Note: this article is continued from a previous entry, available here, which went under the headline: ‘If you want 100% cellular, then you get what you get’ – why hybrid IoT is the only IoT.
Where were we? Oh yes; this idea that governments, regulators, and utilities cannot dictate both the service technology and the service terms (SLAs) in advanced metering infrastructure – to connect sundry IoT units in smart-grid systems. Something has to give, says Fabien Petitgrand at Taiwan-based Ubiik, and, in the end, suppliers like Ubiik should be permitted the flexibility with technology to deploy hybrid IoT systems that meet critical SLAs.
Indeed, Petitgrand is not just taking pot shots. He would not commit to a 98 percent target on in-time meter readings with cellular, either. And, actually, Taipower, as good as it is, is not at that even with a hybrid solution, which leans heavily on non-cellular Weightless, but requires cellular-based NB-IoT to fill the black spots. But in general, cellular is rarely the best option as the lead tech, he argues. “There is a reason 80-90 percent of the world uses unlicensed bands – because AMI doesn’t quite justify licensed spectrum. In the US, all the AMI vendors use unlicensed bands.”
Most use proprietary short-range Zigbee-based 802.15.4 mesh technologies. The open ‘wireless smart utility network’ (Wi-SUN) mesh protocol, based on the IEEE 802.15.4g SUN standard, approved in March 2012, was supposed to untangle the complex web of technologies that have grown up consequently in proprietary systems in smart grids. But its successes are patchy, reckons Petitgrand. Non-cellular LPWAN technologies LoRaWAN and Sigfox are finding some purchase in the metering space, too, notably with battery-powered units for gas and water monitoring.
But tech differences are surmountable, in the end, even if they are also real; for vendors, it is mostly just about backing a couple of horses, he says. “We are not into LoRaWAN, and we are not planning to be. Weightless and cellular are good for us.” He points to a contract in Australia, where Ubiik is deploying Weightless to extend NB-IoT coverage. “Water is scarce, so monitoring is important – but there is still not a lot of value in it. And there are issues with NB-IoT because the battery is big and the cost is high. But that is what they’ve gone with, and we want to help.”
So how do AMI systems deliver 96 percent or 98 percent of meter readings on-time, as Taiwan claims and as India wants, in markets that are more prescriptive about underlying the AMI technologies? He responds: “It’s a challenge, and they don’t seem to be meeting it around the world, actually. Those SLAs are much higher than in most markets – way higher than what is being delivered in the US and Canada, say. But they’re used to that, and it’s a very fragmented industry as well – between utilities with big service areas and co-ops serving a few thousand users.”
What about the UK, the one big European market that has backed cellular in a major way? “Yes, it’s working but, man, that’s an expensive piece of hardware – which does 4G, 3G, 2G fallback. That is the most expensive way to do it. And cellular doesn’t go all the way down to the meter, anyway – because the cost would be too much. It’s a mesh system with cellular gateways. And some UK operators can’t meet the SLA for service coverage for water metering with NB-IoT, say, even though it is down at around 90 percent – and they have come to us for help.”
All of which – the types of strategic hybrid cellular/non-cellular extension contracts it is picking up in Australia, the UK, and also in the US – has informed Ubiik’s move last year to release a network kit under the name goRAN to run dual-mode LTE-M and NB-IoT, plus LTE Cat-1, on private and hybrid networks. The package covers all licensed FDD and TDD bands between 400MHz and 2.6GHz, including the 410MHz and 450MHz bands (3GPP bands 31, 72, 87, and 88), popular with utilities, as well as Anterix’s 900MHz (band 8) and Ligado’s 1.6GHz (band 24) spectrum.
Ubiik has joined approved supplier lists at both Anterix and Ligado in recent months. The goRAN solution also works with standard licensed (public) LTE spectrum. The package features its Hermes-branded Release 15 LTE small cell, billed as the first dual-mode cellular LPWAN radio access network (RAN) solution for private wireless at 410MHz and 450MHz. Earlier this year, Ubiik unveiled a parallel solution, called freeRAN, to also support LTE-M in unlicensed spectrum – specifically, in the 902-928MHz range, where the likes of LoRaWAN (and also Weightless) operate.
