03/09/2017, Thu, 15:19, Moscow time, Text: Vladimir Bakhur

Megafon announced that its comprehensive solution, prepared jointly with partners, will allow housing and communal services enterprises and management companies to quickly receive information about resource consumption, automatically control expenses, instantly determine the balance and get rid of payment gaps. As the company told CNews, residents who switched to the new solution will no longer have to take readings manually; in addition, the consumption of electricity, water and gas can be monitored through a convenient application and statistics can be uploaded for a certain period.

The product has a number of advantages over alternatives available on the market, since it operates on the NB-IoT standard, which Megafon is developing together with Huawei and plans to put into commercial use in 2017. Its energy efficiency allows connected devices to operate for up to 10 years without replacing the battery; the network range ensures uninterrupted data transmission even in rooms with difficult signal reception mobile communications, and the low cost of the radio module ensures competitive implementation costs.

The convenience of the solution also lies in its complexity: created jointly with a Russian developer information systems in the housing and communal services sector, by the Big Three company, it solves all issues related to the transition to an intelligent metering system - from the production of meters to the installation of a platform for collecting and analyzing readings through one window.

“Today we can talk about the emergence of a whole technology market in the housing and communal services sector, and the solutions that appear here then find application in other industries. Of course, this phenomenon is the result of systematic work to increase the investment attractiveness of the industry, noted the Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation Andrey Chibis. - We believe that the arrival of a private investor and the definition of clear rules of the game can make the housing and communal services sector truly efficient and customer-oriented. A professional manager, be it an investor or a management organization, is interested in automating processes and, accordingly, reducing costs, increasing controllability and predictability of work. We are confident that the solution being presented today will be another step towards improving the efficiency of housing management and will be able to improve payment discipline among the population.”

“Megafon consistently develops technologies and makes a significant contribution to the introduction of innovations in the telecommunications industry. We offer comprehensive high-tech turnkey solutions and this is part of our corporate strategy. Megafon is the first in Russia to present the most effective solution for construction and housing and communal services based on a network of the NB-IoT standard - smart meters. We are confident that the commercial launch of this solution will accelerate the digitalization and modernization of the industry due to the reduction in cost, installation time and maintenance of smart meters, high level of data transmission security and convenient analytical reports, simplifying decision-making,” noted Natalia Taldykina, Director of Corporate Business Development at Megafon.

“We see great potential in NBIoT technology, which has unique capabilities to support applications for various industries, including housing and communal services. Combining the capabilities of equipment manufacturers and service platform providers into an ecosystem will make it possible to create complex integrated IoT solutions, he said Liu Libo, Vice President for the operator market of Huawei in Russia. – Today we can mark the beginning of the creation of such an ecosystem on the Russian market. We are ready to apply our experience of working with the world’s leading companies in cooperation with Russian operators, application and equipment developers.”

Artem Sedov, general manager The Big Three Group of Companies said: “The current housing and communal services reform sets itself ambitious goals: to achieve increased efficiency in the use of energy resources and transparency in billing. Connecting metering devices with remote readings will solve these issues for citizens and management companies and will become an accessible and convenient tool for managing and monitoring the consumption of utility services.”

The solution from Megafon, Huawei and the Big Three will appear on the market immediately after the launch of the NB-IoT standard and will comprehensively solve the problem of connecting metering devices to the network for management companies and housing and communal services enterprises. According to IKS Consulting, the total potential of the market for smart metering devices in Russia exceeds 206 million smart meters.

A presentation of the first comprehensive IoT solution for housing and communal services took place at the office of the capital branch of MegaFon. This is the product of joint efforts by the operator MegaFon, equipment supplier Huawei and the developer of the Big Three platform for collecting and analyzing telemetry data. The roles in the project were distributed as follows. MegaFon deployed an NB-IoT network based on Huawei equipment, and the Big Three developed a device that collects data from water and electricity meters and transmits the data to the server via the NB-IoT network. The customer of such a solution has access to an Internet interface through which all data from the meters can be obtained. The solution is intended for service, resource and management companies. On at the moment there are no clients, but according to MegaFon representatives, already this year a pilot zone will be deployed in one of the regions, which is not disclosed.

