Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement

Deliang Yang; Xianghui Zhang; Xuan Huang; Liqian Shen; Jun Huang; Xiangmao Chang; Guoliang Xing

doi:10.1145/3372224.3419212

Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement

Deliang Yang, Xianghui Zhang, Xuan Huang, Liqian Shen, Jun Huang, Xiangmao Chang, Guoliang Xing^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent years have seen a widespread deployment of NB-IoT networks for massive machine-to-machine communication in the emerging 5G era. Unfortunately, the key aspects of NB-IoT networks, such as radio access performance and power consumption have not been well-understood due to lack of effective tools and closed nature of operational cellular infrastructure. In this paper, we develop NB-Scope - the first hardware NB-IoT diagnostic tool that supports fine-grained fusion of power and protocol traces. We then conduct a large-scale field measurement study consisting of 30 nodes deployed at over 1,200 locations in 3 regions during a period of three months. Our in-depth analysis of the collected 49 GB traces showed that NB-IoT nodes yield significantly imbalanced energy consumption in the wild, up to a ratio of 75:1, which may lead to short battery lifetime and frequent network partition. Such a high performance variance can be attributed to several key factors including diverse network coverage levels, long tail power profile, and excessive control message repetitions. We then explore the optimization of NB-IoT base station settings on a software-defined eNodeB testbed, and suggest several important design aspects that can be considered by future NB-IoT specifications and chipsets.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	MobiCom ’20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	732-744
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4503-7085-1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3372224.3419212
Publication status	Published - 2020
Externally published	Yes
Event	26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom 2020) - virtual (online), London, United Kingdom Duration: 21 Sept 2020 → 25 Sept 2020 https://sigmobile.org/mobicom/2020/

Conference

Conference	26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom 2020)
Abbreviated title	MobiCom '20
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	London
Period	21/09/20 → 25/09/20
Internet address	https://sigmobile.org/mobicom/2020/

Research Keywords

Narrowband Internet of Things
LPWAN
Network Measurement

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10.1145/3372224.3419212

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Yang, D., Zhang, X., Huang, X., Shen, L., Huang, J., Chang, X., & Xing, G. (2020). Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement. In MobiCom ’20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (pp. 732-744). Article 55 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3372224.3419212

@inproceedings{036ca53038bd451189c72c6e7c32acca,

title = "Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement",

abstract = "Recent years have seen a widespread deployment of NB-IoT networks for massive machine-to-machine communication in the emerging 5G era. Unfortunately, the key aspects of NB-IoT networks, such as radio access performance and power consumption have not been well-understood due to lack of effective tools and closed nature of operational cellular infrastructure. In this paper, we develop NB-Scope - the first hardware NB-IoT diagnostic tool that supports fine-grained fusion of power and protocol traces. We then conduct a large-scale field measurement study consisting of 30 nodes deployed at over 1,200 locations in 3 regions during a period of three months. Our in-depth analysis of the collected 49 GB traces showed that NB-IoT nodes yield significantly imbalanced energy consumption in the wild, up to a ratio of 75:1, which may lead to short battery lifetime and frequent network partition. Such a high performance variance can be attributed to several key factors including diverse network coverage levels, long tail power profile, and excessive control message repetitions. We then explore the optimization of NB-IoT base station settings on a software-defined eNodeB testbed, and suggest several important design aspects that can be considered by future NB-IoT specifications and chipsets.",

keywords = "Narrowband Internet of Things, LPWAN, Network Measurement",

author = "Deliang Yang and Xianghui Zhang and Xuan Huang and Liqian Shen and Jun Huang and Xiangmao Chang and Guoliang Xing",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1145/3372224.3419212",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-4503-7085-1",

pages = "732--744",

booktitle = "MobiCom {\textquoteright}20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom 2020), MobiCom '20 ; Conference date: 21-09-2020 Through 25-09-2020",

url = "https://sigmobile.org/mobicom/2020/",

}

Yang, D, Zhang, X, Huang, X, Shen, L, Huang, J, Chang, X & Xing, G 2020, Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement. in MobiCom ’20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking., 55, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, pp. 732-744, 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom 2020), London, United Kingdom, 21/09/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3372224.3419212

Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement. / Yang, Deliang; Zhang, Xianghui; Huang, Xuan et al.
MobiCom ’20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2020. p. 732-744 55.

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild

T2 - 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom 2020)

AU - Yang, Deliang

AU - Zhang, Xianghui

AU - Huang, Xuan

AU - Shen, Liqian

AU - Huang, Jun

AU - Chang, Xiangmao

AU - Xing, Guoliang

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Recent years have seen a widespread deployment of NB-IoT networks for massive machine-to-machine communication in the emerging 5G era. Unfortunately, the key aspects of NB-IoT networks, such as radio access performance and power consumption have not been well-understood due to lack of effective tools and closed nature of operational cellular infrastructure. In this paper, we develop NB-Scope - the first hardware NB-IoT diagnostic tool that supports fine-grained fusion of power and protocol traces. We then conduct a large-scale field measurement study consisting of 30 nodes deployed at over 1,200 locations in 3 regions during a period of three months. Our in-depth analysis of the collected 49 GB traces showed that NB-IoT nodes yield significantly imbalanced energy consumption in the wild, up to a ratio of 75:1, which may lead to short battery lifetime and frequent network partition. Such a high performance variance can be attributed to several key factors including diverse network coverage levels, long tail power profile, and excessive control message repetitions. We then explore the optimization of NB-IoT base station settings on a software-defined eNodeB testbed, and suggest several important design aspects that can be considered by future NB-IoT specifications and chipsets.

AB - Recent years have seen a widespread deployment of NB-IoT networks for massive machine-to-machine communication in the emerging 5G era. Unfortunately, the key aspects of NB-IoT networks, such as radio access performance and power consumption have not been well-understood due to lack of effective tools and closed nature of operational cellular infrastructure. In this paper, we develop NB-Scope - the first hardware NB-IoT diagnostic tool that supports fine-grained fusion of power and protocol traces. We then conduct a large-scale field measurement study consisting of 30 nodes deployed at over 1,200 locations in 3 regions during a period of three months. Our in-depth analysis of the collected 49 GB traces showed that NB-IoT nodes yield significantly imbalanced energy consumption in the wild, up to a ratio of 75:1, which may lead to short battery lifetime and frequent network partition. Such a high performance variance can be attributed to several key factors including diverse network coverage levels, long tail power profile, and excessive control message repetitions. We then explore the optimization of NB-IoT base station settings on a software-defined eNodeB testbed, and suggest several important design aspects that can be considered by future NB-IoT specifications and chipsets.

KW - Narrowband Internet of Things

KW - LPWAN

KW - Network Measurement

U2 - 10.1145/3372224.3419212

DO - 10.1145/3372224.3419212

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 978-1-4503-7085-1

SP - 732

EP - 744

BT - MobiCom ’20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

CY - New York

Y2 - 21 September 2020 through 25 September 2020

ER -

Yang D, Zhang X, Huang X, Shen L, Huang J, Chang X et al. Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement. In MobiCom ’20 - Proceedings of the 26th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking. New York: Association for Computing Machinery. 2020. p. 732-744. 55 Epub 2020 Sept 18. doi: 10.1145/3372224.3419212

Understanding power consumption of NB-IoT in the wild: tool and large-scale measurement

Abstract

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Research Keywords

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