Hands-on Experience with Cellular IoT: Comprehensive Insight from City-Wide Measurement Campaign

Abstract

A measurement campaign covering nearly 300 outdoor points in a city environment was carried out to capture detailed spatial data on signal parameters for both Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Long-Term Evolution Machine-Type Communication (LTE-M) technologies. The resulting interpolated coverage maps and the assignment of measurement points to serving base stations reveal clear differences in network behavior and enable a more accurate identification of areas with varying quality of service across the studied spatial regions. This campaign was enabled by an upgraded measurement platform developed in previous work, which underwent several mechanical improvements including a new hanger point for field mounting, redesigned placement of the internal IoT antenna closer to the upper cover, and protective inserts to prevent SIM and SD cards from falling into the interior, as well as firmware enhancements such as antenna selection indication, delayed start, and reorganized data storage. A systematic assembly-testing procedure was also introduced to improve the reliability and reproducibility of measurements. Together, these changes provide a robust basis for improved modeling and planning of 5G-IoT deployments.