Mobile operator TDC is piloting five different use cases for NB-IoT connectivity in Denmark. It is employing the low power wide area technology to connect water meters, central heating meters, air pollution sensors, garbage bins and a wristwatch that can monitor the wearer’s vital signs, providing live healthcare data to clinics and hospitals.
For the water and heat pilots, TDC is working with smart meter supplier Kamstrup, which is running a similar trial in Chile, also in conjunction with TDC’s network equipment supplier Huawei. Connected meters will give utilities and their customers better visibility of the amount of water and heat being consumed, enabling them to become more efficient.
TDC is conducting the air pollution pilot together with design and data analytics specialist LeapCraft and the City of Copenhagen, using the Copenhagen Sense (CPH Sense) platform, while a joint venture between Leikr and a local start-up MedHub is supplying the watches for the healthcare pilot. Finally, TDC has teamed up with Waste Control, a Danish company, to use NB-IoT to connect sensors that can flag when industrial garbage bins need to be emptied.
The pilots, which make use of two NB-IoT-enabled base stations in Copenhagen operating in the 800 MHz guard band, are set to run until the summer of 2017.
TDC progresses five NB-IoT pilots in Copenhagen
Mobile operator TDC is piloting five different use cases for NB-IoT connectivity in Denmark. It is employing the low power wide area technology to connect water meters, central heating meters, air pollution sensors, garbage bins and a wristwatch that can monitor the wearer’s vital signs, providing live healthcare data to clinics and hospitals.
For the water and heat pilots, TDC is working with smart meter supplier Kamstrup, which is running a similar trial in Chile, also in conjunction with TDC’s network equipment supplier Huawei. Connected meters will give utilities and their customers better visibility of the amount of water and heat being consumed, enabling them to become more efficient.
TDC is conducting the air pollution pilot together with design and data analytics specialist LeapCraft and the City of Copenhagen, using the Copenhagen Sense (CPH Sense) platform, while a joint venture between Leikr and a local start-up MedHub is supplying the watches for the healthcare pilot. Finally, TDC has teamed up with Waste Control, a Danish company, to use NB-IoT to connect sensors that can flag when industrial garbage bins need to be emptied.
The pilots, which make use of two NB-IoT-enabled base stations in Copenhagen operating in the 800 MHz guard band, are set to run until the summer of 2017.
Objectives for the pilot
TDC believes NB-IoT will help it improve network coverage, particularly indoors, while enabling its customers’ connected devices to benefit from an extended battery life. Although TDC has an existing IoT business, the cost of changing batteries and other maintenance can weaken the business case for some potential applications.
The main goal of the pilots is to ensure that TDC’s LTE network, which covers 99.5% of Denmark’s landmass, can easily be upgraded to support NB-IoT. TDC anticipates it will need to make a minor hardware upgrade to its existing base stations, together with a software upgrade. Although some low power wide area networks are being deployed in unlicensed spectrum in Denmark, TDC says it should be able to provide far more extensive coverage by utilising its existing LTE network. It also believes customers will value the additional security afforded by using licensed spectrum to deliver the connectivity.
For the NB-IoT pilots, TDC is monitoring the following key performance indicators:
- Network accessibility
- Service drop rate
- Traffic
- Network availability
- Channel quality indicators
TDC is also using the pilots to strengthen its relationship with the emerging NB-IoT ecosystem and evaluating the time it takes vendors to integrate the new technology into end-to-end solutions. It believes many of potential customers will look for complete solutions, which will require TDC to work closely with partners.
Next steps
In 2017, TDC plans to explore further use cases for NB-IoT, developing appropriate business models in each case, before rolling out the technology commercially. Initially, the operator is targeting smart city applications, for which it is seeing strong demand from Denmark’s largest municipalities. In 2017, TDC plans to work with the local government in a Danish city to roll out a NB-IoT-enabled waste management solution, before using the low power wide area technology to enable further smart city solutions in 2018.