As the workforce becomes wireless so does the ... - Connect-World

LTE-enabled M2M solutions4G and LTE is a different matter, because, in thisinstance, some existing 3G applications may justbe ‘made better’. And better is sometimes notworth the additional cost to the consumer.Where does 4G promise to excel? What aresome of the barriers to transition? These arecommon questions for curious observers. Inthe final analysis we will probably see a future(three years out) that has a place for 2G, 3G and4G. There are a couple of significant drivers thatwill come to play as the operators go throughtheir capital replacement cycles. One of the mostimportant considerations involves more efficientuse of spectrum. Spectrum is a limited resourceand costs billions of dollars. If you look at theimpact of products like the iPhone that can literallyovertax a network, you can see that being able toget more data through the same resource will bea significant driver for operators to upgrade to thelatest technologies.For companies deploying M2M solutions, manytechnology decisions begin at the device side withan assessment of the form factors of equipmentinvolved in a deployment. 4G involves morecomplicated devices. There’s more engineeringembedded in them, and in short, they take up morespace. There may be devices that simply can’t beengineered around the space that a 4G solutionrequires because of their form factor - as long as2G networks are around, that is.Another issue is how long will the 2G networksremain active? This is not a simple question, butrelies on a number of factors: whether the 2Gnetwork is fully depreciated; the cost to operate thenetwork; assurance of supply agreements (thinkof utilities and their metre deployments); and, asstated before, the requirement to make efficient useof the limited spectrum.4G deployments have already begun in Europeand are now beginning in the US. Verizon is in theprocess of deploying a nationwide LTE system,which will provide close to ubiquitous coveragewith speeds of up to 100Mb/second.With the historical context of 2G and 3Gestablished, what does this world look like andwho is going to play in it? Well, that depends onwhere you’re standing. Let’s start in the home.An LTE-enabled connected household maysport some features we’d all like to see. Imaginetransmitting video from your 4G-enabledcamera to the cloud and having it appear on yourgrandmother’s TV. Home health care and elderlymanagement with video and patient data willbe important as the population continues to age.LTE technology will provide the bandwidth toprovide smooth video-to-video communication,and this same bandwidth will enable robust socialnetworking and wireless gaming. LTE will extendinto mobile entertainment on demand, and couldhave a profound effect on how Hollywood and thetelevision networks decide to deliver their content.Let’s leave the house and look at the car, or anymoving vehicle, because LTE will have a sizableimpact on the telematics space. LTE offers thepromise of transforming vehicles into real mobilecommunications centres, offering heightenedsecurity, infotainment and a host of outbounddata flow. Here’s a short list of what the M2Mconnected car of the future might like:• Safety and security: Tracking and stolenvehicle recovery, wrong way driver alerts,emergency assistance, crash notification,approaching emergency vehicle warning,maintenance alerts, remote door unlock.• Connected experiences and infotainment:Interactive gaming, car as a mobile hotspot, full Internet experience with real timenews, movies, etc.; personal consumerequipment device integration.• Cost savings: Location-based coupons, ecoapplications, low gas prices.• Convenience: Weather, conciergeservices, Bluetooth and voice features,vehicle diagnostics, electronic vehiclecharging station.Security is an obvious area and utilizes some ofthe same features found in the connected car or inthe entertainment sector. Real-time video access tomonitoring systems anywhere is an easy extensionof what’s already happening with surveillancetoday. But what are the enhanced applications?Homeland security has many potentialapplications for M2M LTE solutions, fromborder monitoring to remote facial recognition,TSA screening and facilities monitoring andmanagement. The military is actively involved inpushing this technology to its limits with its droneprogrammes, remote surveillance technologiesand control over field distributed personnel andequipment. The military has historically beena driver of technology, and this current burst ofactivity will begin trickling into the mainstreamwithin the next few years.M2M connected healthcare is another area whereLTE will enhance current applications and providean opportunity for the development of new andneeded solutions. This market is still nascentand complicated, with ecosystem issues suchas liability, payer, and regulatory issues, but thepromise of LTE-enabled M2M solutions is tooimportant to ignore. Some research suggests themarket for telemedicine devices and services willgenerate US$3.6 billion in annual revenue withinfive years (Health Data Management, Oct. 2009).There are a myriad of applications currentlybeing planned or slated for enhancement. Theseinclude electronic medical record population andprocessing, treatment advice and education, homehealth management and medical asset tracking.At home chronic care and at home diagnostics aretwo of the strongest and most interesting aspectsof this category, offering a host of monitoringservices that could supplement or in some casesreplace the need for personnel in home visits fromhealth providers.Utilities are another important area where existingM2M applications will be enhanced and newapplications will be developed with the adventof LTE. The M2M utilities vertical is expectedto grow at 42 per cent CAGR (ABI, 2009) overthe next five years with a high propensity forautomating operations. There is an ongoingdialogue concerning the smart grid, which seemsto focus primarily on metre reading. As we’vediscussed, much of this is served by 2G solutions.The backbone of this grid will lie in managementand control, which will serve to create greaterefficiencies and ‘greener’ energies. LTE willaffect Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition(SCADA) - systems used to monitor and controltransmission and distribution equipment, fieldengineering, the automated meter infrastructure,and inventory management. One of the keyadvantages of LTE-enabled M2M solutions willlie in reducing the high costs of data collectionand on-site services and remotely managing andtweaking power generation and transmission anddistribution facilities for maximum efficiencybased on increased access to more robust data.As happens when any new technology enters themarket, there are opportunities for incumbentsas well as new entrants. The move to 4G is nodifferent. Factors that will be debated, and maypropel or hold back adoption or development orsolutions include:• availability and cost of modems;• device form factor requirements;• useful life of legacy devices versusreplacement costs;• availability of other technologies;• ubiquity of network coverage;• new service pricing models;• speed of market adoption for newtechnologies; and• legislation.It is very likely that as LTE becomes the newstandard and reaches a point of ubiquity, the oldertechnologies will eventually be phased out andreplaced. The ultimate promise of M2M and LTEwill be a world in which connectivity is expectedand demanded. That day is coming soon. •28 • North America 2010