Module-4

IoT Connectivity Technologies

By Dr. Shyleshchandra
Asst. Professor, Dept of CSE, GSKSJTI
 Introduction
• The main features of fifteen identified commonly used and
upcoming IoT connectivity enablers.
• These connectivity technologies can be integrated with existing
sensing, actuation, and processing solutions for extending
connectivity to them.
• Some of these solutions necessarily require integration with a
minimal form of processing infrastructure, such as Wi-Fi. In
contrast, others, such as Zigbee, can work in a standalone mode
altogether, without the need for external processing and hardware
support.
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 IIEEE 802.15.4
• The IEEE 802.15.4 standard represents the most popular standard for low data rate
wireless personal area networks (WPAN).
• This standard was developed to enable monitoring and control applications with
lower data rate and extend the operational life for uses with low-power
consumption.
• This standard uses only the first two layers—physical and data link—for operation
along with two new layers above it:
1) logical link control (LLC) and 2) service-specific convergence sub-layer (SSCS).
• The additional layers help in the communication of the lower layers with the upper
layers.
• Figure 7.1 shows the IEEE 802.15.4 operational layers. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard
was curated to operate in the ISM (industrial, scientific, and medical) band.
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 IEEE 802.15.4 (Contd)

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 IEEE 802.15.4 (Contd)
• The direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) modulation technique is used in IEEE
802.15.4 for communication purposes, enabling a wider bandwidth of operation with
enhanced security by the modulating pseudo-random noise signal.
• This standard exhibits high tolerance to noise and interference and offers better
measures for improving link reliability.
• Typically, the low-speed versions of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard use binary phase shift
keying (BPSK), whereas the versions with high data rate implement offset quadrature
phase shift keying (O-QPSK) for encoding the message to be communicated.
• Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA-CA) is the channel
access method used for maintaining the sequence of transmitted signals and preventing
deadlocks due to multiple sources trying to access the same channel.
• Temporal multiplexing enables access to the same channel by multiple users or nodes at
different times in a maximally interference-free manner.
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 IEEE 802.15.4 (Contd)
• The IEEE 802.15.4 standard utilizes infrequently occurring and very short packet transmissions with a low
duty cycle (typically, < 1%) to minimize the power consumption.
• The minimum power level defined is –3 dBm or 0:5 mW for the radios utilizing this standard. The
transmission, for most cases, is line of sight (LOS), with the standard transmission range varying between 10 m
to 75 m. The best-case transmission range achieved outdoors can be up to 1000 m.
• This standard typically defines two networking topologies: 1) Star and 2) mesh.
• There are seven variants identified with in IEEE 802.15.4—A, B. C, D, E, F, and G. Variants A/B are the base
versions, C is assigned for China, and D for Japan.
• Variants E, F, and G are assigned respectively for industrial applications, active RFID (radio frequency
identification) uses, and smart utility systems.
• The IEEE 802.15.4 standard supports two types of devices: 1) reduced function device (RFD) and 2) full
function devices (FFD).
• FFDs can talk to all types of devices and support full protocol stacks.
• However, these devices are costly and energy consuming due to increased requirements for support of full
stacks. In contrast, RFDs can only talk to an FFD and have lower power consumption requirements due to
minimal CPU/RAM requirements.
6 • Figure 7.2 shows the device types and network types supported by the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.
 IEEE 802.15.4 (Contd)

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 IEEE 802.15.4 (Contd)
• The IEEE 802.15.4 standard supports two network types: 1) Beacon-enabled networks and 2) non-beacon-
enabled networks. The periodic transmission of beacon messages characterizes beacon-enabled networks.
• Here, the data frames sent via slotted CSMA/CA with a super frame structure managed by a personal area
network (PAN) coordinator.
• These beacons are used for synchronization and association of other nodes with the coordinator. The scope of
operation of this network type spans the whole network. In contrast, for non-beacon-enabled networks,
unslotted CSMA/CA (contention based) is used for transmission of data frames, and beacons are used only for
link layer discovery.
• This network typically requires both source and destination IDs of the communicating nodes. As the IEEE
802.15.4 is primarily a mesh protocol, all protocol addressing must adhere to mesh configurations such that
there is a decentralized communication amongst nodes.
• Figure 7.3 shows the frame types associated with the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Beacon frames are used for
signaling and synchronization; data transmission is done through the data frames; and message reception is
confirmed using the acknowledgment frames.
• MAC and command frames are used for association requests/responses, dissociation requests, data requests,
beacon requests, coordinator realignment, and orphan notifications.
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 IEEE 802.15.4 (Contd)

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 Zigbee
• The Zigbee radio communication is designed for enabling wireless personal area networks (WPANs). It uses the
IEEE 802.15.4 standard for defining its physical and medium access control (layers 1 and 2 of the OSI stack). Zigbee
finds common usage in sensor and control networks.
• It was designed for low-powered mesh networks at low cost, which can be broadly implemented for controlling and
monitoring applications, typically in the range of 10–100 meters.
• The PHY and MAC layers in this communication are designed to handle multiple low data rate operating devices.
The frequencies of 2.4 GHz, 902–928 MHz or 868 MHz are commonly associated with Zigbee WPAN operations.
• The Zigbee commonly uses 250 kbps data rate which is optimal for both periodic and intermittent full-duplex data
transmission between two Zigbee entities.
• Zigbee supports various network configurations such as master-to-master communication or master-to-slave
communication. Several network topologies are supported in Zigbee, namely the star (Figure 7.4(a)), mesh (Figure
7.4(b)), and cluster tree (Figure 7.4(c)).
• Any of the supported topologies may consist of a single or multiple coordinators. In star topology, a coordinator
initiates and manages the other devices in the Zigbee network.
• The other devices which communicate with the coordinator are called end devices.
• As the star topology is easy to maintain and deploy, it finds widespread usage in applications where a single central
controller manages multiple devices.
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 Zigbee (Contd)

