How Does IoT Connectivity Landscape Work?

Implementation of connected solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving advancements in a variety of vertical industries, including utilities, connected vehicles, agriculture, healthcare, transportation, security, businesses and households. However, when it comes to connecting devices and networks, the tech landscape remains complex and fragmented, and there is no unified protocol that can address all IoT use cases. Despite the plethora of IoT network options that have become available, choosing the most efficient IoT solutions network for business use cases can be exhausting and a waste of time and resources.  

Leading technologies such as Lora (r), Lorawan (r) NB-IoT, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, BLE and 5G dominate the industry as single Internet of Things technology with the most ubiquitous coverage of all vertical IoT use cases.   

With an overwhelming variety of options and a range of acronyms, it can be difficult to select the right wireless connectivity solution for specific vertical markets and use cases. Network connectivity options include compromises in power consumption, range, and bandwidth, to name a few.  

In summary, each vertical IoT solution or application has its own unique network requirements. Choosing the best wireless technology for your IoT use case means weighing up all the criteria in terms of range, bandwidth, QoS, security, power consumption and network management. The ability to identify your project needs at every stage of your project deployment and a profound knowledge of use case specifications will help you choose the most appropriate connectivity network for your smart business.   

In the R & D phase, considerations of device access, identity and control, as well as network capabilities, are crucial to ensure that future networks are scalable. These are important considerations that help companies develop new IoT devices and implement connectivity options that are suitable for long-term sustainability and growth. These considerations cover the connectivity needs of individual devices in the network.   

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of connected computer devices (mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals and humans) that provide unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transmit data over a network without the need for human-to-human or human-computer interaction. IoT connectivity landscape technologies differ in their power consumption, bandwidth capacities and latency characteristics. They can be defined as a connection between a physical device (such as sensor) and a second point of an IoT system (either an IoT sensor gateway or an IoT cloud platform).   

The Internet of Things, a network of networked intelligent devices that communicate via the Internet, is changing our lives and working lives. Things in the IoT, from a human heart monitor implanted in a farm animal with a biochip transponder, to a car with built-in sensors that warn the driver if tire pressure is low and other natural and artificial objects, are assigned Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and can transmit data over a network. Wireless IoT sensors transmit information on soil moisture and nutrients to agricultural experts across the country on farms.  

The potential applications of the Internet of Things ( IoT ) span a wide range of industries. IoT technologies accelerate the growth of smart cities, autonomous cars and connected industrial technologies. Portable fitness equipment for humans and pets can monitor activity levels and provide feedback on heart rate and breathing. The IoT is the network of connected smart devices that communicate over the Internet seamlessly and alarms equipped with batteries that last for years can provide long-term protection for homeowners.  

In recent years, IoT solutions and devices have evolved from technology test benches and futuristic use cases to central enablers for operational improvements, product improvements and customer satisfaction. The IoT providers themselves have the potential to radically improve connectivity and scalability.  

Many IoT use cases involve a number of technical and commercial ecosystem requirements. Since the first edition of this report, the landscape of IoT connectivity landscape technologies has changed significantly. Traditional consumer mobile technologies have expanded to 5G, and new cellular proprietary Low Power Wide Area Technologies (LPWA) are being developed for IoT applications.   

In an ideal world, the ultimate single-size-fits-all connectivity solution would provide low-power devices while retaining the ability to transmit huge amounts of data over long distances, provided the price is low enough to keep smart businesses viable. Given the inherent heterogeneity of use cases in the Internet of Things, the sad truth is that no future communication protocol will be able to accommodate all kinds of smart applications without making some compromises on the mentioned key IoT connectivity landscape factors.   

The Internet of Things can be described as a set of application protocols, standard architectures, data collection and analysis technologies, devices, objects, household appliances, clothing, animals with sensors, design software, and other digital electronic systems connected to the Internet and other networks with a unique IP address (URI) for social, industrial, business, and human purposes. The end-point dimensions of IoT devices, sensors, actuators, and communication systems can be used to describe what happens to the data collected by the connected things. The data is collected, transmitted, processed and sent to the devices, which in most cases travel over the Internet over fixed lines or the cloud ecosystem with custom wireless connectivity technologies specifically designed for specific IoT applications. 

LTE-M supports high-bandwidth, low-latency mobile devices, but is not integrated into the device for the NB-IoT and other devices. In applications where devices are connected to regular LTE (see next section) network operators tend to remove LTE-M devices from their networks in the event of congestion.