First 3GPP Release 15 small cell for smart metering
The Hermes Release 15 LTE-M/NB-IoT small cell use cases include filling coverage gaps in basement and deep indoor smart metering applications.
The small cell from Taiwanese advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider Ubiik is claimed the world’s first supporting the 3GPP standard’s 5G Release 15 specification.
Hermes integrates a full software Release 15 radio access network optimised for private networks, with multi-carrier standalone NB-IOT support as well as standalone LTE-M in 1.4MHz, 3MHz and 5MHz bandwidths, including VoLTE.
It can operate as a small cell with an external evolved packet core (EPC) network with LTE Cat-1 and Ethernet backhaul options, as well as an access point with built-in EPC and integrated home subscriber server (external HSS via S6a is also supported).
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Hermes’ Release 15 support, which includes early data transmission and radio link control unacknowledged mode, is considered a perfect fit for power sensitive NB-IoT use cases like water metering, as well as complementing the coverage of public mobile network operators by operating in guard bands in hard to reach areas.
“While Weightless LPWAN is perfectly suited for applications requiring the transmission of a small amount of data such as AMI, we envision a strong growth of the private cellular IoT market using LTE-M and NB-IoT,” said Tien-haw Peng, Founder and CEO of Ubiik.
“With the launch of Hermes and Ubiik end-to-end cellular IoT solutions, utilities and industrial IoT markets which require a system with higher throughput or lower latency will now have a secure and high performance 3GPP-compliant solution.”
Ubiik reports that the small cell has demonstrated 200 concurrent radio resource control (RRC) connections in a single NB-IOT carrier.
Moreover, the solution has been integrated with mobile virtual network operator and chipset partners.
Support for 450MHz frequency operation in 3GPP bands 31/72/73 also is planned for release. These bands offer 5MHz of bandwidth and are considered ideal to deploy utility private AMI networks.
3GPP is a consortium of standardisation organisations developing protocols for mobile applications initially for 3G but subsequently through the Releases expanding to LTE and now 5G.