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 Zigbee (Contd)
• A network can be significantly extended in the Zigbee mesh and tree topologies by using multiple routers where the
root of the topology is the coordinator.
• These configurations allow any Zigbee device or node to communicate with any other adjacent node. In case of the
failure of one or more nodes, the information is automatically forwarded to other devices through other functional
devices. In a Zigbee cluster tree network, a coordinator is placed in the leaf node position of the cluster, which is, in
turn, connected to a parent coordinator who initiates the entire network.
• A typical Zigbee network structure can consist of three different device types, namely the Zigbee coordinator, router,
and end device, as shown in Figure 7.4. Every Zigbee network has a minimum of one coordinator device type who
acts as the root; it also functions as the network bridge. The coordinator performs data handling and storing
operations.
• The Zigbee routers play the role of intermediate nodes that connect two or more Zigbee devices, which may be of the
same or different types.
• Finally, the end devices have restricted functionality; communication is limited to the parent nodes. This reduced
functionality enables them to have a lower power consumption requirement, allowing them to operate for an
extended duration. There are provisions to operate Zigbee in different modes to save power and prolong the deployed
network lifetime.
• The PHY and MAC layers of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard are used to build the protocol for Zigbee architecture; the
12 protocol is then accentuated by network and application layers designed especially for Zigbee.
 Zigbee (Contd)

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 Zigbee (Contd)
Figure 7.5 shows the Zigbee protocol stack. The various layer of the Zigbee stack are as follows.
• Physical Layer: This layer is tasked with transmitting and receiving signals, and performing modulation and
demodulation operations on them, respectively. The Zigbee physical layer consists of 3 bands made up of 27
channels: the 2.4 GHz band has 16 channels at 250 kbps the 868.3 MHz has one channel at 20 kbps; and the
902-928 MHz has ten channels at 40 kbps.
• MAC Layer: This layer ensures channel access and reliability of data transmission. CSMA-CA is used for
channel access and intra-channel interference avoidance. This layer handles communication synchronization
using beacon frames.
• Network Layer: This layer handles operations such as setting up the network, connecting and disconnecting
the devices, configuring the devices, and routing.
• Application Support Sub-Layer: This layer handles the interfacing services, control services, bridge between
network and other layers, and enables the necessary services to interface with the lower layers for Zigbee
device object (ZDO) and Zigbee application objects (ZAO). This layer is primarily tasked with data
management services and is responsible for service-based device matching.
• Application Framework: Two types of data services are provided by the application framework: provision of
a key-value pair and generation of generic messages. A key-value pair is used for getting attributes within the
14 application objects, whereas a generic message is a developer-defined structure.
 Zigbee (Contd)
• Zigbee handles two-way data transfer using two operational modes: 1) Non-beacon
mode and 2) beacon mode. As the coordinators and routers monitor the active state of
the received data continuously in the non-beacon mode, it is more power intensive.
• In this mode, there is no provision for the routers and coordinators to sleep. In contrast,
a beacon mode allows the coordinators and routers to launch into a very low-power
sleep state in the absence of data communication from end devices.
• The Zigbee coordinator is designed to periodically wake up and transmit beacons to the
available routers in the network. These beacon networks are used when there is a need
for lower duty cycles and more extended battery power consumption.

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 Thread
• Thread is built upon the IEEE 802.15.4 radio standard; it is used for extremely low power consumption
and low latency deployments.
• Unlike Zigbee, Thread can extend direct Internet connectivity to the devices it is connected with. Thread
removes the need for a mobile phone or a proprietary gateway to be in the range of devices for accessing
the Internet.
• It is specially designed for IoT with the need for interoperability, security, power, and architecture
addressed in a single radio platform.
• Figure 7.6 shows the comparison of the Thread stack against the standard ISO-OSI stack.
• Thread is built on open standards to achieve a low-power wireless mesh networking protocol with
universal Internet Protocol (IP) support.
• The standard is easy to set up and simple to use; it can reliably connect thousands of devices to the
Internet or a cloud with no single point of failure.
• It has the distinctive feature of self-healing and reconfiguration in the event of the addition or removal of
a device.

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 Thread (Contd)

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 Thread (Contd)
• Figure 7.7 shows the Thread network architecture. Thread enables IoT interoperability by utilizing a
certification application that validates a device’s conformance to the specification as well as its
interoperability against multiple certified stacks. This feature ensures the resilience of connectivity, even
with diverse networks, in turn enabling its users to have consistent operational experience.
• Empowering low-power wireless devices with IP connectivity enables Thread to seamlessly
accommodate itself with larger IP-based networks and be a robust option for most IoT applications such
as smart homes/buildings, connected vehicles, and others. This feature of Thread devices removes the
need for Internet-enabled proprietary gateways and cross-stack translators for connection between other
technologies.
• The additional benefits of this feature include better resilience to single point of failures, highly
economical deployments, less complex infrastructure, and enhanced IoT end-to-end device security on
the Internet.
• Thread devices can use common infrastructure similar to Wi-Fi networks and can connect directly to
smartphones or computers if they are on the same IP network, without any additional setup for Thread.

