What Are the Unique Advantages of LTE CAT 1?

PublishTime： 2023-10-15 Article Source：usr News

Communication Scheme of Internet of Things Devices and LTE Technology

There are many technical solutions used in the application of the Internet of Things. Various industries and technical standard organizations are formulating corresponding technical solutions for the Internet of Things. Some are in the process of formulation, some are still in prototype testing, and some technical solutions with independent intellectual property rights have been applied in the market.

In fact, Internet of Things devices mainly have the following six characteristics:

● Simple design: low system complexity to ensure normal operation of IoT devices in harsh environments;

● Low cost: IoT devices are generally deployed in large quantities, so the cost needs to be controllable;

● Large coverage: Ensure that the data of some instruments and equipment in the basement can be transmitted;

● Low power consumption: Most application scenarios require the use of battery functions and need to be able to work for several years;

● Low speed: For example, in some meter reading applications, it is enough to transmit only a few dozen bytes a day;

● Massive device access: You can imagine that the number of various instruments and machines in a community is tens of thousands;

What is LTE Cat. X?

The Cat. X we often talk about refers to UE-Category, where UE is user equipment, and Category means classification or category. Therefore, the value of Cat. X is used to measure the wireless performance of user terminal equipment. To put it bluntly, it is used to divide the terminal rate (level). According to the 3GPP Release definition, UE-Category is divided into 10 classes from 1 to 10, in which LTE cat 1-5 is in the R8 group, Cat.6-8 is in the R10 group, and Cat.9-10 is in the R11 group. At present, the LTE network used by our mobile phones mainly refers to C.

Common LTE cat 4 can not meet the communication needs of some Internet of Things devices.

LTE was originally designed to address one of the main requirements had to be fast enough. Although this technology can meet the needs of mobile broadband communication, it can not be well used in some application products, such as wearable devices, industrial sensors, household appliances, and so on. Such devices are small, battery-powered, and are often placed in places with poor network coverage or even no signal, such as basements. As a result, 3GPP has added several enhanced standards to LTE technology, some simplified and some completely new, to connect IoT devices:

(1) LTE cat 1 can reach a speed of 10 Mbps;

(2) The speed of LTE Cat. M1 can reach 1Mbps, and it has been optimized to reduce power consumption;

(3) LTE Cat. M2, also known as Narrow-Band IoT (NB-IoT), has a speed of only a few hundred Kbps, but it has been greatly optimized in power consumption and can expand indoor coverage.

LTE cat 1 has unique advantages

Compared with LTE cat 4, LTE cat 1 has certain cost advantages. For example, in terms of network construction, LTE Cat 1 can be seamlessly connected to the existing LTE network without upgrading the hardware and software of the base station, and the network coverage cost is very low. In terms of chip cost, after system optimization, the integration level is higher, the hardware architecture of the module is simpler, and the cost of peripheral hardware is lower.

Compared with Cat.M2 (NB-IoT), LTE cat 1 has certain advantages in terms of speed, delay, and mobility, has the same millisecond transmission delay as LTE cat 4, and supports mobile speeds above 100KM/H.

In some applications, it can be migrated from LTE cat 4 to LTE cat 1, with obvious benefits. For example, in scenarios where 4G is used for voice interaction, such as walkie-talkies and toy robots, LTE cat 4 can be completely converted to LTE cat 1. LTE cat 1 will play a role in many scenarios of voice function and medium-rate connection. These scenarios include sharing, financial payment, industrial control, vehicle payment, public network intercom, POS, and so on.

LTE cat 1, also known as LTE M, Low-Cost Machine Type Communication (MTC) or LTE Enhanced MTC (eMTC) was developed by 3GPP as part of the LTE standard Release 13.

LTE cat 1 is designed to meet the needs of IoT devices based on existing LTE operators. EMTC supports peak data rates of 1 Mbps upstream and downstream. The speed and reliability of LTE Cat M is not as good as expected, which can not meet the needs of the Internet of Things for surveillance cameras and logistics tracking equipment, leaving a technical gap in the field of medium-speed Internet of Things connectivity.

LTE cat 1 provides fast enough bandwidth to replace many current 2G and 3G IoT applications. It differs from NB IoT in several other ways: LTE cat 1 supports cell tower switching, so it is suitable for mobile applications, such as asset tracking and fleet management. It also supports voice capabilities in IoT applications, such as medical alert devices and home alert systems, where people's ability to speak is important.

There are some differences in VoLTE between LTE cat 1 and LTE cat 1. As mentioned earlier, LTE cat 1 can fully support VoLTE at its high bandwidth, but because LTE cat 1 is in the narrow bandwidth category, it does not provide the best user experience.

The key missing item is cellular readiness. LTE cat 1 is considered native in LTE, and LTE cat 1 must be purchased as an add-on by mobile network operators (MNOs). LTE cat 1 does not require software and hardware upgrades to base stations, so there is no network coverage cost.

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