As the performance of Cat.1 technology continues to improve, its implementation scenarios will inevitably become more and more abundant, which may also mean that the “60%-30%-10%” cellular IoT pattern is not impossible to change. .
According to the latest relevant data, the total shipments of cellular IoT modules in 2020 reached approximately 265 million units. Among the products, Cat.1 has the most dazzling growth.
The popularity of Cat.1 in 2020 is obvious to all. At present, this trend has continued in 2021 and even intensified. As policies continue to heat up and chip and module manufacturers continue to advance, the implementation of Cat.1 is proceeding in an orderly manner. So, as Cat.1 gradually moves into various industries, what requirements do these new practical applications place on the iteration of technology? After experiencing a round of “explosion”, how powerful can Cat.1’s popularity be?
Learning from history: Looking at future trends from the development history of Cat.1
As early as March 2009, when 3GPP released the Release 8 version and officially proposed LTE, it simultaneously launched a total of five terminal categories: LTE Cat.1, Cat.2, Cat.3, Cat.4, and Cat.5. At that time, 3GPP believed that it was not enough for LTE to be used only on mobile phones, and the IoT market must be the future trend. Therefore, 3GPP defines the uplink peak rate of terminal level Cat.1 as only 5Mbit/s, which is exclusively for the Internet of Things industry.
However, in the early stages of LTE development, Cat.1 was not paid much attention by the industry. In April 2015, the first generation of smart watch products was officially launched, ushering in the wearable category. With the increasing popularity of wearable devices, Cat.1 has gradually attracted the attention of the industry.
In fact, early wearable devices were mainly deeply coordinated with smartphones and did not have independent cellular communication functions, and could not even be counted as an independent category. The reason is that the receiving antenna has become the key to hindering development. Traditional 4G cellular terminals must choose dual receiving antennas, which is an unbearable burden for a volume-sensitive device such as a smart watch. Even if it is forcibly inserted, the diversity reception effect will be greatly reduced.
In order to solve this problem, 3GPP has repeatedly optimized IoT-related applications in R12 and R13, and has successively added terminal capability levels of Cat.0, Cat.M1, and Cat.NB-1. However, the maximum receiving bandwidth of these technologies is only 1Mbps, and they cannot provide a good user experience for wearable scenarios.
In response to this, from June 2016 to March 2017, after long-term discussions, the 3GPP RAN#73~#75 standards plenary meeting discussed and defined a new level of single-antenna terminal capabilities. Finally, in March 2017, the core part of 3GPP Release 13 LTE Cat.1 bis was officially frozen. It used the first generation LTE Cat.1 as the technical anchor, and together with the subsequent supporting standard performance part and conformance certification part, passed extremely low standards The cost has been revised and a terminal capability level – Cat.1 bis – that is suitable for medium-speed Internet of Things/Internet of Things application scenarios and has complete backward compatibility has been defined.
However, between 2017 and 2019, when cellular wearable devices were in full swing, the Cat.1 bis technology concept did not produce substantial industrial benefits, and it can be said that it fell silent after its birth. Behind the scenes, R13 Cat.1 bis lacks a terminal chip platform that can fully carry its technical vision, which has become a “stumbling block” hindering the development of the industry.
Until November 16, 2019, UNISOC released a new generation of IoT chip platform-Zhanrui 8910DM, which is the world’s first LTE Cat.1 bis IoT chip platform and can be widely used in multiple Internet of Everything devices. field. Since then, Cat.1 has truly ushered in a stage of rapid development, triggering an industry climax last year.
If we carefully analyze the development process of Cat.1 from silence to explosion, it is not difficult to find that the development from Cat.1 to Cat.1 bis is an in-depth iteration of technology based on the determination of scenarios to provide underlying technical support for scenario-based services. ; From Zhanrui 8910DM to the complete explosion of the industry, it has made up for the lack of Cat.1 bis’s technical ecology, allowing it to truly enter a broader market stage.
There is no doubt that Cat.1 still has a bright future. However, in the current market heat wave, taking history as a guide, Cat.1 will still need to rely on scenarios in the future, deeply integrate with landing scenarios, keep improving the technology itself, and truly meet market needs, which inevitably requires some extensions. New features.
Strengthening the base: Cat.1 needs to expand new features
As we all know, in the “60%-30%-10%” cellular IoT structure, Cat.1 mainly carries 30% of the medium and low-speed IoT connection fields, and has great advantages in terms of product ecology and cost investment. However, Cat.1 is not without its shortcomings. For IoT devices, their service life generally ranges from several years to ten years. However, the current Cat.1 module’s standby power consumption can reach several milliamps, which cannot meet the needs of long-term battery standby.