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 Thread (Contd)

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 ISA100.11A
• The ISA100.11A is a very low power communication standard and has been developed and managed by ISA
(International Society of Automation).
• Similar to the previous protocols, it uses the IEEE 802.15.4 standard as a base for building its protocol. The standard
was mainly proposed for industrial plant automation systems.
• The ISA100.11A is characterized by an IoT compliant protocol stack, which can also be integrated with wired
networks using Ethernet, support for open access protocols and device-level interoperability; it boasts of a 128-bit
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption securing all communications. The security in ISA100.11A is in
two layers: Transport layer and data link layer.
• ISA100.11A provides extensive support for IPv6 and UDP and uses TDMA (time-division multiple access)-based
resource sharing with CSMA-CA. Both IPv6 and UDP as well as star topologies are supported by this standard.
• The utilization of IPv6 provides certain distinct benefits to ISA100.11A, such as increased address sizes, enhanced
IPSec-based security measures, savings in network bandwidth by virtue of multicasting and auto address
configuration.
• An ISA100.11A wireless network utilizes the 2.4 GHz frequency band for communication, similar to Wi-Fi and
Bluetooth. To avoid interference over wireless channels in the same band, it uses frequency hopping spread spectrum
(FHSS) over a total of 16 channels.
• A definitive feature of this protocol is channel blacklisting, which blacklists the channels already in use by other
20 protocols. This enables the protocol to perform even better by further achieving immunity from interference.
 ISA100.11A (Contd)

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 ISA100.11A (Contd)
• Figure 7.8 shows the ISA100.11A network architecture. The ISA100.11A architecture consists of the
following: 1) field devices and 2) backbone devices.
• Field devices may be non-routing I/O devices, handheld devices, routing devices, which may or may not
be fixed or mobile. For industrial usage, the inclusion of portable and mobile devices is highly desirable
as it allows floor supervisors and workers to keep checking various parts of the plant without the need for
dedicated devices for each part.
• In contrast, backbone devices include backbone routers, gateways, the system manager, and the security
manager, which are kept fixed and not portable. The ISA100.11A architecture provides support for mesh,
star, and star–mesh topologies.
• The connected devices in ISA100.11A are collectively referred to as the DownLink (DL) subnet. A
wireless industrial sensor network (WISN) gateway connects the ISA100.11A network to the plant
network. The average ISA100.11A protocol stack consists of five different layers:
1) Application layer, 2) transport layer, 3) network layer, 4) data link layer, and 5) physical layer.
• Figure 7.9 compares the ISA100.11A stack with the standard ISO-OSI stack. A central system manager
handles network routing by scheduling communication.
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 ISA100.11A (Contd)

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 ISA100.11A (Contd)
The functionalities of the ISA100.11A protocol stack can be outlined as follows:
• Physical Layer: It is built upon the IEEE 802.15.4-2006 standard. The physical layer communicates on
the 2.4 GHz frequency band using a DSSS (direct sequence spread spectrum) modulation.
• Data Link Layer: It handles the creation, maintenance, and forwarding packet functionalities in addition
to typical MAC functionalities. Additionally, it is responsible for operations dealing with the structure of
the data packet, formation of the frame, detecting the error, and bus arbitration. A data link control (DLC)
layer in ISA100.11A, which uses a graph-based routing, is responsible for specific distinctive functions
such as adaptive channel hopping, detection and recovery of message loss, and clock synchronization.
• Network Layer: The ISA100.11A network layer is 6LoWPAN-compliant and uses IPv6 addressing for
an end-to-end routing. Protocol conversion from IPv6 to 6LoWPAN and 6LoWPAN to IPv6 is executed
at this layer by a router.
• Transport Layer: The ISA100.11A transport layer supports UDP-based connectionless services.
• Application Layer: The ISA100.11A stack only specifies system management application in this layer.

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 WirelessHART
• WirelessHART can be considered as the wireless evolution of the highway addressable remote
transducer (HART) protocol. It is a license-free protocol, which was developed for networking
smart field devices in industrial environments.
• The lack of wires makes the adaptability of this protocol significantly advantageous over its
predecessor, HART, in industrial settings. By virtue of its highly encrypted communication,
wireless HART is very secure and has several advantages over traditional communication protocols.
Similar to Zigbee, wirelessHART uses the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for its protocols designing.
• Figure 7.10 shows the WirelessHART network architecture. WirelessHART can communicate with
a central control system in any of the two ways: 1) Direct and 2) indirect. Direct communication is
achieved when the devices transmit data directly to the gateway in a clear LOS (typically 250 m).
• Indirect communication is achieved between devices in a mesh and a gateway when messages jump
from device to device until it reaches the gateway.
• WirelessHART communication is 99.999% reliable due to the maintenance of a tight schedule
between message transmissions. All wirelessHART devices are back-compatible and allow for the
integration of legacy devices as well as new ones.
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 WirelessHART (Contd)

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 WirelessHART (Contd)
• The HART encompasses the most number of field devices incorporated in any field network. WirelessHART
makes device placements more accessible and cheaper, such as the top of a reaction tank, inside a pipe, or widely
separated warehouses. The wired and unwired versions differ mainly in the network, data link, and physical layer.
• The wired HART lacks a network layer. HART ensures congestion control in the 2.4 Ghz ISM band by
eliminating channel 26 because of its restricted usage in certain areas. The use of interference-prone channels is
avoided by using channel switching after every transmission.
• The transmissions are synchronized using 10ms time-slots. During each time-slot, all available channels can be
utilized by the various nodes in the network, allowing for the simultaneous propagation of 15 packets through the
network, which also minimizes the risk of collisions between channels.
• A network manager supervises each node in the network and guides them on when and where to send packets.
This network manager allows for collision-free and timely delivery of packets between a source and the
destination.
• It updates information regarding neighbors, signal strength, and information needing a delivery receipt. This
network manager also decides which nodes transmit, which nodes listen, and the frequency to be utilized in each
time-slot.
• It also handles code-based network security and prevents unauthorized nodes from joining the network. Figure
7.11 shows the comparison of the wirelessHART protocol stack against the standard ISO-OSI stack.
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 WirelessHART (Contd)

