA.
"The network device coverage will expand to areas that are more difficult to access, such as the ground or smart meters in basements, where it has previously been impossible or very expensive to replace or charge the battery," says Olli Sirkka, Head of Ericsson Finland.
One of the benefits of the NB-IoT technology is that it can be introduced on a band with a width of only 200 kHz, while an LTE channel is normally about 10 to 20 MHz. It can be introduced very quickly simply by installing new software in existing 4G (LTE) networks. One band of 200 kHz is estimated to be able to support more than 200,000 devices using an NB-IoT connection per cell.
Ericsson forecasts that in 2022 there will be 29 billion connected smart devices in the world, of which 18 billion will be so-called IoT devices.