NB-Fi Mathematical Modeling and Optimization

The Internet of Things (IoT) is constantly evolving and quickly gaining popularity. A feature of some IoT devices is low power consumption while using long-range communication, which can be provided by low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs). One of these relatively new LPWAN technologies, NB-Fi (Narrow Band Fidelity), is being actively deployed in many countries mostly for telemetry applications. Moreover, NB-Fi has been accepted as the first Russian GOST on LPWAN technologies. Despite the growing popularity, many key features and performance limitations of the technology remain unexplored.

WNL has performed a deep study of the NB-Fi protocol, identified its strengths and weaknesses compared to existing popular LPWAN technologies, and developed new mathematical modeling approaches to describe NB-Fi networks. These models were used to propose algorithms to configure data rates and operation modes in NB-Fi networks to provide reliable and energy-efficient communications.

List of relevant papers:


      2026
    1. Dmitry Bankov, Evgeny Khorov, Andrey Lyakhov. On Minimizing the Energy Consumption in NB-Fi Networks with Restrictions on Packet Loss Rate and Duty Cycle. // Ad Hoc Networks, vol. 183, p. 104132, 2026. doi: 10.1016/j.adhoc.2025.104132.

      2. 2023
    2. Dmitry Bankov, Evgeny Khorov, Andrey Lyakhov, Polina Levchenko. On the Limits and Best Practice for NB-Fi: a New LPWAN Technology. // IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 10, no. 14, pp. 12 352–12 365, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2023.3245727.
    3. Dmitry Bankov, Evgeny Khorov, Andrey Lyakhov, Irina Pavlova. On the benefits of listen before talk scheme for NB-Fi networks. Sensors, vol. 23, no. 22, 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23229054.

      4. 2022
    4. Dmitry Bankov, Evgeny Khorov, Andrey Lyakhov, Polina Levchenko. Performance Comparison of NB-Fi, Sigfox, and LoRaWAN. //Sensors. – 2022. – Т. 22. – №. 24. – С. 9633. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249633.