Development of Narrow Band Internet of Things Testbed for Proximity Services

Syed Talib Abbas Jafri; Syeda Rabia Amin; Fariha  Amanat; Tahniyat  Aslam; Sundus Ali; Irfan Ahmed; Muhammad Imran Aslam

doi:10.33411/IJIST/1101

Authors

Syed Talib Abbas Jafri Department of Physics, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Syeda Rabia Amin Department of Physics, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Fariha Amanat Department of Physics, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Tahniyat Aslam Department of Electronic Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Sundus Ali Department of Telecommunications Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Irfan Ahmed Department of Physics, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Muhammad Imran Aslam Department of Telecommunications Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33411/IJIST/1101

Keywords:

Internet of Things (IoT), Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Proximity Services (ProSe), Network Relay, Cellular IoT (C-IoT).

Abstract

With the evolution of Internet of Things (IoT), Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) emerged to provide IoT connectivity using existing cellular network utilizing limited resources but with increased possibility of outage at the cell-edge. In this wok, we developed a testbed for NB-IoT systems to implement innovative idea of enabling proximity service for NB-IoT so that devices beyond the coverage area of eNodeB may transmit their data using a network relay. The testbed is developed using a software defined radio workingas eNodeB that wirelessly connects to the NB-IoT node at the frontend and to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) at the backend. The EPC is implemented on a Linux machine using open-source software packages whereas NB-IoT node is implemented using commercially available devices. In this paper, we report the results of this deployment indicating that the NB-IoT device is properly connecting and communicating with the eNodeB. The session logs presented in the paper indicate that the EPC successfully initiates the session and authenticate the user equipment (UE). Furthermore, the eNodeB also establishes a successful connection with the UE based on the parameters set by the EPC. The Wireshark traces presented in the paper clearly indicate that the UE has got the capability to transmit data to the server through internet connection. The average latency observed is 40 ms. Through this work, the benefits of proximity services are being explored for NB-IoT networks providing a platform for experimental testing and prototyping

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