Ultra narrow band radio technology in high-density built-up areas

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an ever mentioned phenomena which is closely linked to a rapidly growing Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN). Although LPWANs are already widely deployed the performance under real-life conditions of the communication system such as Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) radio technology has not been deeply studied yet. Smart City applications of IoT imply low energy consumption, high spectrum efficiency, and comprehensive security hence the range limits are very constrained and must be verified before deployment is started. In this work, authors verify UNB technology called SIGFOX and identify technological constraints. These constraints allow us to formulate a measurement methodology combining range measurements in an urban area to show transmission characteristics of SIGFOX technology. The subsequent evaluation of the technology using reference/commercially available SIGFOX hardware in real urban areas shows the impacts to possible applications of this novel UNB technology.