An Experimental Study of Power Consumption in Narrowband IoT Devices

The field of Internet of Things (IoT) is ever-expanding and expanding quickly with more and more interconnected devices being deployed to enable communication and coordination towards different ends. One of the subsets of IoT, Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), falls under low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technology, being designed to improve coverage and decrease power consumption in IoT applications. This work probes the operational economy as well as the functionality of NB-IoT contraptions, focusing especially on the impact of the signal strengths on the network performance. The Nordic Semiconductor nRF9160 System-in-Package (SiP) forms the basis of this evaluation into various network conditions and their contribution to power usage. High, medium, and low-level signal strength is used as the classification to bring out a picture on how energy efficiency relates with signal quality. In addition, the analysis probes power conservation techniques — such as Power Saving Mode (PSM) and extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX) — for suitability in enhancing lifespan of IoT application batteries; therefore, offering insight on the best deployment of NB-IoT in different IoT scenarios for improved, sustainable environmentally and resource-wise performance.