Power Optimization using LTE CAT-M

With an increase in the number of battery-operated IoT devices, optimizing the power consumed by each component has become crucial. LTE is currently one of the most popular LPWAN technologies used in IoT devices. After the 3GPP-Release13[1] in 2015, it was widely deployed in many countries. LTE CAT-M1, with uplink and downlink speeds of 375 kb/s is chiefly intended for applications that require medium to small data transfer per day. Thus, within a practical time frame, it can deliver remote FOTA (firmware updates over the air). This makes LTE CAT-M1 well suited for any devices deployed in remote areas that need to run for an extended period and that use critical applications.

Today, IoT devices are being designed for a diverse range of applications like asset tracking, vehicle tracking, telematics, fleet management, usage-based insurance, smart metering, smart buildings, connected health and a lot more. Many such applications demand a battery life of several months as frequent battery replacement no longer remains feasible. This whitepaper discusses a few ways to achieve the best possible LTE modem configuration for longer battery life, keeping in mind the application requirements and design. While discussing the methods, we shall also present some references to u-blox SARA-R4 modules[2] (complete and cost-efficient solutions in a compact form factor, offering multi-band data transmissions for Low Power Wide Area solutions).