NB-IoT for Satellite Communications: Physical Layer Analysis and Performance

Terrestrial Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems cannot provide worldwide coverage as effectively as satellite systems. Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is currently one of the major terrestrial IoT technology. This article provides an evaluation of the NB-IoT physical layer performance in the context of two satellite scenarios: Geostationary (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO). GEO scenarios suffer from large distances between transmitter and receiver, while LEO systems exhibit very large levels of Doppler. New algorithms are proposed to reliably adapt NB-IoT in these contexts and performance in terms of maximum throughput is evaluated and compared. Finally, NB-IoT main limitations in satellite communication links are identified.