Today there is no single standard for the Internet of Things ecosystem, while IoT solutions themselves are widely used both in housing and communal services and in other industries. By and large, IoT is an organic evolution of m2m solutions; the only difference is in cost and data transmission technology. Traditional m2m services use the existing mobile network to aggregate telemetry data. This is beneficial for launching such solutions, since the investment in the start-up is minimal. But in long term The Internet of Things will require its own data network. There are several standards developing in parallel. The most prominent and supported are NB-IoT and LoRa. It is noteworthy that these standards are mostly supported by the same companies. MegaFon chose NB-IoT technology, but it is unlikely that this happened for any other reason than the support of this particular standard by the operator’s main partner for construction and infrastructure development, Huawei.

NB-IoT truly has the potential to become the true and only networking standard for the Internet of Things. But even now, when NB-IoT is being launched in many countries, there are a lot of questions about the haste with which vendors are trying to force operators to purchase equipment. For example, one of the advantages of NB-IoT is the low power consumption required to transmit telemetry data. Allegedly, one battery is enough for uninterrupted operation of the device for ten years. The only thing that is used in such devices are AAA form factor batteries, not from a good life, of course, they are just cheaper. But the physical life of an alkaline AAA battery is limited to three, maximum five years. And why then “10 years from one battery”?

Another problem is the telemetry data collection device itself. MegaFon's solution assumes that such a center will be installed in each apartment; it will collect data from electricity and water supply meters. But in the demo solution, all meters were connected to the central metering device by wires. It will be interesting to see how many residents of city apartments will agree to lay wires over the repairs made. If you equip the meters with a wireless data transmission module, then, firstly, they will become much more expensive and the battery in them will have to be changed much more often, and, secondly, you will have to solve the problem of shielding the signal with bathroom walls and pipes. Whatever one may say, the current solution can be installed in apartment buildings before occupancy. This is money that management companies are unlikely to be eager to spend.

Surprisingly, in Moscow there are already a lot of launched projects to automate the collection of data on electricity and water consumption by residents. Some of them use electricity meters with SIM cards, others use more complex solutions. Basically, we are talking about elite residential areas, where such “smart housing and communal services” are part of a large package additional services available to residents. Representatives of the Big Three, developers of the platform and devices for the MegaFon project, indicate that the owner of the apartment will pay for all the pleasure. In their opinion, residents will only be happy that they will be forced to spend money on installing new meters, because then they will stop overpaying for utilities. Why on earth they are overpaying now is not specified. The only difference from the current situation is that today the residents themselves provide meter readings, which are used to calculate their utility bills. And so that residents do not deceive, employees of the management company check the readings at certain intervals. Deceive utility workers for a resident new apartment It’s almost impossible, and those who are used to installing bugs and attaching magnets are unlikely to agree to change their “correct” counters to advanced ones. And even more so - for your own money.

The launch of NB-IoT is a big step towards the development of the Internet of Things. All that remains is to launch projects that are truly in demand here and now, and not in the distant and naive future. To do this, MegaFon should find more mature partners, and not start-ups with sparkling eyes. Otherwise, it will be possible to make an impression only on those who heard about the Internet of things and its penetration into housing and communal services for the first time. You won’t have to drag out the mayor of Innopolis, a certain representative of the management company and other dispatched Cossacks at a press conference asking the right questions, from the company’s point of view. Moreover, in Moscow there are already companies that are really interested in such solutions. These are developers who rent out tens of thousands of meters of new housing every month and have already who know the price"smart housing and communal services." If the vector of the project’s development is aimed at the populist “we’ll modernize housing and communal services throughout the country,” then everything will end approximately the same way as almost all of MegaFon’s recent projects end.

