Overview of 3GPP Release 14 Further Enhanced MTC

Abstract

A major step was taken in 3GPP Release 13 to support the Internet of Things (IoT) and machinetype communications (MTC) for LTE by the introduction of the LTE-M device Category M1. In Release 14, LTE-M has been further enhanced by features in important areas. In this article these features are described and explained. The range of possible use cases that can be addressed by LTE-M devices is greatly improved through the introduction of data rate improvements for device Category M1 and the new device Category M2, which increases the maximum supported data rates, the support for location services with significantly improved accuracy, and support for multicast to enable, for example, simultaneous firmware downloads to a multitude of devices. Release 14 also improves the ability of LTE-M to support voice services by means of a set of specific optimizations. Furthermore, the higher bit rates are beneficial for the LTE-M fulfillment of 5G requirements.