❖ Introduction of IEEE 802.15.

4 Technology

The Internet of Things (IoT), more than a buzzword, is

becoming a reality, and is finding its way into the industrial
domain, enabling what is now dubbed as the Industry 4.0.

Several standards that help in enabling Industry 4.0, the IEEE

802.15.4e standard addresses requirements such as increased
robustness and reliability.

Several wireless communication protocols support various

kinds of applications like video, voice and general data
communications. Each of these protocols set a trade-off
between properties such as throughput, latency, energy
efficiency and radio coverage, targeting well-defined
application scenarios.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) aim to meet Quality of

Service (QoS) requirements like energy efficiency and
timeliness, requiring minimal energy consumption for a
prolonged network lifetime.
 Over the past decade, several standards for low-power
wireless communications have emerged to accommodate these
QoS needs.

IEEE 802.15 is the working group for wireless specialty

networks, such as wireless personal area networks (WPANs),
Bluetooth, Internet of Things networks, mesh networks,
wearables, visible light communications, among others.

A paradigmatic example is the IEEE 802.15.4, first

published in 2003 for WPAN (Wireless Personal Area
Networks). The protocol defines only the physical and data link
layers, thus a few proposals such as the ZigBee protocols
followed to complement the communications stack.

Components of the low-rate wireless personal networks area

(LR-WPANs) In the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, devices can be
classified into Fully Function Devices (FFD) and Reduced
Function Devices (RFD).

IEEE 802.15. 4 defines two types of devices: a Full Function

Device (FFD) and a Reduced Function Device (RFD). The FFDs
are capable of playing the role of a network coordinator, but
RFDs are not. FFDs can talk to any other device, while RFDs can
only talk to an FFD.

The Fully Function Devices (FFD) encompass all the

capabilities such as routing, association and formation of a
network.

The PAN coordinator is an FFD that acts as the main

controller to which other devices may be associated. It is
responsible for the time synchronization of the entire network.
Sometimes, a FFD can also act as a Coordinator providing local
synchronization services and routing to its neighbors.
 Every coordinator must be associated with a PAN
Coordinator and it forms its own network if it does not find
other networks in its vicinity.

The Reduced Function Device (RFD) is typically the end

node of an IEEE 802.15.4 network.

IEEE 802.15.4 is a low-cost, low-data-rate wireless access

technology for devices that operate or work on batteries. This
describes how low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-
WPANs) function.

IEEE 802.15.4 is a technical standard, which defines the

operation of low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-
WPANs).

It specifies the physical layer and media access

control(MAC) layer for LR-WPANs, maintained by the IEEE
802.15 working group, which defined the standard in 2003.
 It is the basis for the Zigbee, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART,
MiWi, 6LoWPAN, Thread and SNAP specifications, each of
which further extends the standard by developing the upper
layers which are not defined in IEEE 802.15.4.

6LoWPAN is a binding for the IPv6 version of the Internet

Protocol (IP) over WPANs, used by upper layers like Thread.

IEEE standard 802.15.4 intends to offer the fundamental

lower network layers of a type of wireless personal area
network (WPAN) which focuses on low-cost, low-speed
universal communication between devices. It can contrasted
with other approaches, such as Wi-Fi, which offer more
bandwidth and requires more power.
 The focus is on very low-cost communication of nearby
devices with little or no primary infrastructure, with the
intention of exploiting lower power consumption.

IEEE 802.15.4 is a low-data rate wireless personal area

network and its PHY and MAC layer used by many IoT
protocols, such as ZigBee.

The framework proposes a 10-meter communication

range with a transfer rate of 250 kbit/s, with tradeoffs for
embedded devices with lower power requirements.

As already mentioned, the main goal of IEEE 802.15.4

regarding WPANs is the emphasis on achieving low
manufacturing and operating costs through the use of relatively
simple transceivers, while enabling application flexibility and
adaptability.

IEEE 802.15.4 features are real-time suitability, collision

avoidance, integrated secure communications, power
management functions, support for time and data rate
sensitive applications, and can operate in one of three possible
frequency bands (868/915/2450 MHz).

Devices designed to interact with each other over a

conceptually simple wireless network. The definition of the
network layer based on the OSI model, although only lower
layers are defined in the standard.