Therefore, at the end of last year, China Unicom Internet of Things teamed up with China Unicom Research Institute, UNISOC and Huawei to take the lead in completing the world’s first Cat.1 bis PSM low-power consumption feature based on Unicom Yanfei Cat.1 modules in two provinces and cities in Jiangsu and Shanghai. Live network testing, becoming the first operator in the world to complete Cat.1 bis PSM live network testing.
Through the live network test, the Unicom Yanfei Cat1 module using the UNISOC 8910DM chip platform has normal functions such as network presence, uplink and downlink data services, and PSM T3324&T3412 timers in the live network environment. The test results have reached expectations. China Unicom Yanfei under deep sleep The average standby power consumption of FeiCat1 module is as low as 2.7μA, which is basically the same as the standby power consumption of NB-IoT PSM, and the standby time can reach 5-8 years.
Of course, in addition to low power consumption features, Cat.1 also needs to achieve a more comprehensive technological leap in terms of low cost, wide coverage, and high speed. In this regard, at the Future Innovation Conference held on April 20, UNISOC announced a series of new Cat.1 bis features: including eDRX/PSM features, coverage enhancement features, BT features, professional intercom, upgrade enhancements, Overseas characteristics, etc.
Among these new features, UNISOC fully integrates advanced features such as R12 PSM, R13 eDRX, and R13 coverage enhancement with Cat.1 bis technology, realizing the Cat.1 bis technology ecosystem in upstream terminal chip platforms, certification systems, and global Comprehensive integration of key market compliance and policy orientations, operator development strategies, and downstream terminal manufacturers’ awareness and technological differentiation will allow Cat.1 bis to better empower medium-speed IoT categories to achieve low power consumption, Ideal user experience with low cost, wide coverage and high data rate.
In addition, these new features are also combined with implementation scenarios to support the expansion of Cat.1 bis applications into more actual scenarios. For example, the BT feature adds support for Bluetooth media protocols such as A2DP and HFP, allowing IoT devices to play music; the upgrade enhancement not only supports FOTA differential upgrade, but also supports full-package upgrade; the overseas feature adds product Combined with the features required by operators in overseas regions, the market scope is greatly expanded.
Building an Ecosystem: How strong is Cat.1’s potential?
In fact, through the rapid explosion in 2020, Cat.1 has been applied on a large scale in industries including Hello two-wheelers, shared charging cabinets, smart POS, and vehicle-mounted T-boxes.
In July last year, China Unicom, Unisoc, and Fibocom jointly announced that Hello would be the first to apply the 4G Cat.1 communication network in its shared two-wheel travel service, ushering in the large-scale entry of shared two-wheel travel into the 4G era. It is understood that the first batch of Hello mopeds equipped with 4G Cat.1 bis modules reached 1,500 in July last year, and more Hello bicycles equipped with 4G Cat.1 bis modules will be launched in the future.
Thanks to wider 4G network coverage and shorter network latency, Hello bikes equipped with 4G Cat.1 bis modules can shorten the lock opening and closing time by more than 30% on average, and the user’s lock opening and closing experience has been significantly improved. In addition, thanks to the significant increase in network speed, Hello Bike will provide users with richer services, such as dynamic weather reminders based on LBS, business district advertising push, etc.
At the end of last year, Youfang Technology’s N58 module equipped with Unisoc’s 8910DM series chip also became the first Cat.1 wireless communication module to be successfully commercialized in the intelligent networked car box market, which effectively promoted the popularity of Cat.1 wireless communication modules in China. The popularization and large-scale application of automobile intelligence and network connectivity can provide stable, reliable and high-quality services to individual or corporate customers such as car owners, fleet managers, 4S stores, and car rental agencies.
With the development of a series of new technical features of Cat.1 bis, Cat.1 will also further expand into more application areas. For example, for low power consumption requirements, Cat.1 will be able to provide a high-speed, low-latency, and wide-coverage new technology option for IoT battery applications. At the same time, by further enhancing its connection capabilities, Cat.1 will be able to provide services for scenarios such as underground garages, basements, and shadow areas in dense urban areas.
Last year, China Unicom completed the centralized procurement of 5 million sets of Cat.1 chips, and UNISOC won the bid exclusively. This also shows that IoT applications will increasingly shift to 4G LTE, and Cat.1 is about to usher in a broader stage. Under this circumstance, ecological construction will increasingly become the focus of the industry. In the future, with the joint promotion of chip manufacturers, module manufacturers, operators, etc., the Cat.1 ecosystem will also include thousands of industries.
Conclusione
As we all know, based on the mature 4G LTE network deployment, Cat.1 can complete the replacement of old and new networks without re-distributing the network. As the performance of Cat.1 technology continues to improve, its implementation scenarios will inevitably become more and more abundant, which may also mean that the “60%-30%-10%” cellular IoT pattern is not impossible to change. .