French mobile operator, Orange is partnering with Ericsson and chip maker firm, Sequans in trialing low power cellular Internet-of-Things(IoT) over GSM and LTE. The operator aims to improve indoor coverage, reduce IoT device cost and extend battery life.
The exercise will see trial of world's first EC-GSM (Extended Coverage) in France using the 900 MHz band, with the aim to enhance device reachability by up to 20dB or a seven-fold improvement in the range of low-rate applications. According to Ericsson the EC-GSM will further extend the dominant global coverage of GSM in Europe and Africa to reach challenging locations such as deep indoor basements, where many smart meters are installed, or remote areas in which sensors are deployed for agriculture or infrastructure monitoring use cases, said Ericsson.
To reduce the IoT device cost, Orange and Ericsson are working with Sequans to run LTE IoT trial which will test low-cost, low-complexity devices with one receiving antenna (instead of two), and half-duplex FDD. This simplifies the device hardware architecture and reduces expensive duplex filters, allowing for 60 percent cost reduction in comparison with existing LTE Cat 4, said Ericsson.
In partnership with Sequans, Ericsson will also demonstrate energy efficiency over GSM and LTE networks with Power Saving Mode (PSM) technology. The PSM feature is applicable to both GSM and LTE, and supported by Evolved Packet Core (EPC). It enables extended battery life of communication modules such as sensors by up to 10 years due to optimized, power-efficient operations, added Ericsson.
Alain Maloberti, SVP of Orange Labs Networks
IoT is a key area in Orange's Essentials 2020 strategic plan, and France should play a key role in IoT takeoff in Europe. In order to extend our connectivity offer, we are currently deploying a LoRa network.
Thomas Noren, Vice President and Head of Radio Product Management, Ericsson
IoT is an emerging market and presents great business potential for mobile operators. Ericsson is providing the software-upgrade-only solution to accelerate cellular network for IoT, allowing operators to leverage their infrastructure investments in order to quickly capture new business opportunities now and in the future with 5G.
