Mobile World Congress has long been an event featuring innovation and technology advancements, and this year is no different. Attendees have had the opportunity the past two days to hear the latest insights on connectivity, IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and so much more. It’s been an exciting time to hear more about what is happening during this Decade of IoT.
KORE has identified the decade we are currently in – from 2020 to 2030 – as The Decade of IoT, where the globe will see widespread adoption of IoT in many key ways. At KORE, we know that the world is connecting more and more devices by the day. In fact, GSMA has estimated that there will be 75 billion devices connected by the end of this decade.
There are many different approaches to achieving this number. The first is a segment called Critical IoT, which will be defined by 5G Standalone. Right now, the 5G that is being deployed is interoperable with 4G LTE and shares the same spectrum. As more and more spectrum is made available by the global sunsets of 2G and 3G and as carriers are able to fulfill time and financial investments into building 5G infrastructure, 5G Standalone will be its own connectivity technology.
Through this, the full breadth ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) and enhanced Mobile Broadband capabilities can be realized, which will spur the types of use cases we’ve been hearing associated with 5G, such as enhanced robotics, automation, and machine learning and action that does not require human intervention.
Within the 5G era is also massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) or Massive IoT, which was specified in the 3GPP Release 13 that include connectivity technologies Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and Long-Term Evolution for Machine-Type Communications (LTE-M). These two low-power wide area (LPWA) networks, as well as other non-cellular networks like LoRaWAN, can create Massive IoT. Essentially, widespread deployments of hundreds and thousands of devices can power large-scale applications of IoT that leverage lower-complexity devices. Devices can switch on, take a reading, communicate that data, and then return to sleep mode.
While a simple task, thousands of devices taking readings in cargo and asset management in logistics, or machine temperature or vibration in industrial, or soil and moisture readings in agriculture, can power granular analytics to drive efficiency, optimization, and sustainability and meet some significant industry-specific challenges.
LPWA networks are important to supporting these devices because they don’t throttle devices of power and data usage like 4G LTE or 5G would. Instead, they are designed to support – as the name suggests – low power devices. Devices can stay deployed longer, potentially up to the entire lifetime of 10-plus years, which makes for a long-term, lower-cost approach to IoT. LPWA networks also have the reachability and penetrability that can support devices located in rural areas, underground, or other rugged conditions.
KORE is excited to be a part of The Decade of IoT, and we are rolling out new solutions to help organizations achieve their IoT goals. In line with the concept of the Decade of IoT, KORE is participating in an Internet of Everything panel discussion today, September 29, at MWC. KORE expert Rajesh Gupta joins a panel to discuss “Connectivity with a Brain” and how IoT is an ideal approach to analytics now, and well into an AI- and machine-learning future.
Want to hear more about what KORE is excited about? Schedule time to speak with us at our booth.
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