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 WirelessHART (Contd)
The various layers of the wirelessHART stack are outlined as follows:
• Physical Layer: The IEEE 802.15.4 standard specification is used for designing the physical layer of this protocol. Its operation is
limited to the use of the 2.4 GHz frequency band. The channel reliability is significantly increased by utilizing only 15 channels of
the 2.4 GHz band.
• Data Link Layer: The data link layer avoids collisions by the use of TDMA. The communication is also made deterministic by the
use of super frames. WirelessHART superframes consist of 10 ms wide time-slots that are grouped together. The use of
superframes ensures better controllability of the transmission timing, collision avoidance, and communication reliability. This layer
incorporates channel hopping and channel blacklisting to increase reliability and security. A characteristic feature of the
wirelessHART is channel blacklisting. This feature identifies channels consistently affected by interference and removes them from
use.
• Network and Transport Layers: The network and the transport layer work in tandem to address issues of network traffic,
security, session initiation/termination, and routing. WirelessHART is primarily a mesh-based network, where each node can accept
data from other nodes in range and forward them to the next node. All the devices in its network have an updated network graph,
which defines the routing paths to be taken. Functionally, the OSI stack’s network, transport, and session layers constitute the
WirelessHART’s network layer.
• Application Layer: The application layer connects gateways and devices through various command and response messages. This
layer enables back compatibility with legacy HART devices as it does not differentiate between the wired and wireless versions of
HART.

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 RFID
• RFID stands for radio frequency identification. This technology uses tags and readers for
communication. RFID tags have data encoded onto them digitally.
• The RFID readers can read the values encoded in these tags without physically touching them.
RFIDs are functionally similar to barcodes as the data read from tags are stored in a database.
However, RFID does not have to rely on line of sight operation, unlike barcodes.
• The automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology can be considered as the
precursor of RFID. Similar to AIDC techniques, RFID systems are capable of automatically
categorizing objects. Categorization tasks such as identifying tags, reading data, and feeding the
read data directly into computer systems through radio waves outline the operation of RFID
systems.
• Typically, RFID systems are made up of three components: 1) RFID tag or smart label, 2)
RFID reader, and 3) an antenna. Figure 7.12 shows the various RFID components. In RFID, the
tags consist of an integrated circuit and an antenna, enclosed in a protective casing to protect
from wear and tear and environmental effects.
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 RFID (Contd)

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 RFID (Contd)
• These tags can be either active or passive. Passive tags find common usage in a variety of applications
due to its low cost; however, it has to be powered using an RFID reader before data transmission.
• Active tags have their own power sources and do not need external activation by readers. Tags are used
for transmitting the data to an RFID interrogator or an RFID reader. The radio waves are then converted
to a more usable form of data by this reader.
• A host computer system accesses the collected data on the reader by a communication technology such as
Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
• The data on the host system is finally updated onto a database. RFID applications span across domains
such as inventory management, asset tracking, personnel tracking, and supply chain management.

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 NFC
• Near field communication (NFC) was jointly developed by Philips and Sony as a short-range wireless
connectivity standard, enabling peer-to-peer (P2P) data exchange network. Communication between NFC
devices is achieved by the principle of magnetic induction, whenever the devices are brought close to one
another. NFC can also be used with other wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi after establishing and
configuring the P2P network.
• The communication between compatible devices requires a pair of transmitting and receiving devices.
The typical NFC operating frequency for data is 13.56 MHz, which supports data rates of 106, 212, or
424 kbps.
• NFC devices can be grouped into two types: 1) passive NFC and 2) active NFC. Figure 7.13 shows the
various NFC types, components, and its usage.
• A small electric current is emitted by the NFC reader, which creates a magnetic field that acts as a bridge
in the physical space between two NFC devices.
• The generated EM (electromagnetic) field is converted back into electrical impulses through another coil
on the client device. Data such as identifiers, messages, currency, status, and others can be transmitted
using NFCs. NFC communication and pairing are speedy due to the use of inductive coupling and the
absence of manual pairing.
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 NFC (Contd)

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 NFC (Contd)
• Passive NFC devices do not need a power source for communicating with the NFC reader. Tags and other small
transmitters can act as passive NFC devices.
• However, passive devices cannot process information; they simply store information, which is read by an NFC
reader. In contrast, active NFC devices can communicate with active as well as passive NFC devices.
• Active devices are capable of reading as well as writing data to other NFC terminals or devices. Some of the most
commonly used NFC platforms are smartphones, public transport card readers, and commercial touch payment
terminals.
• NFC currently supports three information exchange modes: 1) peer-to-peer, 2) read/write, and 3) card emulation. The
peer-to-peer mode is commonly used in NFC modes; it enables two NFC devices to exchange information. In the
peer-to-peer mode of information exchange, the transmitting device goes active while the receiving device becomes
passive.
• During the reverse transfer, both devices change roles. The read/write mode of information exchange allows only
one-way data transmission. An active NFC device connects to a passive device to read information from it.
• Finally, the card emulation mode enables an NFC device (generally, smartphones) to act as a contactless credit card
and make payments using just a simple tap on an NFC reader.

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 DASH7
• The DASH7 protocol is based on an active RFID standard. It operates in the 433 MHz
frequency band and is being rapidly accepted in agriculture, vehicles, mobiles, and
other consumer electronics-related applications.
• The messages in DASH7 are modulated using FSK (frequency shift keying) modulation
before transmission over the 433 MHz frequency band.
• A very crucial aspect of DASH7 is its capability to use its 433.92 MHz operational
band to enable communications with NFC devices.
• Recall, as the NFCs operate in the 13.56 MHz band, they can communicate with
DASH7 radios by temporarily modifying/altering their antenna to access the higher-
order harmonics of the DASH7 band (433:92=13:56 = 32 or 25).
• Figure 7.14 shows the DASH7 network architecture.

