System-Level Simulation Framework for NB-IoT: Key Features and Performance Evaluation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive system-level simulation framework for NB-IoT networks, evaluating key features like coverage, connection capacity, and power efficiency, with results aligning with industry standards.

Contribution

It presents a novel simulation framework for NB-IoT, including detailed modules and analysis of features to improve network performance and support massive machine-type communications.

Findings

Simulation results match industrial SNR standards

Throughput analysis shows trade-off between connections and data rate

Framework supports performance evaluation of NB-IoT features

Abstract

Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is a technology specifically designated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet the explosive demand for massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and it is evolving to RedCap. Industrial companies have increasingly adopted NB-IoT as the solution for mMTC due to its lightweight design and comprehensive technical specifications released by 3GPP. This paper presents a system-level simulation framework for NB-IoT networks to evaluate their performance. The system-level simulator is structured into four parts: initialization, pre-generation, main simulation loop, and post-processing. Additionally, three essential features are investigated to enhance coverage, support massive connections, and ensure low power consumption, respectively. Simulation results demonstrate that the cumulative distribution function curves of the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio fully comply with industrial standards. Furthermore, the throughput performance explains how NB-IoT networks realize massive connections at the cost of data rate. This work highlights its practical utility and paves the way for developing NB-IoT networks.