In the coming days, MegaFon will partner with the Chinese Huawei and a Russian developer software The Big Three intends to launch a pilot zone in one of the Russian regions for the use of “smart” meters for gas, water and electricity operating using Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) wireless data transmission technology. Such equipment cannot yet be used for commercial purposes due to the lack of a regulatory legal act (LLA) necessary for its certification. The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications is developing such a document. Analysts estimate the potential of the market for smart metering devices in Russia at more than 206 million meters, and not only mobile operators. However, the prospects for the introduction of smart meters are still vague.

A “smart” meter will allow residents of houses to take readings not manually, but automatically. The consumption of electricity, water and gas can be monitored through the application and statistics can be uploaded for a certain period. As Pavel Ivanchenko, head of implementation and development of M2M/Iot corporate business products of PJSC MegaFon, said at a press conference, the company supplies a comprehensive turnkey solution for resource accounting. The operator will not only install and connect the meter, but will also maintain it, monitor it and provide technical support. According to him, the technical solution consists of a counter, a battery, a data transmission system, a radio module, and a server that collects data, made in Russia.

The operator prepared this system together with partners. In particular, Huawei acted as the supplier of base stations and network infrastructure, as well as the radio module through which data is transmitted. Sales and Marketing Director for Huawei IoT solutions in Russia, Marat Nuriev, told a ComNews correspondent that the radio modules for the company were supplied by the Swiss Ublox and the Chinese Quectel. For its part, the Big Troika Group of Companies is the developer of a platform for collecting and analyzing meter readings.

As Pavel Ivanchenko says, NB-IoT technology ensures high penetration of the mobile signal in rooms with difficult signal reception. In addition, the NB-IoT-based device features ultra-low power consumption and also operates in a licensed spectrum that is not affected by radio interference. According to Marat Nuriev, the cost of the radio module should be low, no more than $5. “For now, the modules are being produced in limited quantities. However, when they are mass produced, the price will drop,” he noted. The price of the meter itself will also include a solution for protection against DDoS attacks.

“In the coming days, we plan to launch a pilot zone in one of the regions of Russia. I won’t say which one yet, stay tuned. But definitely within 2017 we will launch the solution into commercial operation,” said MegaFon’s director of corporate business development "Natalia Taldykina. The mayor of Innopolis, Ruslan Shagaleev, directly at the press conference suggested that MegaFon fully equip all houses in the city with smart meters. “Let’s implement a load test, make the first city fully connected to the NB-IoT system. We are ready to provide all the city’s resources,” he said.

However, as Marat Nuriev says, such a solution will appear on the market only after certification of equipment operating in the NB-IoT standard. “We have been working on the issue of equipment certification in this standard together with the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications since last year. Now the department is preparing a regulatory legal act that will approve the rules for using the equipment,” he clarified, adding that the question is how long the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications will develop this document. A ministry spokesman did not respond to ComNews' request yesterday.

“Today we can talk about the emergence of a whole technology market in the housing and communal services sector, and the solutions that appear here are then used in other industries. Of course, this phenomenon is the result of systematic work to increase the investment attractiveness of the industry,” the Deputy Minister welcomes the new decision construction and housing and communal services of the Russian Federation Andrey Chibis. Liu Libo, vice president for the operator market at Huawei in Russia, noted that the company is ready to apply its experience of working with leading global companies in cooperation with Russian operators, application and equipment developers.

As Anna Aibasheva, press secretary of VimpelCom PJSC, noted, the company is also showing interest in NB-IoT technology. “We are exploring the possibility of using this technology in our products, but we are still waiting for the necessary approvals,” she said. Representatives of Mobile TeleSystems PJSC (MTS) and T2 Mobile LLC (Tele2 brand) did not respond to ComNews’ request yesterday.

According to Viktor Kharchev, director of the analytical center of the National Association of Industrial Internet Market Participants, the prospects for equipment operating in the NB-IoT standard are largely determined by its capabilities and cost. Director of the Association of Internet of Things Market Participants Andrey Kolesnikov welcomes the emergence of meters using NB-IoT technology. He noted that mobile operators have the necessary technology, a customer base, powerful marketing tools, and most importantly, the infrastructure to access the Network. All this will help them promote the new product.