Properties:
1. Standardization and alliances –
It specifies low-data-rate PHY and MAC layer requirements for
wireless personal area networks (WPAN).
IEEE 802.15. Protocol Stacks include –

● ZigBee

● 6LoWPAN
● ZigBee IP

● ISA100.11a

● Wireless HART

● Thread

The physical layer

The physical layer is the bottom layer in the OSI reference

model used worldwide.

Physical Layer (PHY): This layer is responsible for the

transmission and reception of radio signals over the wireless
medium. It defines the modulation, coding, and signaling
schemes used to transmit data over the air.

The physical layer (PHY) manages data transmission, interfaces

to management entities, and maintains a database on personal
area networks. It performs channel selection, energy, and signal
management functions, and operates on one of three
unlicensed frequency bands.

868.0–868.6 MHz: Europe, allows one communication channel

(2003, 2006, 2011)
902–928 MHz: North America, originally allowed up to ten
channels (2003), but since has been extended to thirty (2006)

2400–2483.5 MHz: worldwide use, up to sixteen channels

(2003, 2006)

The MAC layer

This layer is responsible for coordinating access to the

shared wireless medium among multiple devices. It defines the
protocols and procedures used for channel access, such as
CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Avoidance) and TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access).

The medium access control (MAC) enables the

transmission of MAC frames through the use of the physical
channel. Besides the data service, it offers a management
interface and itself manages access to the physical channel and
network beaconing. It also controls frame validation,
guarantees time slots and handles node associations. Finally, it
offers hook points for secure services.
Topology
Networks based on IEEE 802.15.4 can be developed in a
star, peer-to-peer, or mesh topology. Mesh networks connect a
large number of nodes. This enables nodes that would
otherwise be out of range to interact with each other to use
intermediate nodes to relay data.

Security

For data security, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard employs the

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit key length
as the basic encryption technique.

Advantages of IEEE 802.15.4:

IEEE 802.15.4 has the following advantages –

● Cheap cost

● Long battery life,

● Quick installation

● Simple

● Extensible protocol stack

Disadvantages of IEEE 802.15.4:
IEEE 802.15.4’s drawbacks include –

● IEEE 802.15.4 causes multipath fading.

● Doesn’t employ a frequency-hopping approach.

● Unbounded latency (time it takes for data to pass from one

point on a network to another)

● Interference susceptibility

Applications of IEEE 802.15.4:

IEEE 802.15.4 Applications –

● Wireless sensor networks in the industry

● Building and home automation

● Remote controllers and interacting toys

● Automotive networks
 ❖ Thread (network protocol)

The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to transform people's

lives through smart homes and businesses. In the home, the
goal is a network of connected appliances. In commercial
buildings, IoT aims to improve the efficiency, functionality,
automation, and safety of buildings such as offices, healthcare
facilities, hotels, and schools.

Thread is an IPv6 based, low-power mesh

networking technology for Internet of things (IoT) products,
intended to be secure and future-proof.

The Thread protocol specification is available at no cost;

however, this requires agreement and continued adherence to
an End-User License Agreement (EULA), which states that
"Membership in Thread Group is necessary to implement,
practice, and ship Thread technology and Thread Group
specifications." Membership of the Thread Group is subject to
an annual membership fee, except for the "Academic" tier.
 In July 2014, the "Thread Group" alliance was formed as a
working group to aid Thread becoming an industry standard by
providing Thread certification for products.

Initial members were ARM Holdings, Big Ass Solutions,

NXP Semiconductors/Freescale, Google-subsidiary Nest Labs,
OSRAM, Samsung, Silicon Labs, Somfy, Tyco International,
Qualcomm, and the Yale lock company. In August 2018 Apple
Inc. joined the group and released its first Thread product, the
HomePod Mini, in late 2020.

General Characteristics: The Thread Specification is an open

standard for reliable, cost-effective, low-power, secure,
wireless IPv6 communication.

It is designed specifically for connected home and

commercial applications where IP-based networking is desired
and a variety of application layers can be used on the same
network.
 These are the general characteristics of Thread:

● Simple network installation, start up and operation: The

simple protocols for forming, joining, and maintaining Thread
Networks allow systems to self-configure, dynamically optimize
and heal.

● Secure: Devices can not join the Thread Network unless

authorized and all network communication is encrypted and
secure.

● Small and large networks: Home networks vary from several

devices to hundreds of devices communicating seamlessly.
Commercial networks can host thousands of devices at the
same time. The Thread network layer is designed to optimize
the network operation based on the expected use.

