THE NETWORK OF IoT APPLICATIONS must be standard, secure, reliable, easily accessible and cheap.

brief history of NB-IoT

In all smart metering projects, APKAPPA has always chosen to develop the data communication function on public and standard networks.

In this way, it has always passed on to customers the advantage of using communication networks with the highest levels of reliability, accessibility and security guaranteed by industry operators.

Often, managers are offered solutions in which communication networks based on short-range radio technology are used, with the illusion of cost-effectiveness in that they do not have to pay for data traffic.  In this case, however, it is worth bearing in mind that such networks require the manager to invest in setting up the infrastructure (antennas, repeaters, etc.) and maintaining it; not only does this type of network always have the characteristic of being free-frequency, so it is not certain that the manager will be able to communicate with field devices, nor can he expect others to 'switch off' their system to make room for the manager's.  Another drawback is signal strength: often these types of networks cannot be used by devices that are in abnormal conditions (such as inside a cast-iron manhole cover), as is often the case in the water world.

Until 2018, these types of networks were basically the only real solution to give life to remote reading and remote control systems but today APKAPPA proposes, in the various fields of application of its smart technologies, the use of the NB-IoT communication network because

  • it is native to these applications
  • it is secure and protects data
  • it connects IoT devices even if they are in hostile and isolated environments
  • has very low costs
  • does not require any infrastructure or maintenance.
NB-IoT is the network for IoT applications

NB-IoT is the network for IoT applications

It is an LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) radio technology standard developed by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project, the international organisation that brings together ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC, i.e. the 7 major standardisation organisations in telecommunications worldwide) to enable data communication to a wide range of devices.

Since 2018, network operators of global significance have gradually announced the availability and widespread coverage of the Narrowband Internet of Things network, known by the name NB-IoT, which is now total throughout the country.

NB-IoT is secure and protects data

NB-IoT is secure and protects data

NB-IoT is primarily intended for low-cost, long battery life indoor coverage in high connection density situations for extended coverage areas, and it uses a subset of the LTE standard and operates on allocated bandwidth frequencies.  This also makes it a secure network, in terms of the data transmitted over it, as the authentication and encryption methods inherent in the LTE network are used.

Guaranteed bandwidth, signal availability everywhere at national level (urban, suburban, rural, mountain, underground), low energy consumption for the devices, IT security and very aggressive tariff plans: today the NB-IoT choice is indisputable, with less than 3 euros per device the manager "forgets" the communication network but benefits from it completely.

For these reasons today APKAPPA proposes, in the various fields of application of its smart technologies, the use of the NB-IoT communication network.

WIDESPREAD COVERAGE AND LOW COSTS

WIDESPREAD COVERAGE AND LOW COSTS

Guaranteed bandwidth, signal availability everywhere at national level (urban, suburban, rural, mountain, underground), low energy consumption for the devices, IT security and very aggressive tariff plans: today the NB-IoT choice is indisputable, with less than 3 euros per device the manager "forgets" the communication network but benefits from it completely.