Besides mobile operators, installation and maintenance of smart meters is already carried out by Rostelecom PJSC. For example, the Novosibirsk branch of the company began to provide city management companies with an automated service for collecting and processing information from utility metering devices back in 2016. This service is used by 12 management companies in Novosibirsk, more than 100 houses are connected. "The operator provides a UK channel organized over a wired communication line, a modem, an interface converter (RS-485/RS-232 to Ethernet). Unlike wireless, more reliable and secure wired communication from Rostelecom allows you to request unlimited meter readings number of times per day. Thus, the management company has the opportunity to monitor the consumption of electricity and heat in houses in real time,” a company employee emphasized. The company has implemented similar projects in a number of cities.

Leading expert in the development of mobile broadband solutions for Ericsson in the Northern Europe region and Central Asia Georgy Muratov noted that the vendor around the world is working on similar projects (based on NB-IoT) directly with energy companies. Ericsson is doing one of the most interesting projects for working with smart power supply networks in Estonia for the company Electrilevi. The contract with this company involves the installation of 630 thousand “smart” electricity meters, as well as the implementation of operational support systems (OSS) for management and data collection.

According to Mobile-Review analyst Eldar Murtazin, the prospects for “smart” meters are vague, because such devices do not need to be changed often, they allow citizens to save money and pay less for consumed resources, which may run counter to the interests of some unscrupulous management companies, as well as and energy companies. He does not rule out that because of this, the implementation of such meters will not proceed quickly.

According to IKS Consulting, the total potential of the market for smart metering devices in Russia exceeds 206 million meters. However, the digitalization of the communal infrastructure of the residential sector (equipping households with digital metering devices) is at the very beginning of the journey. Even the level of equipment with mechanical meters for water consumption does not exceed 70%, thermal energy - 8%. The exception is the electricity consumption segment, which demonstrates the most high level development of digital utility infrastructure. About 0.2 million smart meters have been installed in this segment, with overall indicator the provision of households with conventional electricity meters is 99%.

Telemetry and telemechanics solutions have been in use for more than a century, but with the advent of the fashionable term “Internet of Things”, the flow of investment in this area has increased significantly. One of the new directions is geographically distributed LPWAN networks, providing wireless connection of devices with a very gentle power consumption mode: battery autonomy for up to 10 years. The implementation of LPWAN opens up many prospects for all market players wireless networks data transmission, so it is not surprising that this topic became one of the main topics at the CONVERSATION conference held in September, traditionally organized by CompTek.

There are many forecasts regarding the growth in the number of connected “things”, and the figures indicated in them may differ by an order of magnitude. So, let’s say, Gartner experts believe that by 2020 there will be “only” about 21 billion connected devices, while Intel assumes that there will be ten times more of them - 200 billion.

Given these discrepancies, it is best to take the rather muted Ericsson Mobility Report forecast as a starting point. According to this document, total number connected devices will approximately double from 2015 to 2021: from 15 to 28 billion units, and this also includes traditional means of person-to-person communication (mobile and fixed-line phones), as well as for working on the Internet (PCs, laptops, tablets). According to J’son & Partners Consulting, “the total number of connected devices in distributed telemetry systems in Russia” will also approximately double over the period under review: from 16.1 to 32.6 million units. Although analysts at Ericsson and J’son & Partners used different criteria for assessment, even a rough estimate shows that the Russian IoT market is significantly less than 1% of the global one.

It is interesting to note that, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report, in 2015, the total number of traditional communications devices (10.1 billion units) was more than twice the number of connected IoT “things” (4.6 billion units). In 2021, the balance of power will change in favor of IoT: 15.7 versus 11.8 billion devices. At the same time, the number of traditional means of communication will increase by only a few percent per year, while the number of connected things will increase by more than 20% (see Fig. 1).

The Ericsson Mobility Report separately considers IoT devices connected via cellular networks (cellular IoT) and other wireless technologies (non-cellular IoT). There were about 10 times more of the latter in 2015. This ratio will continue in 2021.