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 DASH7 (Contd)

37
 DASH7 (Contd)
• Compared to the IEEE 802.15.4 and its dependent technologies, the DASH7 protocol has a fully defined and
complete OSI stack. This enables the DASH7 stack to be made adaptable to the physical layers of technologies such
as Sigfox or LoRa.
• The DASH7 stack includes support for cheap processing systems by virtue of its integrated file system. Figure 7.15
shows the protocol stack of DASH 7 in comparison to the ISOOSI stack. DASH7 gateways can query devices in
proximity to it without waiting for pre-defined time-slots to listen to end-device beacons.
• DASH7 is capable of very dense deployments, has a low memory footprint, consumes minuscule power, and
considered by many as a bridge between NFC and IoT communication systems.
• It can also be used to enable tag-to-tag communication without needing the tags to pass their information through a
base station or a tag reader.
• This feature of DASH7 is quite synonymous with the multi-node hopping mesh networks found in Zigbee and Z-
wave. The reported range of DASH7 is between 1 to 10 km and a typical querying latency of 1 to 10 seconds.

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 DASH7 (Contd)

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 Z-Wave
• Z-Wave is an economical and less complicated alternative to Zigbee. It was developed by
Zensys, mainly for home automation solutions. It boasts of a power consumption much lower
than Wi-Fi, but with ranges greater than Bluetooth.
• This feature makes Z-Wave significantly useful for home IoT use by enabling inter-device
communication between Z-wave integrated sensors, locks, home power distribution systems,
appliances, and heating systems. Figure 7.16 shows the network architecture of the Z-Wave
protocol.
• Figure 7.17 shows the stack for this protocol. The Z-Wave operational frequency is in the range
of 800–900 MHz, which makes it mostly immune to the interference effects of Wi-Fi and other
radios utilizing the 2.4 GHz frequency band.
• Z-wave utilizes gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) modulation, where the baseband pulses
are passed through a Gaussian filter before modulation. The filtering operation smoothens the
pulses consisting of streams of –1 and 1 (known as pulse shaping), which limits the modulated
spectrum’s width. A Manchester channel encoding is applied for preparing the data for
40 transmission over the channel.
 Z-Wave (Contd)

41
 Z-Wave (Contd)

42
 Z-Wave (Contd)
• Z-wave devices are mostly configured to connect to home-based routers and access points. These routers and access
points are responsible for forwarding Z-wave messages to a central hub. Z-wave devices can also be configured to
connect to the central hub directly if they are in range. Z-wave routing within the home follows a source-routed mesh
network topology.
• When the Z-wave devices are not in range, messages are routed through different nodes to bypass obstructions
created by household appliances or layouts. This process of avoiding radio dead-spots is done using a message called
healing. Healing messages are a characteristic of Z-wave.
• A central network controller device sets up and manages a Z-wave network (Figure 7.16), where each logical Z-wave
network has one home (network) ID and multiple node IDs for the devices in it. Each network ID is 4 bytes long,
whereas the node ID length is 1 byte.
• Z-Wave nodes with different home IDs cannot communicate with one another. The central hub is designed to be
connected to the Internet, but their quantities are limited to one hub per home. Each home can have multiple devices,
which can talk to the hub using Z-Wave.
• However, the devices themselves cannot connect to the Internet. The Z-wave can support 232 devices in a single
home deployment (a single hub). This technology has been designed to be backward compatible. As Z-wave uses a
source-routed static network, mobile devices are excluded from the network; only static devices are considered.

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 Weightless
• Weightless is yet another emerging open standard for enabling networked communication in IoT; it is especially
useful for low-power wide area networks. It was designed for useful for low-power, low-throughput, and moderate to
high latency applications supporting either or both public and private networks.
• The operating frequency of Weightless is restricted to sub-GHz bands, which are also exempted from the
requirements of licensing such as 138 MHz, 433 MHz, 470 MHz, 780 MHz, 868 MHz, 915 MHz, and 923 MHz.
Initially, three standards were released for Weightless: Weightless P, Weightless N, and Weightless W. Weightless P
is the only currently accepted and used standard as it has features for bi-directional communication over both
licensed as well as unlicensed ISM bands.
• Weightless N was designed as an LWPAN uplink-only technology, whereas Weightless W was designed to make use
of the TV whitespace frequencies for communication. As Weightless P was the most commonly adopted and
accepted standard among the three Weightless standards, it came to be referred to merely as Weightless.
• Weightless provides a true bi-directional and reliable means of communication, where each message transaction is
validated using an acknowledgment message. As it was designed initially for dense deployments of low-complexity
IoT end devices, its payload size was limited to less than 48 bytes.
• Weightless networks can be optimized to attain ultra-low-power consumption status compared to cellular networks.
However, this is at the cost of network latency and throughput with data rates in the range of 0.625 kbps to 100 kbps.
Weightless has been identified with three architectural components: end devices, base stations, and base station
network (Figure 7.18).
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 Weightless (Contd)

45
 Weightless (Contd)
• The end devices (ED) form the leaf nodes in the Weightless network. These devices are typically
low complexity and low cost. The duty cycle of EDs is also low, with a nominal transmitting power
of 14 dBm (which can be increased up to 30 dBm).
• The base stations (BS) act as the central coordinating node in each cell. A star topology is deployed
to connect the EDs to the BS. The transmit powers of a typical BS lie in the range of 27 dBm to 30
dBm.
• Finally, the base station network (BSN) is responsible for connecting all the BS of a single network.
• This enables the BSN to manage the allocation and scheduling of radio resources across the
network.
• Additional tasks of the BSN include addressing authentication, roaming, and scheduling
responsibilities.

