iot nb and cat m iot for secure connection | Legacy iot

IoT NB and CAT M IoT for Secure Connection

IoT NB and CAT M IoT come under massive IoT connectivity of lower power wide area networks, also known as LPWANs, with wireless cellular communication technology for IoT.

It is a connectivity protocol developed by multiple telecom organizations known as 3GPP and where 3GPP stands for 3rd generation partnership project, which also developed 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G.

Legacy Networks, NB-IoT and CAT-M IoT technology are used differently based on the strength of the capabilities, as discussed below.

NB-IoT

NB-IoT stands for narrow band IoT, a standard-based LPWAN that enables a range of new IoT devices and services. They minimize device complexity and can co-exist with 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks.

NB-IoT can transfer limited data and work on a small scale, such as their use cases consuming less than 1kb daily. Still, they have high security and reliability because it operates within a licensed spectrum and has a battery life of more than ten years.

They have strong coverage whether the device is used indoors or outside; they should provide sufficient coverage even when power sources are unavailable and don't require a gateway for sending data from one point to another.

CAT-M IoT

CAT-M is another term of LPWAN technology built to support a longer device lifespan and work on a large scale.

CAT-M IoT can transfer a large volume of data at high speeds with low latency over considerable distances, increasing security and reliability.

The trade-off is that cellular devices consume a lot of power and are relatively expensive.

The overall manufacturing cost of CAT-M is high compared to NB-IoT because the cellular gateway aggregates data from sensors and sends information to the server.