According to many experts, the wireless connection of “things” distributed over a large area will mainly be carried out through networks with low power consumption (Low Power Wide Area Network, LPWAN). Just five years ago, such a term did not exist at all, but now it is the most promising solution for IoT (see Fig. 2). Unlike classic cellular communication systems, LPWANs were specifically designed for the Internet of Things and provide the following characteristics that are so important for this application:

• low cost of the network equipment itself, as well as microcircuits for the end device,
• low power consumption, which means long time Autonomous operation from batteries (up to 10 years or more).

Many technologies have already been developed for building LPWAN networks, including in Russia, but on a global scale, LoRa, Sigfox and NB-IoT are considered the three main ones. Since Sigfox is not yet represented in Russia, in this material we will focus on examining the remaining two.

LORA: AT A GLANCE

LoRa technology was introduced in early 2015 by Semtech and IBM Research. It relies on the LoRa modulation method patented by Semtech, as well as the open network protocol Long Range Wide Area Networks (LoRaWAN). LoRa modulation is based on Spread Spectrum Modulation and Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) variations. This solution ensures high communication stability over long distances. LoRa modulation defines the physical layer of the radio access network, which can have different topologies: mesh, star, point-to-point, etc.

The development of LoRaWAN technology (see Fig. 3) is carried out by the non-profit organization LoRa Alliance, which includes companies such as IBM, Semtech, Cisco, Actility, etc. In November 2015, the LoRa Alliance introduced a certification program to ensure guaranteed compatibility of LoRa equipment from different manufacturers .

The coverage area of ​​the base station (gateway) in the LoRaWAN network is up to 20 km, the data transfer rate is from 290 bps to 50 Kbps (see Table 1). The declared battery life of the end device (using a 2000 mAh battery) is 105 months, that is, almost nine years.

EVOLUTION OF 3GPP SOLUTIONS FOR IOT

NB-IoT technology should be considered in the context of the cellular industry's movement towards the Internet of Things. Its main standardization body, 3GPP, began working on this topic several years ago - a number of functions for Machine Type Communications (MTC) appeared in Release 11, released in 2012. Release 12 (2015) defines a so-called Category 0 device for MTC with a single antenna and other simplifications.

As a result, nine categories of user devices with different capabilities and supported data rates were specified for LTE. Before the advent of Category 0, the most limited functionality devices were Category 1 devices, which did not have the ability to use multiple spatial streams (no MIMO support) and the maximum transfer rate was “only” 10 Mbps downstream. For comparison: for Category 5 devices supporting MIMO 4x4, the maximum speed is 30 times higher - 300 Mbps (see Table 2). When Category 0 was determined, its capabilities were significantly reduced even in comparison with Category 1: maximum speed 1 Mbit/s, half-duplex transmission mode.

The Release 13 specifications, published in 2016, take further steps to support IoT applications, including measures to reduce device costs, expand coverage and improve battery life. In particular, Category M1 is defined (the abbreviations eMTC and LTE-M are also used to denote it). To reduce energy consumption, along with the Power Saving Mode (PSM) technology, which has been defined for categories 0 and 1, Extended Discontinuous Reception (Extended DRX, eDRX) mechanisms are provided. These technologies make it possible to reduce the frequency of exchange of mandatory service messages, optimize the intervals for receiving and receiving information, and also support long periods“silence” (when the device remains connected to the network without transmitting or receiving information).

In this context, it should also be mentioned that in Release 13, in terms of further development of GSM technology, the EC-GSM-IoT mode (or simply EC-GSM) was defined. It also uses PSM and eDRX engines. In addition, it is possible to repeat the transmitted information multiple times to improve coverage (+20 dB) compared to traditional GSM systems. EC-GSM has simplified the signaling system (the part that ensures collaboration with WCDMA/LTE networks has been eliminated), improved authentication and connection security mechanisms, etc. When using a 200 kHz carrier width (in the GSM 900 and 1800 MHz band), EC technology -GSM-IoT provides a maximum speed of 240 Kbps and allows you to service up to 50 thousand devices per base station sector.

The Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) technology defined in Release 13 has approximately similar characteristics (up to 50 thousand devices per base station sector, speed up to 250 Kbps). But if LTE-M and EC-GSM-IoT provide maximum compatibility with the infrastructure already available to cellular operators, and can be deployed by updating software on existing LTE and GSM networks, respectively, then NB-IoT is a relatively new direction in the development of solutions for IoT within 3GPP, although it provides for close interaction and integration with LTE. In this case, a new type of radio access is proposed, the characteristics of which differ significantly from the characteristics of existing systems. According to a number of experts, the processing of link layer protocols in NB-IoT will significantly (up to 90%) reduce the cost of corresponding NB-IoT devices compared to LTE Category M1 devices (see Fig. 4). Many well-known manufacturers, including Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Intel and Qualcomm, have already announced support for NB-IoT technology in their products.

LORA COMPARED WITH NB-IOT

LoRa systems use unlicensed frequency range and an asynchronous protocol, which is optimal for reducing the cost of end devices and increasing battery life. But they are not able to provide as high quality of service (QoS) as synchronous cellular protocols, which allocate guaranteed time slots for information transmission. Therefore, for those applications that require QoS guarantees (including low latency), IoT enabling technologies being developed by the cellular operator community are better suited. They are also preferable for applications that require intensive messaging and/or a large amount of data transferred. Where low cost, long autonomy and the need for support come first large number devices scattered over a large area, LoRa is optimal.

When analyzing the battery life of a device, two important factors must be taken into account: the device’s own power consumption and the specifics of the communication protocols. The asynchronous nature of the protocol used in LoRaWAN networks means that the device can spend most of the time in "sleep" mode - until an application needs it. In the cellular world, synchronous protocols are used, which means that the device must periodically exchange service messages with the network, even if it is not required by the user. Let's say a typical cell phone needs to synchronize with the network every 1.5 seconds. When using NB-IoT mechanisms, synchronization occurs less frequently, but still regularly, which consumes battery energy.

The modulation algorithms used in cellular communications (OFDM or FDMA) are aimed at maximizing the efficient use of frequency resources, but not at the efficient use of battery resources. These algorithms require the use of a linear transmitter (amplifier), which consumes significantly higher peak current than the nonlinear modulation transmitters used in LoRa systems. Higher peak current obviously leads to faster battery drain.

Since the LoRaWAN protocol is much simpler than those used in NB-IoT, it means that it is easier and cheaper to implement, including based on inexpensive, widely used controllers. More complex circuit modulations and the NB-IoT protocol require more expensive chips. LoRaWAN modules are already widely available and in Western markets cost about 7-10 dollars, and experts believe that as the scale of implementation expands, the ecosystem develops and mass production increases, the price of such modules may drop to 4-5 dollars. The cost of LTE modules produced today is estimated at $20.

When comparing LoRa and NB-IoT, such a characteristic as the service area (coverage) of the network is also important. The advantage of NB-IoT is that existing cellular infrastructure can be upgraded to support this technology - although this may only be possible for certain models of base stations and will not be cheap. However, the upgrade option has the right to exist only in cities with good 4G/LTE network coverage. Not all suburbs, much less rural areas, have a developed LTE infrastructure.

One of the advantages of LoRa is that the corresponding solutions can be deployed not only in public networks, but also in private or corporate networks. Quite a lot abroad large companies They plan to implement a hybrid model: along with using the resources of the public LPWAN network, they will additionally build their own (corporate) network to serve individual zones.

When deploying a LoRaWAN network, both cell towers and other installation sites can be used: for example, industrial gateways can be placed on manufacturing sites, and small picogates can be placed directly on homes. A tower gateway costs an estimated $1,000, an industrial gateway costs around $500, and a picocell gateway can cost as little as $100. The cost of upgrading a 4G LTE base station to support NB-IoT, according to experts, could be more than $10 thousand.