46
 Sigfox
• Sigfox is a low-power connectivity solution, which was developed for various businesses such
as building automation and security, smart metering, agriculture, and others. It uses ultra-
narrowband technology (192 kHz wide) for accessing and communicating through the radio
spectrum. The typical data rates achieved in Sigfox is in the range 100–600 bits per second.
• A binary phase shift keying (BPSK) is used for encoding the message transmission by changing
the phase of the carrier waves, where each message is 100 Hz wide. Sigfox in Europe utilizes
the 868 and 868.2 MHz spectrum, whereas it uses 902 and 928 MHz elsewhere.
• As the Sigfox receiver has to access only a very tiny part of the spectrum for receiving
messages, the effects of noise are significantly reduced. It can even communicate in the
presence of jamming signals, making this standard quite resilient.
• Figure 7.19 shows the network architecture of Sigfox. Sigfox has an exciting message
forwarding principle called random access, which ensures the high quality of services in this
standard. Each Sigfox device emits a message at an arbitrary frequency; it simultaneously sends
two replicas of the same message at different frequencies; it time using a principle known as
47 time frequency diversity.
 Sigfox (Contd)

48
 Sigfox (Contd)

49
 Sigfox (Contd)
• Although the Sigfox devices are relatively less complicated, the base stations are very complicated as they monitor the whole 192
kHz spectrum looking for UNB (ultra narrow band) transmissions for demodulation. The base stations in Sigfox follow a
cooperative reception principle.
• The messages in Sigfox are not attached to any base station, and any base station in the vicinity of the device can receive messages
from it. This is called the principle of spatial diversity in Sigfox. The time and frequency diversity, along with the spatial diversity,
ensures excellent quality of service for Sigfox. Figure 7.20 shows the comparison of the Sigfox stack with the standard ISO-OSI
stack.
• The Sigfox communication is bi-directional and asynchronous with a significant difference between the uplink and downlink
speeds. As the devices are less complex than the base stations, the uplink budget (device to base station) is high compared to the
downlink budget (base station to device).
• It is mainly due to this reason that the Sigfox was designed to have small message lengths ranging from 0 to 12 bytes. This 12-byte
payload supports the simultaneous transfer of sensor data, the status of an event/alerts, GPS coordinates, and even application data.
• Sigfox boasts of excellent security features with support for authentication, integrity, and anti-replay on messages transmitted
through the network. AES is supported by this standard. All these collective features of Sigfox enables it to be a low-power and
resilient standard.
• However, due to the low data rates and asynchronous links, it is better utilized in applications requiring infrequent communication
with small bursts of data.
• The Sigfox architecture and range supports wide and dense deployments depending on topologies and is better suited for indoor
use; however, mobility is not an aspect associated with it.

50
 LoRa
• LoRa or long range is a patented wireless technology for communication developed by Cycleo of
Grenoble, France for cellular-type communications aimed at providing connectivity to M2M and IoT
solutions.
• It is a sub-GHz wireless technology that operationally uses the 169 MHz, 433 MHz, 868 MHz, and 915
MHz frequency bands for communication. LoRa uses bi-directional communication links symmetrically
and a spread spectrum with a 125 kHz wideband for operating.
• Applications such as electric grid monitoring are typically suited for utilizing LoRa for communications.
Typical communication of LoRa devices ranges from 15 to 20 km, with support for millions of devices.
Figure 7.21 shows the LoRa network architecture.
• It is a spread spectrum technology with a broader band (usually 125 kHz or more). LoRa achieves high
receiver sensitivity by utilizing frequency-modulated chirp coding gain. LoRa devices provide excellent
support for mobility, which makes them very useful for applications such as asset tracking and asset
management.
• In comparison with similar technologies such as NB-IoT, LoRa devices have significantly higher battery
lives, but these devices have low data rates (27 to 50 kbps) and longer latency times. Figure 7.22 shows
the LoRa protocol stack.
51
 LoRa (Contd)

52
 LoRa (Contd)
• LoRa devices make use of a network referred to as LoRaWAN, which enables the routing of messages between end nodes and the
destination via a LoRaWAN gateway.
• Unlike Sigfox, LoRaWAN has a broader spectrum resulting in interference, which is solved using coding gains of the chirp signals.
Additionally, unlike Sigfox, the LoRaWAN end nodes and the base stations are quite inexpensive.
• The LoRaWAN protocol is designed for WAN communications and is an architecture that makes use of LoRa, whereas LoRa is
used as an enabling technology for a wide area network. Messages transmitted over LoRaWAN is received by all base stations in
proximity to the device, which induces message redundancy in the network.
• However, this enhances the resilience of the network by ensuring more messages are successfully delivered between entities in the
network. A LoRa network follows the star topology and is made up of four crucial entities: end points/nodes, gateways, network
server, and a remote computer (Figure 7.21).
• The end nodes deal with all the sensing and control solutions. The gateways forward messages from end nodes to a backhaul
network. The LoRa network can comprise both or either of wired and wireless technologies.
• The gateways themselves are connected to the network server utilizing IP-based connections (either private or public). The LoRa
network server is responsible for scheduling message acknowledgments, modifying data rates, and removing message
redundancies. Finally, the remote computers have control over the end nodes and act as data sinks for data originating from these
nodes.
• The LoRa network security is achieved through various mechanisms such as unique network key, which ensures security on the
network level, unique application key, which ensures an end-to-end security on the application level and device specific key.

