IoT Evolution: What's Next?

3GPP supports IoT applications through LTE-M (LTE for machine type of communication) and NB-IoT (Narrow Band-IoT) technologies. These mature technologies are suitable for a wide variety of applications. The future growth of sensor applications will lead to new use cases and scenarios. While many sensors can be supported by existing 3GPP technologies, additional support of satellite-IoT and low power/passive communications will allow for more ubiquitous sensing. This short article considers how 3GPP communications can support sensing applications and some of the technical challenges that should be addressed in future releases of 3GPP specifications.