Guide
The bis in Cat.1bis is derived from the Latin meaning of "second or again", and placed after Cat.1 means that it is a secondary derivative based on the traditional Cat.1 ability level.
In May of this year, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Further Promoting the Comprehensive Development of the Mobile Internet of Things", clearly stating that NB-IoT and Cat.1 will collaborate to undertake 2G/3G IoT connections to improve spectrum utilization efficiency. While ensuring the service level of the existing Internet of Things terminal network, guide the new Internet of Things terminal to no longer use the 2G/3G network, and promote the migration of the existing 2G/3G Internet of Things business to the NB-IoT/4G (including Cat.1)/5G network .
What is curious is that Cat.1, the full name of LTE UE Category 1 (LTE terminal capability level 1), comes from the original LTE definition of 3GPP Release 8 in 2009. The veterans who have been more than ten years old have been in obscurity for many years. Why is it suddenly received by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. What is the true logic behind the call to name and youthfulness? This article analyzes as follows.
In fact, the Cat.1 mentioned in the article issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in May 2020 is no longer a narrow definition of the original LTE, but a new broad term that includes the connotation of Release 13 Cat.1bis.
The origin of the name Cat.1bis?
The bis in Cat.1bis is derived from the Latin meaning of "second or again", and placed after Cat.1 means that it is a secondary derivative based on the traditional Cat.1 ability level.
What is the relationship between Cat.1 and Cat.1bis?
We returned the clock to April 2015, and the first generation of smartwatch products was officially launched, opening the curtain of the wearable category. I believe everyone will remember that early wearable devices mainly appeared in the form of smartphone companions, and did not have independent cellular communication functions, and they were not independent categories in an absolute sense.
Deeply clarifying the root cause, we found that wearable devices have a strong miniaturization design requirement due to the pursuit of extreme size, and the required 2Rx (dual receiving antenna) antenna for traditional 4G cellular terminals is extremely difficult to place. Even if it is forcibly placed, the diversity reception effect It will be greatly reduced.
At the same time, as of the era of the rise of smart wearable devices, the official terminal capability level with 1Rx (single receiving antenna) receiving specification is limited to Cat.0/Cat.M1/Cat.NB1, and their maximum throughput of 1Mbps is not enough to meet the The user experience of the wear scene. This means that there is an urgent need to develop a new level of single-antenna terminal capability applicable to wearable categories.
In view of this, the 3GPP RAN#73~#75 standard plenary meeting from June 2016 to March 2017 discussed and defined the new level of single antenna terminal capabilities, and finally 3GPP Release 13 LTE Cat. The core part of 1bis is officially frozen. It uses the first-generation LTE Cat.1 as the technical anchor point. Together with the subsequent supporting standard performance part and conformance certification part, the standard revision cost is very low, and it defines the compliance with the medium-speed personal connection/IoT Application scenario and terminal capability level with perfect backward compatibility-Cat.1bis.
Note: In the process of establishing the Cat.1bis standard, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and China Mobile provided important contributions on behalf of Chinese manufacturers.
Based on the above comparison table, although the original driving force is only from the wearable category, the new level of Cat.1bis terminal capability can not only meet the data throughput requirements of the medium-speed personal connection/IoT category, but also provide more than traditional LTE The excellent cost and smaller size can also achieve rapid deployment under the premise of almost zero transformation of the existing 4G access network.
Corresponding advantages will naturally be noticed by the competent department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is logical that the "Notice on Promoting the Comprehensive Development of Mobile Internet of Things" at the beginning of this article will fully incorporate Cat.1 (bis) into the recommended solutions for IoT scenarios.
· Who am I
The single receiver category, which is parallel to Cat.0/Cat.M1/Cat.NB1 in the official terminal capability level of 3GPP R13, can achieve better cost while maintaining the DL/UL 10Mbps/5Mbps peak rate .
· Where am I from?
The size of the wearable device brought about the rigid demand for the single receiver, and it came out low-key through the minimum standard revision of the conventional Cat.1 (2Rx).
· Where are you going?
With its ultra-high deployment cost-effectiveness (a better compromise between data rate, terminal cost and network transformation cost), it has become the best choice for low-speed application scenarios in the era of Internet of Everything. The new era of 5G, eMBB and NB-IOT, are parallel new outlets.
From Cat.1 to Cat.1bis, 3GPP standard specifications are continuously upgrading and evolving, and are gradually accepted and widely used by the entire IoT ecosystem including operators, chip manufacturers, module manufacturers, and terminal manufacturers.
From a technical standard on paper to products and applications that build the Internet of Everything in the real world, a series of market segments and industrial ecology based on Cat.1bis are derived and aggregated into a huge market.
Edit | Chen Jinglan
Proofreading | Zhong Miaoli
Audit | Huang Xiaoming
Source | IoT Think Tank
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