53
 NB-IoT
• NB-IoT or narrowband IoT is an initiative by the Third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) to develop a cellular standard, which can coexist with cellular systems
(2G/3G/4G), be highly interoperable and that too using minimum power.
• It is reported that a major portion of the NB-IoT applications can support a battery life
of up to ten years. NB-IoT also boasts of significant improvements in reliability,
spectrum efficiencies, and system capacities.
• NB-IoT uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation, which
enhances the system capacity and increases spectrum efficiency (Figure 7.23).
• However, device complexities are quite high. NB-IoT also provides support for security
features such as confidentiality, authentication, and integrity.
• Figure 7.24 shows the protocol stacks of the various components of NB-IoT. The
coverage of NB-IoT supports deployments in indoor environments as well as in dense
urban areas.
54
 NB-IoT (Contd)

55
 NB-IoT (Contd)

56
 NB-IoT (Contd)
• When compared with technologies such as LoRa, NB-IoT ensures a higher quality of service as
well as reduced latencies. Because of its design principles, the transfer of large messages is not
efficient.
• NB-IoT is better suited for static deployments such as energy metering, fixed sensors, and
others. Mobility support is not provided in this standard.
• NB-IoT communication can either make use of the available 200-kHz GSM (global system for
mobile communications) bands or be allocated resource blocks on the guard bands by LTE base
stations. This ensures that the NB-IoT can achieve more extensive coverage while coexisting
with cellular systems.
• NB-IoT was developed for non-IP based applications requiring quite small volumes of daily
data transactions, typically in the range of a few tens to a hundred bytes of data per device daily.
• Unlike technologies such as Sigfox and LoRa, the use of OFDM (orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing’s) faster modulation rates ensures higher data handling capacities for NB-IoT.

57
 WiFi
• Wi-Fi or WiFi is technically referred to by its standard, IEEE 802.11, and is a wireless
technology for wireless local area networking of nodes and devices built upon similar standards
(Figure 7.25).
• Wi-Fi utilizes the 2.4 GHz ultra high frequency (UHF) band or the 5.8 GHz super high
frequency (SHF) ISM radio bands for communication. For operation, these bands in Wi-Fi are
subdivided into multiple channels.
• The communication over each of these channels is achieved by multiple devices simultaneously
using time-sharing based TDMA multiplexing. It uses CSMA/CA for channel access.
• Various versions of IEEE 802.11 have been popularly adapted, such as a/b/g/n. The IEEE
802.11a achieves a data rate of 54 Mbps and works on the 5 GHz band using OFDM for
communication.
• IEEE 802.11b achieves a data rate of 11 Mbps and operates on the 2.4 GHz band. Similarly,
IEEE 802.11g also works on the 2.4 GHz band but achieves higher data rates of 54 Mbps using
OFDM. Finally, the newest version, IEEE 802.11n, can transmit data at a rate of 140 Mbps on
58 the 5 GHz band.
 WiFi (Contd)

59
 WiFi (Contd)

60
 WiFi (Contd)
• Wi-Fi devices can network using a technology referred to as wireless LAN (WLAN),
as shown in Figure 7.26. A Wi-Fi enabled device has to connect to a wireless access
point, which connects the device to the WLAN. WLAN is then responsible for
forwarding the messages from the devices to and fro between the devices and the
Internet.

61
 Bluetooth
• Bluetooth is defined by the IEEE 802.15.1 standard and is a short-range wireless communication
technology operating at low power to enable communication among two or more Bluetooth-enabled
devices.
• It was initially developed as a cable replacement technology for data communication between two or
more mobile devices such as smartphones and laptops. This standard allows the transmission of data as
well as voice-over short distances.
• Bluetooth functions on the 2.4 GHz ISM band and has a range of approximately 10 m. The transmission
of data is done through frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), which also reduces the interference
caused by other devices functioning in the 2.4 GHz band.
• The data is divided into packets before transmitting them by Bluetooth. The packets are transmitted over
the 79 designated channels, each 1MHz wide in the 2.4 GHz band. Adaptive frequency hopping (AFH)
enables this standard to perform 800 hops per second over these channels.
• Initial versions of this standard followed Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) modulation, which was
known as the basic rate (BR) mode, and was capable of data rates of up to 1 Mbps. However, with the
development of newer variants, modulation schemes such as =4 DQPSK (differential quadrature phase
shift keying) and 8-DPSK (differential phase shift keying) were adopted, which enabled data rates of 2
62 Mbps and 3 Mbps respectively.
 Bluetooth (Contd)

63
 Bluetooth (Contd)
• Bluetooth follows a master–slave architecture (Figure 7.27). It enables a small network, which can accommodate
seven slave devices simultaneously with a single master node. A slave node in one piconet cannot be part of
another piconet at the same time, that is, it can have a single master node at a time.
• This network is known as a personal area network (PAN) or piconet. All the devices in a piconet share the master
node’s clock. Two piconets can be joined using a bridge. The whole network is also referred to as a scatternet.
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the advanced variant of Bluetooth has 2 MHz wide bands, which can
accommodate 40 channels. Its features include low energy consumption, low cost, multivendor interoperability,
and an enhanced range of operations.
• Bluetooth connections are encrypted and prevent eavesdropping of communications between devices. The
inclusion of service-level security adds an additional layer of security by restricting the usage and device features
and activities.
• The Bluetooth standard consists of four parts: 1) core protocols, 2) cable replacement protocols, 3) telephony
control protocols, and 4) adopted protocols.
• Figure 7.28 shows the Bluetooth protocol stack. Link Manager Protocol (LMP), Logical Link Control and
Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP), Host Controller Interface (HCI), Radio Frequency Communications (RFCOMM),
and Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) are some of the well-known protocols associated with Bluetooth.

