Take the Narrowband Path to IoT Communications

June 7, 2022

With the Internet of Things (IoT) seeing phenomenal growth, connectivity becomes a challenge. That's where narrowband communications technologies can come into play to address the IoT's LPWAN requirements.

David Maliniak

Related To: Microwaves & RF

When we look at the Internet of Things (IoT) and its utilization of narrowband communications technologies, a number of considerations come into the topic:

What's the difference between broadband and narrowband RF channels, and why should we consider them for IoT use cases?
What are the tradeoffs (other than cost) in using wideband rather than narrowband components in an RF/microwave system?
For purposes of communications range, which is more useful: scaling receiver bandwidth to the signal to reduce noise seen by the receiver, or adding coding gain on a higher-rate signal to combat the high receiver noise in a wideband receiver?
If you wanted to use the 2.4-GHz band for IoT use cases, how might you overcome the crowded conditions of that 80-MHz-wide slice of spectrum?
What should engineers consider when designing with LTE CAT M1 and NB-IoT?

In this Media Gallery, we present a brief compendium of articles touching on the topic of the Internet of Things (IoT) and narrowband communications technologies.

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.