Low-power Wide-area Network (LPWAN) technologies are a hot topic in the IoT world currently as they promise to connect many more devices at a lower cost than traditional 2G, 3G and 4G methods. The front runners of LPWAN technologies are the likes of Sigfox, LoRa, Zigbee and Narrow Band IoT (NB IoT).

Unlike other technologies, NB IoT operates on the licensed spectrum and is governed by the standards and specifications set out by the 3GPP framework that telcos adhere to. This means that NB IoT can be used on the existing telco infrastructure and will not suffer from interference like the other technologies on the unlicensed spectrum.

By 2020, it is believed that the number of connected cellular IoT devices will reach 1 billion due the demand for smart devices and sensors. NB IoT can offer areas with good telco coverage the ability to connect up to 50 000 devices per base station as opposed to just 300 – 400 devices currently. This makes the movement toward smart city and industries more tangible as it offers a cheap effective way to connect numerous smart devices for various applications and verticals.

Ascent Solutions has positioned itself as a front runner in the use of NB IoT enabled devices for security tracking and smart logistics. The use of this new technology to replace 2G and 3G based GPS tracking in countries adopting NB IoT could revolutionize the industry by driving down costs and increasing the number of things that can be tracked.

To fully realise this opportunity, Ascent Solutions is working closely with partners such as Huawei and Ublox to enable all of our traditional tracking devices to be NB IoT ready. Any NB IoT enabled security tracking or smart logistics device from Ascent will be able to track directly from the base station and will not require a smart phone to provide GPS and GSM connection.

Ascent Solutions will be able to achieve robust live tracking of all kinds of assets, people, animals and wildlife through the power of NB IoT.