Inquiry Regarding LTE Usage in Nordic Asset Tracker V2

[girays]

Hello everyone,

I’m currently exploring the Nordic Asset Tracker V2 as a foundation for my project. During my investigation, I noticed that the solution exclusively uses LTE for transmitting data to nRF Cloud. I’m curious if there’s a specific reason for this approach.

To my understanding, the nRF9160 modem supports both LTE-M and NB-IoT, and the nRF Cloud library within the codebase includes functions compatible with both technologies. Is there a particular technical consideration or limitation that led to LTE being the preferred choice?

I’d appreciate any insights or clarifications.

Best regards,
Giray

[Achim Kraus]

If you use a TCP base protocol, LTE-M has advantages. NB-IoT will come with larger RTT, sometimes, very low signal,  too large for TCP.

[girays]

Thank you very much for the reply. My project requires to be able to use both technologies. In some areas, the device should connect via LTE-M, in some areas NB-IoT. Thats why for me it is very important that both technologies are available even though there might be some drawbacks.

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

From Asset Tracker docs:

" To configure the LTE connection parameters, refer to the LTE link control Kconfig options. These options can be used to select the access technology to use (LTE-M or NB-IoT), default values for Power Saving Mode (PSM) timers and more."

It seems to me that you can choose in the Asset Tracker application.

In general, maybe this whitepaper would be interresting to you: Best practices for cellular IoT development