Choosing the right IoT protocol can mean the world to your business IoT project.
It's been more than 30 years since the first unofficial Internet of Things (IoT) device, the Carnegie Mellon Soda Machine, was introduced in 1982. The device was adapted to report the amount of its beverage to a group of college students who wanted a cold Coke, but they often went to the soda machine and found that the beverage was not available.After a few decades, the Internet of Things has not moved beyond the stage of development, nor has it realized the large-scale potential we have come to expect. But that's about to change.
In the past 10 years, Internet of Things technology has become more cost-effective. The devices themselves are lower cost, more energy efficient, smaller, and increasingly optimized to fill specific roles in the IoT architecture to create new business outcomes. Over the next 20 years, we could connect as many as a trillion devices to the Internet.The more devices we connect, the more opportunities we can discover and realize business improvements through the Internet of Things.
Now that the required technology is nearing maturity, functional IoT implementations are gradually increasing. The wave of IoT services and systems has begun to flood the market and is being flooded with a wide variety of architectures, feature sets, and applications.While there are many factors to consider when investing in IoT hardware or complete IoT solutions, it is critical to understand the protocols available for IoT sensors and how forward-thinking business decision makers can make the best protocol choices, both now and later.
The Internet of Things protocol is the network language used by the nodes of the Internet of Things system, which is crucial to the overall feasibility of deployment. The protocol defines the scope, format and complexity of communications for IoT solutions and plays a major role in determining cost and functionality.
So if you're interested in deploying your own IoT, how do you choose the right protocol -- one that fits your needs and scale? There are two main factors to consider here:
Power: Does the sensor require battery power for days, months, or years? How often do they need to be reported? Are disposable devices being considered, or can replaceable or rechargeable batteries be used?
Connectivity: How far does the communication need to go and how much data needs to be sent per message? Is the network provider able to guarantee your connectivity needs?
If the demand for IoT deployment declines with the actual application scenario, it will usually indicate which protocols they should consider and the expected cost. The smallest and least demanding IoT setup — for a connected home or office — can run on a normal Wi-Fi network, with all components powered continuously.Other options for close network connectivity are Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth.
Each method has different advantages and disadvantages in terms of power consumption, scope, and cost.
For larger areas such as farms, campuses, or cities that require a small amount of data transfer, a stand-alone low-power wide area network (LPWAN) is the perfect solution -- LoRaWAN and SigFox are two of the most popular LPWANs. When it comes to coverage areas and crossing borders, cellular protocols like NB-IoT or Cat-M may seem more practical.
Let's look at specific examples of LPWAN and cellular IoT deployments to help understand what options contribute to future IoT benefits and growth.
If you manage large-scale projects such as construction projects, oil refineries, or any similar operation that requires tracking people, equipment, and hazardous conditions over a wide area, you may have already considered launching your own IoT deployment. Maybe you run a factory or warehouse; maybe you oversee a ranch or other agricultural area; maybe you maintain a large school or government campus.All of these are industries where the Internet of Things seems to promise lasting business impact -- creating more efficient processes, saving money and generating new revenue. LPWAN is often most meaningful for networks with connections larger than a single small building.
If you deploy an LPWAN like LoRaWAN instead of connecting to the cellular IoT, you will most likely pay the same or less, and you will have more elements in your deployment.While the cost-benefit model will vary depending on your business model, LPWAN typically provides you with a proprietary area network for the desired coverage area: you own all the equipment, the network, and the data that travels over the network.
If you build your own LPWAN, you will be responsible for monitoring, supporting, maintaining, and repairing the failures that occur, and you must also determine how to secure your network. For these reasons, it is highly recommended that you deploy an LPWAN that includes the entire solution. This means that sensors, gateways, clouds, and applications are created by one company, not piecemeal.The beauty is that everything is pre-integrated and designed to work together securely, and you'll always know who to call when you need support and maintenance.
Another significant difference is that unlike cellular packets, LPWAN transmissions do not always wait for an acknowledgement of receipt. This can be a benefit and a burden: you can get more traffic on the system without confirmation, but sometimes you lose data due to network congestion.
The two most popular LPWAN protocols are LoRaWAN and SigFox. Among them, LoRaWAN and LoRa technologies have seen the fastest growth in recent years and have great potential for growth in the next five years. But that's not to underestimate SigFox, which is up and running mostly in Europe and uses less power per unit than LoRaWAN.SigFox's data payload is also smaller than LoRaWAN, making lower power consumption possible, but also limiting SigFox users to certain industry and key features offered by LoRa technology, such as support actuators and field updates.
The simplest illustration for LoRa and LoRaWAN is their broad support, versatility, and promise. More than 500 leading technology companies have joined the LoRa Alliance. LoRa technology continues to evolve to meet changing IoT approaches and new application examples.
Harnessing the Remote Internet of Things with Cellular Protocol
Imagine that you are responsible for providing services to a city- or province-wide hospital, retailer, airport, or other business and can benefit from a consistent, clear view; or imagine that you are involved in disaster preparedness or environmental monitoring and need to analyze information from sensors and data sources across regions;Perhaps you run a rental company that can use a method to closely track your equipment and vehicles across an unpredictable expanse of space. Cellular protocols will be the first choice for those who operate in large geographic areas or in areas where they cannot legally establish gateways.
While other technologies may emerge and take their place in still-developing markets, the two protocols that appear to have the largest market share are CAT-M and NB-IOT.
Of the two, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is more battery-efficient and likely to be available at a lower subscription price. It provides low-power communications and data sizes that more closely match LoRa profiles, simplifying cross-sensor compatibility for IoT providers looking to cover LPWAN and cellular use cases.
Instead, Cat-M will allow for higher data rates and low-latency communication, which could be critical if a user needs to collect large files from his or her IoT device or push large updates to IoT endpoints. Cat-M will allow for low-quality voice and will be used more in true real-time applications such as smart vehicles.
Cellular IoT protocols provide a way to leverage IoT data regionally, nationally, and even across continents without pre-establishing gateways to create coverage areas. Instead, IoT data can be transmitted using the vendor's existing base stations.This also means that your IoT will have the same blind spots as the cellular network, and if the network connection goes down (for maintenance, subscription limits, emergencies, or other reasons), your IoT will go down as well. Still, the ease and reach of deployment often outweigh the costs and limitations of relying on cellular providers.
● LTE Cat M1,Cat NB2,EGPR
● Transparent (TCP Client/Server, UDP Client/Server), COAP, DNS, modbus RTU/TCP
● Cat M1 /Cat NB2 / GSM/EDGE
● RS232/RS485 interface easy to connect to serial port sensors
● EFT/Surge IEC 61000-4-5 Level 3;
● ESD IEC 61000-4-2 Level 3
● Hardware watchdog
