Wireless Technologies in IoT

Wireless Technologies in IoT

The explosive growth of the internet over the last decade has increased the research and interest on internet of things (IoT) and led to an increasing demand for high speed, ubiquitous internet access. The IoT is envisioned as “a global network of connected devices having identities and virtual personalities operating in smart spaces and using intelligent interfaces to communicate within social, environmental and user contexts. In broadband there are so many wireless standards and technologies exist which provides a path for IoT. The multiple wireless access technologies include GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, cellular etc. and they all must be effectively integrated to create a seamless communication platform.  These all have its own merits and demerits. Any wireless technology to be suitable for IoT applications it needs to reduce power consumption, provide high data rate and security.  Managing heterogeneous networking infrastructure especially in dynamic environment is a key technical challenge.  Another issue is an interoperability challenge that arises when heterogeneous devices exploit different data traffic formats for modeling information and diverse networking protocols for IoT data exchange. The varying throughput, latency, delay, data rate, and jitter requirements of applications different requirements and properties enhance the complexity of resource provisioning.

Some of the most prominent IoT application areas include security and public safety (surveillance systems, object/human tracking, alarms etc.), smart grids (grid control, industrial metering, demand response), vehicular telematics (fleet management, enhanced navigation, etc.), healthcare (telemedicine, remote diagnosis, etc.), manufacturing (production chain monitoring), and remote maintenance (industrial automation, vending machine control etc.).

Current wireless technologies

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a technology where all the hand held (mobile, Tab etc.) devices are connected when the other device comes in the range of another hand-held device.  It was developed for hand held devices, but is now increasingly used for more services.  It should be note that when operating at the limits of range the performance may drop, as the quality of connection deteriorates and the system compensates. Bluetooth includes service discovery and usage profiles in which some are predefined and some are user defined.  Its connections are based on piconet (includes 1 master and up to 7 slave devices) and automatic. User’s devices intimate the communication on frequency hopping sequence.  The Bluetooth technology basically works on the core Bluetooth protocols such as logical link control and adaptation controls (L2CAP), link management protocol (LMP).  Bluetooth is a capable, well designed wireless technology, but it doesn’t address high bandwidth PAN needs and has security threats. Therefore, the Bluetooth is likely to make best use of its low power and low speed operation in short-range communication.  Moreover, Bluetooth industry is working on expanding the applications of the technology to the short range wireless communication market.

WiFi

The Wi-Fi technology is most commonly found in notebook computers and internet access devices such as routers, cable modems and consumer electronics applications like internet telephony, music streaming, gaming and in-home video transmission. A person with a Wi-Fi enabled device such as a computer or hand-held devices can connect to the Internet when in proximity of an access point. The region covered by one or several access points is called a hotspot. Hotspots can range from a single room to many square miles of overlapping hotspots. Mesh network can be created.

WiMAX

This wireless technology supports higher speeds over long-haul communication. It can be used for wireless networking and increases bandwidth efficiency and avoids or minimizes interference.  The WiMAX can enhance wireless infrastructure in an inexpensive, decentralized, deployment friendly and effective manner. It operates in a mixture of licensed and unlicensed frequency bands.  In perspective to WiMAX deployment there are certain impacts of frequency band on range link budget and path loss. Therefore, it is important to consider path loss, shadow margin and physical environment while developing a link budget to design for optimal range and coverage.

Mobile cellular networks

The globally deployed second generation (2G) mobile networks, especially Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and its evolved version Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), could be promising candidates for the delivery of future IoT services due to their low user-cost, broad availability for users, specific architecture and infrastructure. However, since these networks are initially designed for mobile telephony and data services they are not perfectly optimized for the IoT applications under current status, particularly from the link budget and energy efficiency perspectives.  Some upgrades and improvements need to be done to fully exploit the great potential of mobile networks in the coming IoT era. The optimal transmission strategies including transmit power and bit-energy were derived in for different multiple access schemes in the generic cellular network context. It provides the system design principles for the IoT-friendly cellular systems, instead of proposing concrete modifications to the existing system specifications. The architectural enhancements of cellular networks for providing IoT services were addressed in.
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