Top 4 Types of IoT Wireless Technologies
Introduction
The last few years have been an exciting time in the world of wireless communications. Nokia Bell Labs has already progressed beyond 5G and is currently engaged in developments with the new standard of 6G, expected to be available commercially by 2030. While the implementation of 5G is currently going on the world over, it is expected to be enhanced by the arrival of 5G-Advanced. This is expected to run commercial networks from 2025, and hold the fort until the arrival of 6G by the end of the decade. It is expected that the number of connected devices globally will reach trillions by then. These connected devices will include all emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles, robots driven by artificial intelligence, digital twins, and more. These types of connections will further intersect people's personal lives and work lives. To understand more about IoT wireless technologies, please refer to IT Consulting Vancouver.
What is Wireless Technology?
Wireless technology can be understood as a technology that enables systemic connections within an IoT system. The IoT system can comprise a wide range of hardware and software including sensors, platforms, routers, applications, and other systems. All of these systems use different levels of power consumption, bandwidth, and range. Standard wireless options for connecting these systems include cellular wireless options such as 3G, 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi, or long-range options like LoRaWAN and LPWAN. For any company to decide on the best wireless technology option for their unique business and technical needs, the company will need to understand the top IoT technologies involved in connectivity. IT Support provider specializes in providing guidance to local businesses about wireless technologies and IoT technologies.
4 Types of IoT Wireless Technologies and Their Use Cases
LPWANs
LPWANs refer to Low Power Wide Area Networks in the IoT industry. LPWANs specializes in powering long-range communication using very small and cheap batteries. This makes it ideal for deployment in massive IoT networks, especially in industrial and commercial use cases. LPWANs are capable of connecting a wide variety of IoT sensors and can be easily deployed in a wide variety of use cases such as tracking assets, observing environmental conditions (especially in dangerous and hard-to-reach areas), resource monitoring, and more. However, LPWANs are limited by their capacity to only send small chunks of data at a fairly low rate. Therefore, these are not suitable for use cases that involve high bandwidth or are time-sensitive. Companies that want to implement this technology should keep a few points in mind. Different kinds of LPWANs will have different strengths and weaknesses. In the licensed (mostly cellular-based) LPWANs, power consumption continues to be a major factor but in the unlicensed spectrum, scalability and ensuring the uniform quality of service remain prime concerns. In this respect, companies would do well to pay attention to standardization in order to ensure reliability, security, and interoperability between devices and technologies.
Cellular (3G/4G/5G)
Probably the most widely recognized form of wireless connectivity, cellular networks support almost all of our needs for instantaneous connectivity through broadband communication in the form of voice/ video calls and streaming applications. However, this is not a cost-efficient technology and often involves high operational expenses and energy requirements. Cellular networks are also not very capable of supporting IoT applications since they are better suited to being driven by battery-operated sensors. However, there are niche use cases, particularly in the autonomous vehicles, transportation and logistics sectors, that can make use of cellular networks. Examples of this can include advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), fleet tracking services, traffic routing services, and more. Since cellular networks are capable of supporting high-speed mobility and ultra-low latency, it is particularly adept at supporting the needs of autonomous vehicles, augmented reality, and even real-time video surveillance and time-sensitive use cases.
Bluetooth and BLE
Few people even recognize Bluetooth as a wireless technology anymore. It has become such a well-entrenched part of our lives that few people even realize the power of this wireless personal area network (WPAN). This technology is suitable only for short-range communication and has recently been optimized for energy efficiency with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Bluetooth and BLE are widely used in consumer IoT applications including fitness and medical wearables and a whole range of smart devices for personal and home use such as security and surveillance cameras, home entertainment networks, and more where the communication is mainly facilitated through smartphones. BLE beacon networks are also being increasingly leveraged for indoor commercial applications such as in-store navigation, promotions, shopping suggestions, and content delivery.
Wi-Fi
This is the most widely recognized and widely used form of wireless connectivity in the world. This form of wireless connectivity serves as the primary driver for data sharing in both offices and home environments. When it comes to the use cases in the IoT space, however, Wi-Fi is hindered by its significant limitations in coverage, scalability, and energy requirements. Since Wi-Fi networks are power-hungry, they are not very suitable for facilitating a literal army of battery-operated IoT sensors. However, the newest iteration of Wi-Fi is Wi-Fi 6 which is capable of facilitating enhanced network bandwidth (close to 10 GBPS) can be leveraged in traffic-heavy environments, and offer unprecedented, new customer experiences, particularly in retail and mass entertainment. The potential for Wireless Technologies for IoT is virtually unlimited.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Goh
Sam Goh is the President at ActiveCo Technology Management, a Managed IT Services Vancouver company. Sam comes from an operational perspective, his tenure at ActiveCo emphasizes working with customers to closely understand their business plans and to successfully incorporate the technology component to those plans. Under his leadership, ActiveCo has developed expertise that focuses on enriching the extensive customer relationships by integrating strategic and operational focus areas through consulting. When Sam and his wife Candee aren’t running ActiveCo, they enjoy road trips with their 2 children