Understanding the Practicality of LTE-M
A Simplicity Series White Paper from Ingenu
Low-power, wide-area (LPWA) wireless technologies are, by definition, those that use little power and thus support years of battery life, and cover many square miles of area. Every LPWA technology has to meet these criteria to qualify. Various technologies use different means to obtain longer battery life and wide-area coverage. LTE-M is one cellular approach to LPWA.
LTE-M is an attempt to take LTE technology, strip it down and tweak it with two objectives in mind: 1) improve coverage area per tower, and 2) make it a lower-power technology. In short, take LTE and make it comparable to other LPWA technologies.
In this white paper, we’ll take a look at certain aspects of LTE-M, those most pertinent to solution providers creating solutions designed for LPWA connectivity, and discuss LTE-M as it meets or falls short in delivering on LPWA criteria.