Communication Modules in the IoT

IoT communication protocols fall into two broad categories:

• One is the access protocol: responsible for networking and communication between
devices in the subnet.
• One is the communication protocol: responsible for data exchange and
communication between devices through the Internet.
• The Internet Protocol (IP) is the method for sending data from one computer to
another over the internet.
 Physical layer, data link layer protocol
1. Long-distance cellular communication
1. 2G/3G/4G communication protocols refer to the second, third and fourth generation mobile communication
system protocols.
2. NB-IoT
• Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is built on a cellular network and consumes only about 180kHz of
bandwidth, and can be directly deployed on a GSM network.
• Characteristics: wide coverage, multiple connections, fast speed, low cost, low power consumption, and
excellent architecture.
• Application scenarios: smart parking, smart fire protection, smart water affairs, smart street lights, shared
bicycles, and smart home appliances
3. 5G
• The fifth generation mobile communication technology is the latest generation of cellular mobile communication
technology.
• Characteristics: high data rates, reduced latency, energy savings, lower costs, increased system capacity, and
massive device connectivity.
• Application scenarios: AR/VR, Internet of Vehicles, smart manufacturing, smart energy, wireless medical care,
wireless home entertainment, connected drones, ultra-high-definition/panoramic live broadcast, personal AI
assistance, and smart cities.
 2. Long-distance non-cellular communication
1. WiFi
• WiFi protocols have also been widely used in the field of smart homes.
• The biggest advantage of the WiFi protocol is that it can directly access the Internet.
• Compared with ZigBee, the smart home solution using the Wifi protocol eliminates the
need for additional gateways.
• Compared with the Bluetooth protocol, it eliminates the need for mobile terminals such as
mobile phones.
2.ZigBee
• ZigBee is a wireless communication protocol for low-speed short-distance transmission.
• It is a highly reliable wireless data transmission network.
• The main features are low speed, low power consumption, low cost, support for a large
number of online nodes, support for multiple online topologies, and low complexity. , fast,
reliable and safe.
• Advantages of ZigBee technology used in industry, agriculture, smart home etc.
 Zigbee Wi-Fi

The Zigbee alliance and IEEE manages Zigbee. The Wi-Fi alliance and IEEE manages Wi-Fi.

The frequency range supported in Zigbee mostly Wi-Fi transmits data at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio
2.4 GHz worldwide. frequencies.

ZigBee network types include Wireless Personal Wi-Fi networks are Wireless Local Area Networks
Area Networks (WPAN). (WLAN).

ZigBee has a range of 10 to 30 meters. Wi-Fi has a range of 30 to 100 meters.

It consumes less power. It consumes high power.

It supports less number of users. It supports large amount of users.

CRC 16 is used for data protection. The data is protected by a 32-bit CRC.
The radio signal range of ZigBee is 10 to 100 meters. The radio signal range of Wi-Fi is 100 meters.

Zigbee network is more reliable compared to Wi-Fi Wi-Fi network is less reliable as compared to Zigbee
network. network.

It requires low bandwidth but greater than

Bluetooth’s bandwidth most of time. It requires high bandwidth.

Zigbee frequencies are less stable. Wi-Fi frequencies are more stable.

Zigbee is for Wide Area Network based applications. Wi-Fi is for Local Area Network based applications.

Zigbee is utilized for home automation. Wi-Fi is used for internal cellular connections.
 2. Long-distance non-cellular communication

3.LoRa (LongRange)
• LoRa provides a greater communication range with low bandwidths than other
competing wireless data transmission technologies like cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, or
ZigBee.
• LoRa (LongRange) is a modulation technology that provides longer communication
distances compared to similar technologies.
• LoRa gateways, smoke detectors, water monitoring, infrared detection, positioning,
plug sockets, etc. are widely used in IoT products.
• Application scenarios of LoRa positioning: smart city and traffic monitoring,
metering and logistics, agricultural positioning monitoring.
 3. Near Field Communication

• NFC is Near Field Communication Technology. The "near field" in the Chinese name of NFC
refers to radio waves that are close to the electromagnetic field.
• It provides a very safe and fast communication method for various electronic products.
1. RFID
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is the abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification.
• The principle is the non-contact data communication between the reader and the tag to
achieve the purpose of identifying the target.
• applications are animal chip, car chip anti-theft device, access control, parking lot control,
production line automation, material management.
• A complete RFID system consists of three parts: reader, tag and data management system.
2. Bluetooth
• Bluetooth technology is an open global specification for wireless data and
voice communication.
• It is a short-range wireless technology connection based on low-cost.
• Bluetooth can wirelessly exchange information among many devices,
including mobile phones, PDAs, wireless headsets, notebook computers,
and related peripherals.
• Using "Bluetooth" technology can simplify the communication between
mobile communication devices
• simplify the communication between the device and the Internet, so that
data transmission becomes more rapid and efficient.
 4. Wired communication
1. USB
• USB(Universal Serial Bus) is an external bus standard used to regulate the
connection and communication between computers and external devices.

