Communications Technologies for IoT: Tutorial 2 Flashcards
RFID
1) Active RFID (Automatic Toll Collection System like ERP)
- Tag Power Source: Internal to tag
- Tag Battery: Yes
- Availability of Tag Power: Continuous
- Required Signal Strength from Reader to Tag: Very Low
- Available Signal Strength from Tag to Reader: High
- Communication Range: Long range (100m or more)
- Sensor Capability: Ability to continuously monitor and record sensor input; data/time stamp for sensor events
- Data Storage: Large read/write data storage (128KB) with sophisticated data search and access capabilities available
1) Passive RFID (Tags on a package of shirts)
- Tag Power Source: Energy transferred from the reader via RF
- Tag Battery: No
- Availability of Tag Power: Only within field of reader
- Required Signal Strength from Reader to Tag: Very High (must power the tag)
- Available Signal Strength from Tag to Reader: Very Low
- Communication Range: Short or very short range (3m or less)
- Sensor Capability: Ability to read and transfer sensor values only when tag is powered by reader; no date/time stamp
- Data Storage: Small read/write data storage (e.g. 128 bytes)
NFC (Near Field Communication)
NFC is a technology that enables simple and safe two-way interactions between electronic devices and especially applicable for smartphones, smart cards allowing applications such as contactless payment transactions, and connect electronic devices. It extends contactless card technology and enables devices to share information at a distance that is less than 4cm.
- Standard: ISO/IEC 18000-3
- Frequency: 13.56MHz (ISM)
- Range: 10cm
- Data Rates: 100-420kbps
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances using short-wavelength UHF radio waves in the ISM band from 2.400 to 2.485 GHz from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks (PANs). It was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables.
- Standard: Bluetooth 4.2 core specification
- Frequency: 2.4GHz (ISM)
- Range: 50-150m (Smart/BLE)
- Data Rates: 1Mbps (Smart/BLE)
WiFi
WiFi connectivity is often an obvious choice for many developers, especially given the pervasiveness of WiFi within the home environment within LANs. There is a wide existing infrastructure as well as offering fast data transfer and the ability to handle high quantities of data.
- Standard: Based on 802.11n (most common usage in homes today)
- Frequency: 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands
- Range: Approximately 50m
- Data Rates: 600 Mbps maximum, but 150-200Mbps is more typical, depending on channel frequency used and number of antennas (latest 802.11-ac standard should offer 500Mbps to 1Gbps)
ZigBee/RF4CE
ZigBee/RF4CE has significant advantages in complex solutions offering low-power operation, high security, robustness and high scalability with high node counts and is well positioned to take advantage of wireless control and sensor networks in M2M and IoT applications. ZigBee 3.0, which is essentially the unification of various ZigBee wireless standards into a single standard.
- Standard: ZigBee 3.0 based on IEEE802.15.4
- Frequency: 2.4GHz
- Range: 10-100m
- Data Rates: 250kbps
Z-Wave
Z-Wave is a low-power RF communications technology primarily designed for home automation and sensors among many others. Z-Wave is optimized for reliable and low-latency communication of small data packets with data rates up to 100kbit/s, it operates in the sub-1GHz band and is impervious to interference from WiFi and other wireless technologies in the 2.4-GHz range such as BlueTooth or ZigBee. It supports full mesh networks without the need for a coordinator node and is very scalable, enabling control of up to 232 devices. Z-wave uses a simpler protocol than some others, which can enable faster and simpler development.
- Standard: Z-Wave Alliance ZAD12837 / ITU-T G.9959
- Frequency: 900MHz (ISM)
- Range: 30m
- Data Rates: 9.6/40/100kbit/s
Cellular
Cellular is used when an IoT application requires operation over longer distances. Those applications can take advantage of GSM/3G/4G/G cellular communication capabilities. While cellular is clearly capably of sending high quantities of data, especially for 4G, & 5G, it is expensive and power consuming option for many applications.
- Standard: GSM/GPRS/EDGE (2G), UMTS/HSPA (3G), LTE (4G)
- Frequency: 900/1800/1900/2100MHz
- Range: 35km max for GSM; 200km max for HSPA
- Data Rates (typical download): 35-170kps (GPRS), 120-384kbps (EDGE), 384Kbps-2Mbps (UMTS), 600kbps-10Mbps (HSPA), 3-10Mbps (LTE)
Sigfox (Agriculture Tracking)
Sigfox is an alternative low power wide-area (LPWAN) technology, which in terms of range comes between WiFi and cellular. It uses the free ISM bands to transmit data over a very narrow spectrum to and from connected objects. Sigfox is applicable in IoT applications that runs on a small battery and will require low levels of data transfer. Sigfox uses a technology called Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) and is only designed to handle low data-transfer speeds of 10 to 1,000 bits per second.
- Standard: Sigfox
- Frequency: 900MHz
- Range: 30-50km (rural), 3-10km (urban environments)
- Data Rates: 10-1000bps
LoRaWAN
LoRaWAN again similar in some respects to Sigfox and Neul. LoRaWAN targets wide-area network (WAN) applications and is designed to provide low-power WANs with features specifically needed to support low-cost mobile secure bi-directional communication in IoT, M2M and smart city and industrial applications. Optimized for low-power consumption and supporting large networks with millions and millions of devices, data rates range from 0.3 kbps to 50 kbps.
- Standard: LoRaWAN
- Frequency: Various
- Range: 2-5km (urban), 15km (suburban environment)
- Data Rates: 0.3-50 kbps.
LowPAN
6LowPAN (IPv6 Low-power wireless personal Area Network) is a key IP based technology. Unlike other protocols, 6LowPAN is a network protocol that defines encapsulation and header compression mechanisms. The standard has the freedom of frequency band and physical layer and can also be used across multiple communications platforms, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, 802.15.4 and sub-1GHz ISM.
- Standard: RFC6282
- Frequency: (adapted and used over a variety of other networking media including Bluetooth Smart (2.4GHz) or ZigBee or low-power RF (sub-1GHz)
- Range: N/A
- Data Rates: N/A
Comparisons between Communications Technologies
Slide 29