● Range: Typical devices in conjunction with mesh networking

provide more than enough range to cover a normal home.
Backbone Border Routers (BBRs) enable even larger IPv6
subnets composed of Thread devices, unifying multiple Thread
networks into a single IPv6 subnet for the commercial market.
Spread spectrum technology is used at the physical layer to
provide good immunity to interference.

No single point of failure: Thread Networks are auto-

configuring and self-healing, so will continue to provide secure
and reliable communication even if individual devices fail.

● Low power: Host devices can operate for several years on

small batteries using suitable duty cycles.

● Built on open and proven standards: The Thread

Specification uses well defined standards from the IEEE and
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as the foundation for a
robust, modern protocol that doesn’t seek to reinvent the
wheel.

● Application-layer agnostic: Thread is a networking layer

solution based on IPv6. Any low bandwidth application layer
that can run over IPv6 can run over Thread, and multiple
application layers can share the same network.
 ❖ 6LoWPAN

6LoWPAN is an acronym of IPv6 over Low-Power

Wireless Personal Area Networks.

6LoWPAN is the name of a concluded working group in

the Internet area of the IETF.

The 6LoWPAN concept originated from the idea that "the

Internet Protocol could and should be applied even to the
smallest devices," and that low-power devices with limited
processing capabilities should be able to participate in
the Internet of Things.

The 6LoWPAN group has defined encapsulation and

header compression mechanisms that allow IPv6 packets to be
sent and received over IEEE 802.15.4 based networks.

IPv4 and IPv6 are the work horses for data delivery
for local-area networks, metropolitan area networks, and wide
area networks such as the Internet.
 Likewise, IEEE 802.15.4 devices provide sensing
communication-ability in the wireless domain.

Application areas

The target for IP networking for low-power radio

communication is applications that need wireless internet
connectivity at lower data rates for devices with very limited
form factor. An example is automation and entertainment
applications in home, office and factory environments.

IPv6 is also in use on the smart Electrical grid enabling

smart meters and other devices to build a micro mesh network
before sending the data back to the billing system using the
IPv6 backbone.

Adapting the packet sizes of the two networks

IPv6 requires the maximum transmission unit (MTU) to be at

least 1280 octets. In contrast, IEEE 802.15.4's
standard packet size is 127 octets.
Security

IEEE 802.15.4 nodes can operate in either secure mode or non-

secure mode. Two security modes are defined in the
specification in order to achieve different security objectives:

IPv6 nodes are assigned 128 bit IP addresses in a hierarchical

manner, through an arbitrary length network prefix.

IEEE 802.15.4 devices may use either of IEEE 64 bit extended

addresses or, after an association event, 16 bit addresses that
are unique within a PAN.

❖ The basics of IoT’s Constrained Application Protocol

(CoAP)

Not all connected devices are made equal. While some are
more powerful and technologically advanced, others are simple
sensors and home automation devices with limited energy,
memory, computational power and bandwidth. To compensate
for such resource-inhibited and low-power devices, developers
can choose Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) as their IoT
protocol to more efficiently communicate between two peers.
 Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a specialized
Internet application protocol for constrained devices, as
defined in RFC 7252. It enables those constrained devices called
"nodes" to communicate with the wider Internet using similar
protocols. CoAP is designed for use between devices on the
same constrained network (e.g., low-power, lossy networks),
between devices and general nodes on the Internet, and
between devices on different constrained networks both joined
by an internet.

CoAP is also being used via other mechanisms, such as

SMS on mobile communication networks.

CoAP is able to create and manage resources on devices,

publish and subscribe data, manage multicast of data, provide
device description when requested, and give mechanisms to
tell if a device is powered or not — all while conserving energy
and simplifying communication between client and device.
Better yet, the infrastructural similarities between CoAP and
HTTP REST enable designers to leverage their understanding of
RESTful patterns into their IoT solutions.
Just like HTTP(is the primary protocol for transmission of
information across the Internet) is used to transport data and
commands between a client and a server, CoAP allows the
same command transmission features but without needing the
same amount of resources, making it ideal for today’s internet
of things (IoT) devices.

Designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the

service layer protocol enables simple devices to join the IoT
even through constrained networks with low bandwidth.

RESTful protocols, such as HTTP and CoAP, simplify

development by allowing device developers to use familiar
patterns from traditional client/server HTTP REST services for
easy connection.