MulteFire Alliance Completes Its IoT Optimized Specification

Release 1.1 specification adds support for new features and spectrum bands, including the 1.9 GHz unlicensed band

The MulteFire Alliance, an independent, diverse and international member-driven consortium that is defining and promoting MulteFire® technology – LTE technology operating in unlicensed bands – announced the completion of its Release 1.1 specification that is optimized for IoT. Adding support for eMTC-U and NB-IoT-U, as well as support for additional spectrum bands, the Release 1.1 specification delivers more robust wireless network capabilities for Industrial IoT and Enterprises to meet their specific requirements for performance, latency, security and mobility.

“The Release 1.1 Technical Specification is a significant achievement offering an optimized specification for IoT and support for additional spectrum bands,” said Mazen Chmaytelli, president, MulteFire Alliance. “This milestone could not have been reached without the dedication and commitment of the Technical Specification Group members who have worked tirelessly to evolve MulteFire technology to meet the needs of industrial IoT and enterprise.”

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“MulteFire 1.0 is a novel technology that was designed to create new wireless networks by operating LTE-based technology standalone in unlicensed or shared spectrum bands,” said Asimakis Kokkos, chair, Technical Specification Group, MulteFire Alliance and head of Industry Environment Strategy, Nokia. “MulteFire 1.1 takes the potential of this technology even further by improving on the performance of MulteFire 1.0 for the global 5 GHz unlicensed band, and by adding new capabilities and support for additional spectrum bands.”

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Specification Highlights

The MulteFire Release 1.1 specification includes the following features:

• Added Additional Spectrum Bands Focusing on IoT and Expanded IoT Services with Low Power Wide Area Support
  • Adds eMTC-U support for moderate data rate applications in the global 2.4 GHz unlicensed band
  • Adds NB-IoT-U support for narrowband applications in the regional 800/900 MHz unlicensed bands
  • Adds MulteFire 1.9 GHz support (for the unlicensed part in 3GPP defined Band 39), also known as sXGP in Japan, which is ready for commercial deployment in Japan with support from the XGP Forum and an ecosystem of TD-LTE devices in place that support Band 39 today
• Enhanced MulteFire 1.0 Broadband Services in the Global 5 GHz Unlicensed Band
  • Delivers more robust mobility in up to 50 km/h speeds with the addition of Autonomous UE Mobility (AUM) which performs autonomous handover without explicit network command
  • Allows for faster uplink data transmissions with Grant-less Uplink (GUL), whereby the UE can start transmitting immediately
  • Supports improved downlink coverage with Wideband Coverage Enhancements (WCE)
  • Adds Self-Organizing Networks (SON) capabilities

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