Devices are still being certified for the US market, but Petitgrand suggests its tactical portfolio is rounding-out nicely. The company’s regional focus, for now, is squarely on the US. “Because there is a big trend there for private LTE in the smart grid, to connect AMI and all these IoT assets – plus some residential backhaul to help out these proprietary technologies,” he says. Ubiik is going north of the border, too; it has just signed with Electricity Canada, representing the power industry in Canada, to deliver private LTE for utilities in the 900MHz, 1.4GHz, and 1.8GHz bands.
Petitgrand comments: “Everybody is going to private LTE – even if the marketing is a little confused. But it’s a clear trend. We are pushing Weightless where it makes sense – in India, Taiwan, other parts of Southeast Asia – and also equipping markets like the US which are talking about private LTE all the time, licensing spectrum from Anterix, Ligado, others… Our offer is to extend coverage in a more effective way, or even to build networks from scratch – with our base station, and not with Nokia, Ericsson, and others. But it is a tactical play, to an extent, with smaller players.”
But hang on; just explain the freeRAN offer. Because why would a critical-grade industrial sector mess about with noisy unlicensed spectrum? “It’s just another option,” responds Petitgrand. “Some utilities are pretty rural, and licence-exempt spectrum might be just fine – and the price is always lower. Sure, if it’s a densely populated area, then it’s not as good. But there is a price to everything, and we are offering choice. Put freeRAN on the table, turn it on, and you don’t have to change hardware or software in your AMI devices – it’s ready to go and legal.”
It’s ready to go and legal, yes; but there are not any certified devices just yet. “No. But we are working with module vendors and device vendors, and we will have FCC certified devices available in time for CES (in January), along with a range of use cases. It is fairly simple, but, sure, it has to be done.” Again, it all sounds deliberate, pragmatic; like Ubiik has some big brains, which are clever and patient enough to take strategic opportunities as they arise. “Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it; we are quite opportunistic,” says Petitgrand.
Ubiik has just bought New Zealand industrial IoT solution provider Mimomax Wireless, a maker of multiple input / output (MIMO) radios for mission critical deployments in the utilities sector, plus for the government, public safety, mining, and transportation markets. “It does niche telecoms equipment – poin-to-point or point to multi-point for utilities in licensed bands,” he says, also describing Mimomax’s “nice and traditional” RAN designs as “pretty efficient, pretty expensive, but well-regarded and well-used by US utilities”.
He adds: “For niche markets, its equipment is perfect; for the more general AMI backhauling and so on, it’s total overkill – and LTE-M and NB-IoT will do the trick.” Ubiik’s headcount is up to 150, with offices in Paris, Christchurch, Phoenix, Vancouver, plus its headquarters in Taipei. How has Ubiik been received – on its tour of US trade shows in 2023, fronting-up as a cellular provider for the first time? “Yeah, it’s been good; we’ve had good conversations with large players, and we’re starting to understand the market, and to be known – which was not the case before.”
To be fair, Ubiik has been at just about every trade fair that (the IoT division of) RCR Wireless has shown up at over the last few years. But it was always on the periphery, to an extent, talking about Weightless at cellular events, shrugging as most of the PM traffic skirted by the LoRaWAN booths instead – happy enough, apparently, to get a few good leads and move on. It seems like Ubiik never wanted to make much noise previously; like it was busily engaged on the fringes – with a major contract for leftfield LPWAN in its home market. Is that a fair description?
“Yeah. We were busy enough, to be honest, just implementing and proving it in the field. We don’t like to brag about stuff that is not real yet. And we don’t like to preach about technology – which is sometimes a bit like a religion. Because you are not going to change minds, really. All you can do is present the facts and the outcomes, and let the customer decide. So yes, that has been our approach. But we need to be more outspoken, now – especially in markets like the US, where it is always about who talks the loudest.”
For more from Fabien Petitgrand and Ubiik, check out the recent webinar on smart meters, and check back for the attendant editorial report, out in the next couple of weeks.
