Communication/Transport Protocols
Developers and engineers can use a wide range of connectivity options with IoT systems and
products. Among these connectivity options, there are network protocols such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee,
Bluetooth, and 2G/3G/4G cellular. New options like thread are also being introduced in IoT
applications. Some of the network protocols are as follows.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Low
Energy device
Bluetooth and
Network Hub
Internet
User Application
s
Other
Web Device
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is one of the most important networking protocols and is known for its impact on
consumer product markets. Bluetooth has been termed as a key component of wearable items,
since it establishes a connection between a smartphone and the Internet of things.
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is one of the major IoT protocol. The range provided by
this protocol is not much dierent than the standard Bluetooth, but it is beneficial because it
reduces the consumption of power. BLE can help in moving chunks of data, but it is not a good
idea to use it to transfer the files. It is advantageous because of a personal device context that is
associated with multiple technologies. Bluetooth SIG claims that more than 90 percent of those
phones that have Bluetooth support can become “smart ready” in the future.
Which frequency does Bluetooth work on? Does Bluetooth interfere with Wi-Fi
signal?
Flash Question
ZigBee
In terms of operation base, ZigBee is not too dissimilar to Bluetooth. But it is used more in
industrial setups. ZigBee Remote Control (RF4CE) and ZigBee PRO are centered around the
IEEE 802.15.4 protocol—an industry standard wireless networking technology that functions
at 2.4GHz to target applications with rare data exchanges.
RF4CE comes up with several benefits, which provide high security, scalability, robustness,
and low power consumption for complex systems along with a high number of nodes. It can
maximize the sensor networks and wireless control in the IoT and M2M applications.
Z-Wave
Z-Wave is an RF communication technology that is known to consume lesser power. It is used
for the IoT home automation systems. For instance, it can be used with lamp controllers. It is
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optimized for low-latency and well-grounded communication with small little data packets and
data rates touching 100 kbit/s. It works with less than 1GHz band. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, or
other 2.4GHz wireless technologies cannot interfere with it.
Z-Wave is scalable, it does not require a coordinator node, and oers support for full mesh
networks. As a result, it can provide control of at least 232 devices. It is important to note that
the Z-Wave protocol is simpler than others. However, this also helps with quick development.
In 2004, Zensys Inc., a Denmark based startup developed Z-Wave to enable
communication between smart devices.
Interesting Fact
Previously, Wi-Fi was known as WaveLAN. It was never intended as a name and
never created as a short form of Wireless Fidelity. Actually, it was an advertisement
slogan “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity” that made people think this as Wi-Fi as
an abbreviation of “Wireless Fidelity”.
Interesting Fact
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi connectivity is perhaps the most common development choice. Part of this is due to the
fact that Wi-Fi devices are common in homes. Wi-Fi has a large and widespread infrastructure
that is known for quick transfer of data along with managing voluminous amounts of data.
The 802.11n is among the latest Wi-Fi standards used by businesses and homes. It is used
to process strong throughput that falls in the category of hundreds of MB/s and this makes it an
attractive option to transfer files. However, it can consume a great amount of power for several
IoT applications.
Cellular
IoT applications that have to function for long distances can benefit from the communication
features of GSM/3G/4G cellular. Cellular is a good choice if you plan to exchange large amounts
of data, particularly for 4G applications, however, it consumes a great deal of power and it is also
quite a bit expensive. It is recommended to use cellular for those projects that involve sensors
and deal with low data bandwidth where only little data quantities are required to be sent via
the Internet.
LPWAN
The acronym “LPWAN” stands for “Low Power Wide Area Network”, the name itself is
self-explanatory. it is a new type of technology which is consumed for wireless data communi-
cation in various IoT (Internet of Things) applications and machine to machine solutions. The
most prominent features here are the long-range communication, less bit rate and lower power
consumptions.
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