LTE Cat 18 Ultrahigh Speed IoT Applications for Enterprise Networking

By 2025, the number of mobile phones, laptops, internet appliances, tables and other Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices is expected to triple to 75.4 billion devices from 23.14 billion devices in 2018.

 As businesses expand their reach globally, so grows the need for ultra-high-speed connections and the innovations it will bring for enterprise networking. Industries including health care, automotive, agriculture, smart utilities, transportation, industrial enterprises and more are integrating both on-board chips and wireless modems with the latest 4G broadband advancements of LTE-Advanced and LTE-advanced-Pro, which are capable of reaching beyond the Gigabit/s download data rate, a stepping stone for the upcoming 5G revolutionary technologies. LTE Cat 18 that leverages the three main pillars of LTE-Advanced, carrier aggregation (CA), higher modulation schemes up to 256QAM, and 4×4 MIMO antenna rank, will quickly make signal loss and partial downloads obsolete.  

Let’s discuss how LTE Cat 18 will improve future IoT applications.  

Steps to Improving Enterprise Networking with LTE Cat 18

Enterprise networking connects the head office to satellite operations like kiosks, other permanent offices, and even remote cellular devices. Previously, these offices all had to be wired because it provided faster connections, but the wireless age with its cloud storage and improved remote solutions are now changing the way networks are connected. For software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WAN) and some multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) reliant networks that distribute videos, legal briefs, conference calls, tracking information, and more across great geographic distances, LTE Cat 18 technology is going to provide seamless connectivity to fiber for safer connections and instantaneous service.   With Cat 18, devices will connect across the network and have enough bandwidth to connect the whole office through cellular modules with no need for wires. Enterprise networks linking several cellular branch office connections and IoT-enabled devices overseas will be able to send larger chunks of crucial data at greater speeds than ever before, meaning the road to 5G IoT is within reach today.  

According to Vikrant Gandhi of Network World, the advancing examples of innovations in ultrahigh-speed enterprise networks include:

• More advanced modulation schemes for wireless access
• Network slicing capabilities for storing and computing
• Automated network application lifecycle management
• Software-defined networking and network function virtualization
• Support for cloud-optimized distributed network applications

LTE Cat 18 and IoT Applications for Multiple Industries

Gigabit LTE-Advanced cellular devices with LTE Cat 18’s 4×4 MIMO support have several advantages over standard LTE devices. These advantages include better reception at cell edge in low-signal conditions, stronger signals, and boosted transmission speeds.   In 2018, we broke through the gigabit barrier with the introduction of a “23-band product, supporting LTE Advanced Category 18 (Cat 18) with download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps and 5-band fallback to 3G.” As previously mentioned, many industries are only beginning to outfit their enterprise networks with the right modular chipsets, hardware, and wireless frameworks – but Cat 18 is not just high data speed and large traffic volume, it also reduces latency as well as embeds those 3GPP QoS (quality of service) classes that guarantee ultra-reliable communication for a number of IoT applications that are limited only by your imagination.  

Let’s consider a few examples:

 Automotive and Transportation: Cat 18-enabled IoT solutions will help improve efficiency and accuracy for fleet management, coordinate asset tracking, and improve the overall driving experience. Thinking ahead, applications could include self-driving cars and delivery drones that can be accessed via cellular solutions.  

Smart Buildings and City Planning: Imagine being able to monitor the temperature of an entire parking garage during a heatwave without worrying about cabling thousands of feet worth of fiber, or copper, throughout layers of thick concrete. The infrastructure will be neater and simpler. Smart cities will be safer, more efficient and help reduce traffic congestion through algorithm tracking and smart maintenance. City-wide weather alerts will also be instantaneous and reach more devices.  

Energy and Utility Companies Energy enterprises can make smarter decisions through faster service and distribution channels. Connecting with service technicians across dangerous terrain and delivering schematics will be as easy as clicking “send.”  

Security and Surveillance With faster connections, security and surveillance enterprises will be able to easily counter cyberattacks, remotely monitor multiple facilities in real time and alert authorities without interruption in the event of an emergency.  

Health care: IoT applications for health care will improve first responder times, provide doctors with real-time diagnostic data, provide crucial health alerts to family members and staff and help remotely track critical assets like equipment and medical transplants.  

Fixed Wireless Access: Cat 18 high speed throughout can deliver reliable and easy-to-install Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to households for their Customer Premises Equipment (CPEs), Set-Top Boxes, and IPTV in the era of 4K (and even 8K) ultra-high definition television. In addition, for businesses needing to stream conference calls and presentations to multiple office sites, Cat 18 will reduce lag and provide better reception than ever before.  

Your Global Broadband Solution Provider

Is your enterprise ready to advance their IoT framework, save time, and expand market opportunities? As more businesses than ever are gaining a foothold on the future, it’s time to tap into the ultrahigh-speed potential of LTE IoT today.

 Our LM960 PCI Express Mini Card (mPCIe) is the world’s first mPCIe form factor to support LTE Cat 18 for enterprise cellular routers and appliances. The LM960 data card is exceptionally high-speed with data rates of up to 1.2 Gbps download and 150 Mbps upload, operates with full GNSS support (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou), and is powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X20 LTE Modem. We aim to maintain leadership in mobile broadband connectivity to deliver the highest available speeds that cellular networks can support for all our solution providers and integrators.