DNA prepares for the IoT era

DNA, Ericsson, Enermix and UnSeen Technologies have cooperated to produce an NB-IoT technology-based service for measuring indoor air conditions. The new service is provided to customers through the Talotohtori cloud service.

Tests have shown that Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology makes it possible to connect a broad range sensors and devices to the internet in increasingly challenging locations. As part of this project, Ericsson, DNA and several other partners connected sensors to measure air pressure and temperature.

Jarkko Laari, Director of Radio Networks at DNA, says:

"IoT sets new challenges for network resources, as the number of connected devices will multiply. NB-IoT responds to this challenge. Depending on the customer need, DNA will extend its NB-IoT technology considerably during 2017."

NB-IoT is well suited for sites where the volume of transferred data is relatively small. Other advantages of NB-IoT include low-energy consumption which significantly reduces the need for maintenance.

Janne Heinonen, CEO of Enermix, says:

"We believe that NB-IoT technology will benefit the Talotohtori property management service by enabling a new, cost-effective way of connecting more and more individual sensors to our service."

Olli Sirkka, Head of Ericsson Finland, says:

"The network device coverage will expand to areas that are more difficult to access, such as the ground or smart meters in basements, where it has previously been impossible or very expensive to replace or charge the battery."

One of the benefits of the NB-IoT technology is that it can be introduced on a 200 kHz bandwidth, while an LTE channel is normally about 10 to 20 MHz. It also can be introduced very quickly by simply installing new software in existing 4G (LTE) networks. One band of 200 kHz is estimated to support more than 200,000 devices using an NB-IoT connection per cell.

Ericsson forecasts that in 2022 there will be 29 billion connected smart devices in the world, of which 18 billion will be IoT devices.