The broad range of requirements of Internet of Things applications has lead to the development of several dedicated communication technologies, each tailored to meet a specific feature set. A solution combining different wireless technologies in one device, can overcome the disadvantages of any individual technology. The design of such Multiple Radio Access Technology solutions based on the diverse characteristics of the technologies offers interesting opportunities. In this work we analyze the potential of combining LoRaWAN and NB-IoT in a Multi-RAT solution for IoT. To that end we evaluate key IoT node requirements in function of payload size and link quality: (1) energy efficiency, (2) coverage, (3) payload size, (4) latency performance, (5) Quality of Service, and (6) cost efficiency. Our theoretical assessment and experimental validation of these IoT features show the merits of a Multi-RAT solution. Notably, energy consumption in use cases with only sporadic large payload requirements, can be improved by a factor of at least 4 with respect to either single-mode technologies. Moreover, latency-critical messages can get delivered on time and coverage can be extended elegantly where needed.
翻译:因特网对事物应用的广泛要求导致若干专用通信技术的开发,每个技术都专门设计,以满足一套特定特点。一种将不同无线技术组合在一起的解决办法可以克服任何个别技术的不利之处。根据技术的不同特点设计这种多重无线电接入技术解决办法提供了有趣的机会。在这项工作中,我们分析了将LoRaWAN和NB-IoT结合到一个多式热电图解决方案中的可能性。为此,我们评估了有效载荷大小和连接质量方面的关键IOT节点要求:(1)能源效率,(2)覆盖范围,(3)有效载荷大小,(4)延迟性能,(5)服务质量,(6)成本效率。我们对这些技术特点的理论评估和实验性验证显示了多式热电图解决办法的优点。值得注意的是,在使用的情况下,只有零星大型有效载荷要求的能源消耗量,可以用至少4倍的系数来改进这两种单一式技术。此外,对临界值信息可以及时传送,必要时可以扩大覆盖范围。