The NB-IoT specification was published in June 2016, but the release of the first chips for end devices supporting this technology is planned only for 2017. Then it will take time to test, organize mass production of NB-IoT products, and launch networks into commercial operation. In other words, it will take another couple of years until NB-IoT becomes a reality. LoRa solutions are already available. They have been tested and the corresponding networks are in commercial operation in a number of countries, including on a national scale.

SITUATION IN RUSSIA

Russian cellular operators, like operators in other countries, are obviously relying on developments for IoT by the 3GPP organization. Thus, in July 2016, MegaFon announced plans to deploy NB-IoT technology together with Huawei. At the Innoprom-2016 exhibition, the partners demonstrated one example of the application of the new NB IoT standard - “smart” parking. A pilot launch of such a parking lot in Moscow is planned for the end of the year.

According to MegaFon specialists, NB-IoT is the most suitable LPWAN solution for enterprises various industries, with which you can connect utility meters, monitoring sensors, object tracking systems and a host of other devices to the operator’s network. One of the advantages of the technology is the ability to connect up to 100 thousand devices to one base station cell, which is tens of times greater than the capabilities of existing mobile communication standards. At the same time, the use of the low-frequency range makes it possible to provide coverage of such hard-to-reach places as basements, basements, etc. According to MegaFon, a water meter with an autonomous battery when operating in the NB-IoT standard can last up to 10 years without recharging and receive a signal , being installed in the basement.

Another leading operator, MTS, in June 2016, on the sidelines of the XX St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, announced the signing of an agreement with Ericsson, under which the companies, in particular, plan to test EC-GSM-IoT technology, which ensures the operation of M2M devices on existing networks MTS. As MTS specialists note, the new radio interface will allow the number of M2M devices operating in the network to be increased many times over, and by increasing the sensitivity of radio modules, it will be possible to expand the range of the base station sevenfold and reduce the power consumption of devices. In addition, it is argued that the implementation of EC-GSM-IoT will not require a large-scale replacement of communication equipment - in most cases, it is possible to get by with updating the software on the radio network nodes.

LoRa networks in Russia are being developed by several companies: Lace, Network 868, Lartech Telecom. For example, the IoT Lace network has been operating since the beginning of 2015 in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In September 2015, the company announced the expansion of its coverage area to the cities of Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Innopolis, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Tver, Chelyabinsk, Yaroslavl. The company has ambitious plans: “full coverage of the entire territory of Russia.”

As we were told by the Lartech Telecom company based in Krasnodar, about 20 LoRa base stations have already been deployed in this city, which, given the large coverage area, means covering a significant part of the territory. In addition, LoRa stations of this company are deployed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Samara, Barnaul and other cities.

In February 2016, Lace, AURORA Mobile Technologies (supplier of components and finished equipment for wireless communications and navigation, designer and manufacturer of such systems) and TOES (designer and operator of automated control systems for heat and water supply) tested a system for monitoring networks and heat and water supply facilities based on LoRaWAN in densely built-up conditions in Tver. Based on the results of a successful experiment, it was decided to integrate LoRa modems with the used thermal converters and pressure sensors into a single device.

In addition, LPWAN networks based on domestic developments are being developed in Russia. In the September issue of the “Journal of Network Solutions/LAN” we already talked about the Swift project (see the author’s article “”). The original technology for building an LPWAN network was presented at the BESEDA conference by the Telekan company. She proposes to build an IoT infrastructure for a smart city based on a smart lighting solution, which will significantly reduce the costs of such infrastructure. The microbase stations developed by Telekan are built directly into city lighting lamps (see Fig. 5), and this can be done in the process of planned replacement of outdated lamps and transition to more modern and economical light sources.

Telekan has developed its own Lumiot wireless communication technology, and LoRa support is also planned in the future. One Lumiot base station supports up to 2,000 devices within a radius of up to 4 km. Device management, data collection and visualization from different sources carried out in the cloud, to which base stations are connected using GSM. At this stage, Telekan's solution is being tested in cities in Russia and the CIS.