2. Serial communication protocol

• The serial communication protocol refers to specify the content of the data
packet, including the start bit, main data, check bit, and stop bit.
• In serial communication, commonly used protocols include RS-232, RS-422 and
RS-485.
• Serial communication refers to a communication method in which data is
transmitted bit by bit through data lines between peripherals and computers.
• This communication method uses fewer data lines and can save communication
costs in long-distance communication, but its transmission speed is lower than
that of parallel transmission.
3.Ethernet
• Ethernet is a local area network technology.
• The IEEE802.3 standard organized by the IEEE has formulated the
technical standard of Ethernet
• It requires the content of the protocol including the connection of the
physical layer, the electronic signal, and the medium access layer.
4. MBus
• The MBus remote meter reading system (symphonicmbus) is a European
standard, mainly used for consumption measuring instruments such as
heat meters and water meters.
 Network layer, transport protocol
1. IPv4
• Internet Protocol Version 4 is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet
Protocol .
2. IPv6
• Internet Protocol version 6, because the biggest problem of IPv4 is the limited network
address resources, which seriously restricts the application and development of the
Internet.
3. TCP
• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP, Transmission Control Protocol) is a connection-
oriented, reliable, byte stream-based transport layer communication protocol.
4. 6LoWPAN
• 6LoWPAN is a low-speed wireless personal area network standard based on IPv6,
namely IPv6 over IEEE 802.15.4.
 Application layer protocol
1. MQTT protocol
• MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) is the telemetry transmission
protocol, which mainly provides two message modes of
subscription/publishing.
• suitable for restricted environments (low bandwidth, high network latency,
It is a standard transmission protocol of the Internet of Things (Internet of
Things).
2. CoAP protocol
• CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) is suitable for small and low-
power sensors, switches, valves that need to be remotely controlled or
monitored through standard Internet networks.
3. REST/HTTP protocol
4. DDS protocol-DDS (DataDistributionService)-It implements a publish–subscribe
pattern for sending and receiving data, events, and commands among the nodes.
5. AMQP protocol:
AMQP is an acronym used for the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol. It is a
protocol that is used for communication between applications. It is a lightweight,
protocol which supports the applications for transfer of data. This protocol is used
for its scalability and modularity with the technologies.
6. XMPP protocol- Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
• XMPP is a protocol based on XML, a subset of the Standard Universal Markup
Language
• XMPP-based applications are highly scalable.
• The extended XMPP can deal with the needs of users by sending extended
information, and build applications such as content publishing systems and
address-based services on top of XMPP.
 Data Visualization
• Data visualization is a graphical representation of quantitative information and data
by using visual elements like graphs, charts, and maps.
• Data visualization convert large and small data sets into visuals, which is easy to
understand and process for humans.
• Data visualization tools provide accessible ways to understand outliers, patterns, and
trends in the data.
• In Big Data, the data visualization tools and technologies are required to analyze
vast amounts of information.
• The combination of multiple visualizations and bits of information are referred to as
Infographics.
• Data visualizations are used to discover unknown facts and trends.
• See visualizations in the form of line charts to display change over time.
• Bar and column charts are useful for observing relationships and making
comparisons.
• A pie chart shows parts-of-a-whole.
• Maps are the best way to share geographical data visually.
 BIG DATA & TYPES
• Big Data is a collection of data that is huge in volume, yet growing exponentially
with time. It is a data with so large size and complexity that none of traditional
data management tools can store it or process it efficiently. Big data is also a data
but with huge size.
Following are some of the Big Data examples-
1. The New York Stock Exchange is an example of Big Data that generates about
one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of new trade data per day.
2. Social Media- The statistic shows that 500+terabytes of new data get ingested
into the databases of social media site Facebook, every day. This data is mainly
generated in terms of photo and video uploads, message exchanges, putting
comments etc.
3. A single Jet engine can generate 10+terabytes of data in 30 minutes of flight
time. With many thousand flights per day, generation of data reaches up to
many Petabytes (1,000 terabytes).
 Types Of Big Data
1. Structured
2. Unstructured
3. Semi-structured

1.Structured
• Any data that can be stored, accessed and processed in the form of fixed
format is termed as a ‘structured’ data.
• Nowadays, when a size of data grows to a huge extent, typical sizes are
being in the range of multiple zettabytes.
• 1021 bytes equal to 1 zettabyte or one billion terabytes forms a zettabyte.
2.Unstructured
• Any data with unknown form or the structure is classified as unstructured
data.
• A typical example of unstructured data is a heterogeneous data source
containing a combination of simple text files, images, videos etc.
3. Semi-structured
• Semi-structured data can contain both the forms of data.Example of semi-
structured data is a data represented in an XML file.
Characteristics Of Big Data
1. Volume
2. Variety
3. Velocity
4. Variability
1. Volume:
The name Big Data itself is related to a size which is enormous. Hence, ‘Volume’ is one
characteristic which needs to be considered while dealing with Big Data solutions.
2. Variety:
Variety refers to heterogeneous sources and the nature of data, both structured and unstructured.
During earlier days, spreadsheets and databases were the only sources of data considered by
most of the applications.
Nowadays, data in the form of emails, photos, videos, monitoring devices, PDFs, audio, etc. are
also being considered in the analysis applications.This variety of unstructured data poses certain
issues for storage, mining, and analyzing data.
3.Velocity – The term ‘velocity’ refers to the speed of generation of data. How fast the
data is generated and processed to meet the demands, determines real potential in the
data.
4.Variability – Variability can also refer to the inconsistent speed at which big data is
loaded into your database.
 BIG DATA ANALYTICS
• Quickly analyzing large amounts of data from different sources, in many
different formats and types.
Example of Big Data Analytics
• ​There are many different ways that Big Data analytics can be used in order
to improve businesses and organizations.
1. Using analytics to understand customer behavior in order to optimize the
customer experience
2. Predicting future trends in order to make better business decisions
3. Improving marketing campaigns by understanding what works and what
doesn't
Big Data Analytics Tools
• Hadoop - helps in storing and analyzing data
• MongoDB - used on datasets that change frequently
• Talend - used for data integration and management
• Cassandra - a distributed database used to handle chunks of data
• Spark - used for real-time processing and analyzing large amounts of data
• STORM - an open-source real-time computational system
• Kafka - a distributed streaming platform that is used for fault-tolerant
storage