Telenor pilots NB-IoT for smart parking in Norway

Telenor is running a NB-IoT technology trial using 900MHz spectrum in Trondheim and Oslo in Norway. The mobile operator is using NB-IoT to connect sensors embedded in the tarmac in parking spaces to monitor whether they are occupied or not.

The pilot is being conducted together with Q-Free, which is providing the sensors, which are equipped with u-blox NB-IoT modules with Huawei chipsets.

Running between January and March 2017, the pilot is using three base stations to connect up to 10 parking spaces belonging to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration at the park and ride car park at Ranheim on the way into Trondheim. The technology is also being tested at Q-free’s head office in Trondheim and at Telenor’s head office at Fornebu.

Key learnings

Telenor believes that NB-IoT is well suited to enabling smart parking solutions. As it consumes very little power, NB-IoT will minimize the number of times the sensors need to be dug out the tarmac to replace the batteries. Telenor also expects NB-IoT modules to be inexpensive, making it cost-effective to monitor large numbers of parking spaces and ultimately provide drivers with a comprehensive picture of availability.

When setting up the pilot, Telenor has found NB-IoT to be straightforward to deploy and integrate into its existing systems. The operator has also been surprised by the low level of latency delivered by the technology. As the pilot progresses, Telenor will monitor the battery life of the sensors, the coverage offered by NB-IoT, the number of sensors that can be connected in a single cell and the impact on the existing commercial network.

Next steps

Once Telenor has access to more NB-IoT chipsets and modules, it plans to pilot more use cases. To meet the growing demand for low power wide area connectivity, Telenor’s goal is to launch commercial NB-IoT services in the fourth quarter of 2017 using the 800MHz spectrum band. In the case of smart parking, Telenor envisions a service that enables drivers to reserve a parking space using their mobile phone, obtain real-time information on when a space will be free and, if necessary, be guided to alternative parking spaces.