IOT: Wireless connectivity standards & Importance of NB-IOT standard

There are several wireless standards available to support the IOT devices. Most of these standards target to address the following points:

·         Low Power (Long battery life)

·         Low cost

·         Long range communication

·         Indoor connectivity

·         Low data rate

With several standards and platforms being followed by different manufacturers/IOT solution providers, interoperability, Certification & security of the data being exchanged are more important in IOT. If the wireless standards such as Zigbee/Z-Wave/BT/BLE are used for end device connectivity in IOT, then there is always a need for gateway to collect the data from end devices and send it to cloud. The gateway will be capable of providing backend internet connectivity with the help of 2G/3G/4G cellular network.

This leads to have one common underlying standard for connectivity and platform, so that users can have single point access to all their resources/devices and avoid difficulty in understanding of different platforms/devices etc…

·         Zigbee: Wireless protocol based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard. It was developed to support low data rate, low power applications. It operates in 2.4GHz ISM band. There are 3 device types supported: Coordinator, Router, and End Device. Supports a data rate of 250Kbps. Connectivity range (Between 2 devices) is 10meter & can be extended with router and end devices.

·         BLE (Bluetooth Smart): Operates in 2.4GHz ISM Band. Supports data rate of 1Mbps. Connectivity range is 100m.

·         LoRaWAN: Long Range low power Wide Area Network. Operates in ISM band. Proprietary protocol, initially developed by Semtech and now it is part of LoRa alliance. Connectivity range is of 15-20km.

·         6LoWPAN: IPV6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Network. It is based on underlying IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Supports a data rate of 20-250Kbps.

·         Z-Wave: Wireless protocol developed mainly for Home automation. Operates in ISM band. Data rate supported is 100kbps. Connectivity range is 100meter.

·         ANT+: Defined by ANT+ Alliance & Garmin. Operates in ISM Band. Supports a data rate of 1Mbps.

·         Cellular Network:

o   EC-GSM-IOT

o   LTE-Cat-M1

o   NB-IOT : Part of 3GPP Release 13 and targets to address:

§  Ultra Low cost device

§  Lower power consumption (Improved battery life)

§  Low data rate

§  Support higher number of Low throughput devices 

       Release-13 defines UE category LTE Cat M1 & Cat NB1. Following are the major features:

Features	LTE Cat M1 (eMTc)	LTE Cat NB1 (NB-IOT)
3GPP release	Release 13	Release 13
Uplink Data Rate	1Mbps	250Kbps
Downlink Data Rate	1Mbps	250Kbps
Number of Antenna	1	1
Bandwidth	1.4MHz	180KHz
Data Transmission Mode	Full/Half Duplex	Half Duplex

NB-IOT supports different mode of operation:

·         Stand Alone: To use the GSM carriers

·         In-Band: Utilize the resource blocks within Normal LTE Carrier

·         Guard-Band: Utilize the unused resource blocks in the LTE Guard Band

The design of NB-IOT imposes several challenges, few of them are listed below:

·         Co-existence with LTE

·         Interference

·         Throughput degradation

NB IOT Baseband designers have to optimize the RF front end & support other requirements such as Connected/Idle mode-eDRX to improve the battery life.

With NB-IOT, need of an intermediate gateway might be eliminated and data can be directly synced to the servers. This may emerge as a common connectivity standard for IOT and help in users to control or access their IOT devices over smartphone.

Hebbe Falls in Chikkamagalur

Hebbe Falls is located in Chikkamagalur district. It is located in the midst of western ghats, surrounded by lush greenery and mountains. The route to hebbe falls from Kemmannagundi provides stunning images of hilly region.
Chikkamagalur is famous for many tourist locations. Few of the well known places which can be visited:

Trekking/Hiking:
1. Kemmanna Gundi.
2. Mullaayyana Giri.
3. Kallattagiri Falls
4. Kuduremukh
5. Hebbe Falls

Holy Places:
1. Sringeri
2. Bale Honnur
3. Kalasa
4. Horanaadu


Trek to hebbe falls from Kemmanna gundi hill station is about 10Km. But now most of the forest surrounding Kemmanna Gundi is covered under Bhadra Reserved Forest, so the Trek route from kemmanna Gundi to Hebbe Falls is closed.

To trek through this route, it is better to take prior appointment or permission from Forest Department (Not sure whether they allow or not).

When we were in College in Chikkamagalur, this Area was still not covered under Reserved forest and we could explore this route and enjoy the nature, and beautiful locations on the way.

But this time again, when all our friends decided to Visit this Hebbe falls, we couldn't take this route. But there is an another route to visit Hebbe falls.(If you are coming from Bangalore, then better take Route through Birur -->Lingadahalli-->Hebbefalls).

You have to hire a local jeep in nearby village in Lingadahalli to reach hebbe falls. They will take you till some place for about 7Km. From there onwards, trek to Hebbe falls for about 3km.

This route also goes through many private coffee estates and You can go till the bottom of the falls and enjoy the falls gushing from a height of 551ft in 2 stages (Chikka Hebbe and Dodda Hebbe).

It is better to visit this place during July-Feb period. During rainy season, be careful about leeches. Also carry first aid box (Lime etc to curb leeches.).

The route from Kemmannagundi to Mullayyanagiri is covered by many mountains and thick forest. This route will give mesmerising landscapes.(See some of the snaps captured in this route)

Last but not the least, keep the environment clean...
  Travel Directions: From Bangalore:
Route-1: Bangalore--Hasan--Chikkamagalur--Kemmannagundi
Route-2: Bangalore--Tumkur--Kunigal--Arasikere--Birur--Lingadahalli--Kemmannagundi

Nami Islnad (Namiseom/Namisum - Korean pronunciation)

Nami is a Half moon shaped island. It is located in Chuncheon (South Korea) region. It was formed as a result of construction of Cheongpyeong Dam across the Han River. It is approximately about 5km in diameter.
Naminara/Namisum is an imaginary country. It declared itself a self governing country (as a Naminara Republic) in 2006. It has its invented its own Passport, currency, stamp etc...

It is surrounded by mountains and lush greenery. Walking across the entire Nami island might take about 2-3 hours.

There is a Unicef center which supports several activities for children. Sometime Nami hosts international competation for childern on cultural activity/Arts/Paintings etc...

There are several coffee/tea shops, general souvenir shop and Naminara hotel.

Some of the pictures captured in Namisum:

Ferry to reach Nami Island:

Pictures in and arround Nami Island:

Refer below picture to know the history behind naming of Nami Island (Named after General Nami):

Frozen Lake:

Other end of the Nami Island where the directions to Seoul and other few South Korea locations depicted:

Naminara Hotel:

Nami Island Map:

Travel directions from Suwon to Nami Island:

• Take bus bound to Chuncheon from Suwon Bus terminal. Get a ticket to Gapyeong station. It is about 2 hour drive from Suwon. Ticket cost is 8900 Korean Won.
• Get down at Gapyeong (Koreans pronunce it as Kapyeong) Bus station.
• Take Taxi from Gapyeong Bus station to Nami Island Port (It costs arround 3000-4000 korean won)
• Take ticket to Ferry to enter Nami Island (Cost is 8000 Korean won for round trip). It is just 5-10 minute travel in the ferry.