Benchmarking of Cellular IoT Technology Based on Coverage, Mobility, Latency & Message Repetition

In this comprehensive study, Cellular-IoT (C-IoT) i.e. Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) and Long-Term Evolution Machine Type Communication (LTE-M) are thoroughly analyzed for their performance in terms of coverage, latency, mobility support, and repetition parameters. The findings revealed that both technologies excel in providing good signal strength for outdoor IoT applications, with NB-IoT showing a notable advantage in certain scenarios, particularly in corner locations and the basement of a building. In terms of mobility support, LTE-M demonstrated robustness even at higher driving speeds, while NB-IoT encountered packet loss above 50 km/h. Latency-wise, LTE-M exhibited lower latency in specific outdoor and indoor scenarios. Furthermore, NB-IoT displayed superior uplink and downlink repetition parameters, positioning it as a favourable choice for deep indoor IoT applications, while LTE-M is well-suited for near real-time monitoring and outdoor tracking applications.