64
 Bluetooth (Contd)

65
 Bluetooth (Contd)
These protocols can be enumerated as follows:
(i) Link Manager Protocol: It manages the establishment, authentication, and links
configuration. LMPs consist of some protocol data units (PDU), between which
transmission occurs for availing services such as name requests, link address requests,
connection establishment, connection authentication, mode negotiation, and data transfer.
(ii) Host Controller Interface: It enables access to hardware status and control registers
and connects the controller with the link manager. The automatic discovery of Bluetooth
devices in its proximity is one of the essential tasks of HCI.
(iii) L2CAP: It multiplexes logical connections between two devices. It is also tasked with
data segmentation, flow control, and data integrity checks.
(iv) Service Discovery Protocol: It is tasked with the discovery of services provided by
other Bluetooth devices.

66
 Bluetooth (Contd)
(v) Radio Frequency Communications: It is a cable replacement protocol, which
generates a virtual stream of serial data. This protocol supports many telephony related
profiles as AT commands and Object Exchange Protocol (OBEX) over Bluetooth.
(vi) Telephony Control Protocol – Binary (TCS BIN): It is a bit-oriented protocol to
control call signaling prior to initiation of voice or data communications between devices.

67
 Module-4 Questions
1. What is a piconet?
2. What is a scatternet? Explain the working of a scatternet with a brief description of its various members.
3. Describe the protocol stack of Bluetooth.
4. What is BLE?
5. Differentiate between class 1, 2, and 3 Bluetooth devices.
6. What are the various modes of operation of Bluetooth?
7. Describe the L2CAP layer in Bluetooth.
8. Describe the RFCOMM layer in Bluetooth.
9. What is service discovery protocol (SDP) in Bluetooth?
10. Describe the Bluetooth baseband.
11. How does Bluetooth avoid collisions between simultaneously transmitting nodes?
12. Explain the protocol stack of Zigbee.
13. What is ZDO? How is it different from APS?
14. Elaborate on the various network topologies of Zigbee.
15. What are the various Zigbee device types?
16. Describe the Zigbee network layer.
17. What is AODV? Explain with an example.
18. How is Zigbee different from Bluetooth?
19. How is Zigbee different from 6LoWPAN?
20. Explain the protocol stack of IEEE 802.15.4
68 21. How is LWPAN different from PANs?
 Module-4 Questions
22. Explain the terms: (a) DSSS (b) BPSK c) QPSK (d) O-QPSK
23. Differentiate between CSMA/CA and CSMA/CD.
24. Differentiate between star and mesh network topologies.
25. What are the various IEEE 802.15.4 network types?
26. Differentiate between RFD and FFD.
27. Differentiate between a PAN coordinator, router, and a device in IEEE 802.15.4.
28. What are the various IEEE 802.15.4 frame types?
29. What is beaconing?
30. How are beacon-enabled networks different from non-Beacon enabled networks?
31. What is HART? How is it different from wirelessHART?
32. Describe the protocol stack of HART.
33. Describe the HART physical layer.
34. Describe the HART data link layer.
35. Describe the HART network and transport layers.
36. What is TDMA? Describe with an example.
37. What is channel blacklisting?
38. What are superframes?
39. Describe the HART congestion control mechanism.
40. Describe the working of the wirelessHART network manager.
41. How is wirelessHART different from Zigbee?
69 42. What is RFID? Explain its working.
 Module-4 Questions
43. How is RFID different from QR codes?
44. Differentiate between active and passive RFID.
45. List some of the typical applications of RFID.
46. What is NFC? Describe its working.
47. How is NFC different from RFID?
48. What are the different types of NFC? Explain in detail.
49. Describe the various modes of operation of NFC.
50. List some of the popular applications of NFC.
51. What is ISA 100.11a?
52. Describe the various transport services in ISA100.11a.
53. What are the various networks permitted in ISA100.11a?
54. What network topologies are allowed in ISA100.11a?
55. What are the various device types in ISA100.11a?
56. List the salient features of ISA100.11a.
57. What are the security features of ISA100.11a?
58. Differentiate between an NRD and backbone device in ISA100.11a.
59. Differentiate between an RD and an NRD in ISA100.11a.
60. What are the typical usage classes in ISA100.11a?
61. What is Z-Wave?
62. Describe the working of a Z-Wave implementation.
70 63. Describe GFSK.
 Module-4 Questions
64. What is Manchester encoding?
65. What is healing in the context of Z-Wave?
66. Differentiate between Z-Wave and Zigbee.
67. What are the different variants of Weightless? Enumerate the highlighting features of each.
68. How does Weightless provide true bi-directional communication?
69. In Weightless, what topology is deployed to connect the EDs to the BS?
70. What is the typical payload size restriction of Weightless?
71. What are the typical application domains of Sigfox?
72. What are the general data rates associated with Sigfox?
73. Which encoding is used in Sigfox for transmitting messages?
74. How does Sigfox communicate even in the presence of jamming signals?
75. What is the principle of spatial diversity in Sigfox?
76. Why is the Sigfox uplink budget different from its downlink budget?
77. What frequency bands are typically associated with LoRa?
78. Differentiate between LoRa and NB-IoT.
79. How is the spread spectrum used for enhancing the efficiency of LoRa?
80. What is LoRaWAN? How is it different from LoRa?
81. Differentiate between LoRaWAN and Sigfox.
82. Describe the network topology of LoRa.
83. What are the modes of existence of NB-IoT?
71 84. How does NB-IoT make use of existing redundant GSM/CDMA bands?
 Module-4 Questions
85. How does NB-IoT ensure high data handling capacities?
86. How does IEEE 802.11g achieve higher data rates?
87. What is the typical data transmission rate of IEEE 802.11n?
88. What is WLAN?
89. Differentiate between WiFi and Bluetooth.
90. Differentiate between WiFI and Zigbee.

72
 END OF MODULE-4

73