LTE & The IoT-M2M Environment

　　A white paper that examines the impact of 4G communications on the performance and functionality of an industry that is experiencing exceptional growth.

　　Summary

　　In this paper we consider the Internet of Things （IoT） to be a concept that is based on Machine-to-Machine （M2M） technology. A “thing” is any smart device that can acquire data and transmit it to a facility that processes it into actionable， real-time information. In some cases the device might pre-process the data. The resulting concept will be an environment having unprecedented functionality and a plethora of business opportunities. It will be populated with billions of devices that can communicate with each other in numerous ways， many of which cannot be foreseen right now. Tomorrow’s world will be connected and in many if not most cases the functionality it provides will become an invisible part of our everyday experience. However， we will also see a dramatic change in our lives and the way we conduct business.

　　Rationale

　　The rationale for creating this paper is the fact that the importance of LTE （Long Term Evolution） is not widely understood and this is particularly true for M2M communications. For example， LTE （aka 4G） has been marketed by mobile network operators （MNOs） as a high-speed / low-latency service， which it is， but the network has far more bandwidth than most M2M applications need. However， these new networks employ OFDM （orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing）， a method of digital modulation in which a signal is split into several narrow band channels having different frequencies. This allows bandwidth to be assigned in a very flexible way and in turn that will allow operators to offer cost-effective， low-bit rate services for use in M2M solutions.

　　In addition， LTE networks are significantly more efficient than those of earlier generations. They are based on a simplified， flat， all-IP architecture having open interfaces and an evolved packet core. This will result in a global infrastructure that can accommodate up to 10 times more traffic and that will facilitate the deployment of tens of billions of smart devices that are predicted for the Connected World.

　　In a nutshell， LTE is distinguished from earlier networks by a groundbreaking combination of efficiency and flexibi-lity. This paper will examine the ground that is being broken and the benefits that result， but first we need to define the network terminology.

　　LTE is marketed as 4G： marketed that way because technically it’s 3.9G. LTE-Advanced （LTE-A） is the real 4G because it meets the ITU’s requirements for fourth-generation wireless systems. These requirements are known as IMT-Advanced and the performance targets they set include a peak download traffic data rate of 1 Gbps and an uplink rate of 500 Mbps. LTE Release 8 already supports rates of up to 300 Mbps in the downlink and 75 Mbps in the uplink.