According to Vitaly Solonin, head of the wireless technologies department at J’son & Partners Consulting, 2017 a year will pass under the sign of competition between cellular operators for IoT projects for large state-owned companies and corporate customers. In addition, both major IT market players (Cisco, HP, SAP, Microsoft, etc.) and LPWAN market startups will compete for these customers. The latter currently work mainly in the housing and communal services market and in “smart city” projects.

Alexander Barskov, Leading Editor, Journal of Networking/LAN Solutions

PJSC MegaFon and Qualcomm Technologies Inc. successfully completed joint testing of the capabilities of Narrow technology Band IoT LTE (NB-IoT - narrowband Internet of things). The 900 MHz band was used for testing. MegaFon noted that the test made it possible to prepare formalized requirements for manufacturers of IoT modules, software developers, and system integrators who plan to develop and implement their devices to work on the MegaFon network in the NB-IoT standard. The introduction of NB-IoT technology is another step in preparing MegaFon's infrastructure for the launch of fifth-generation mobile communication networks.

MegaFon and Qualcomm tested NB-IoT technology at the operator's Federal Research and Development Center in St. Petersburg. In testing NB-IoT, a test subscriber terminal based on a Qualcomm MDM9206 multi-mode modem was used as an end device, and Huawei equipment was used on the network side. NB-IoT technology was tested in the 900 MHz band.

“The test allows us to prepare formalized requirements for a large number of IoT module manufacturers, software developers, and system integrators who plan to develop and implement their devices to work on the MegaFon network in the NB-IoT standard,” MegaFon said.

MegaFon is actively preparing infrastructure for the mass connection of Internet of Things devices. NB-IoT technology will provide mass connectivity to the network for various devices that are located in hard-to-reach places and must operate for a long time without replacing the battery. In addition, this technology involves the use of a licensed frequency range, which guarantees reliability, security and continuity of data transmission. The introduction of NB-IoT technology is another step in preparing MegaFon’s infrastructure for the launch of fifth-generation networks, which will increase not only data transfer speeds, but also network capacity, effectively connecting devices of different types,” said the head of the federal research and development center "MegaFon" Nikolai Sidorov.

Qualcomm Vice President of Business Development Eastern Europe Yulia Klebanova said that NB-IoT and eMTC are the optimal technologies for effectively connecting and connecting IoT devices such as mobile payment devices (POS), pipelines, water, gas and electricity meters, as well as for creating asset management and smart "cities. "We are satisfied with the results of joint testing of NB-IoT technology and various user scenarios with MegaFon. Our commercially available Qualcomm MDM9206 chipset makes it possible to solve all these problems now. This is another important step towards the emergence of new services for private and corporate subscribers in Russia,” said Yulia Klebanova.

“Tele2 has not yet tested NB-IoT technology. We see great prospects for business development in the IoT field and will explore it,” Tele2 press secretary Olga Galushina answered a ComNews correspondent. The press services of Mobile TeleSystems PJSC and VimpelCom PJSC (Beeline brand) refrained from commenting yesterday.

As ComNews previously reported, MTS and Nokia have already tested a comprehensive IoT solution. On the MTS LTE network in the 1800 MHz band in Moscow, the companies tested the NB-IoT radio interface with the ability to connect broadband and narrowband devices using a new radio chip (see ComNews dated November 3, 2016).

"Unfortunately, Russia was not included in the list of those countries where commercial NB-IoT networks have already been deployed or are being deployed - several European countries, South Korea and China,” Vitaly Solonin, head of the wireless technologies department at J`son & Partners Consulting, told a ComNews correspondent.

According to him, in an optimistic scenario, the first fragments of NB-IoT networks in major cities RF may appear before the end of 2017 - in the first half of 2018. However, Vitaly Solonin added, launches on a national scale should be expected no earlier than in a year or two.

President of the Internet of Things Association (IoT) Andrei Kolesnikov thinks that Russian telecom operators will launch NB-IoT networks into commercial operation no earlier than the fall of 2018. “And this will be fragmentary to begin with, following the first mass IoT projects,” he believes.