Data Link Layer Communication Protocols in IoT

Several Communication Protocols are used in Internet of Things (IoT). As we know IoT is based on
networking of things where smart devices communicate with each other by sending and receiving
data. So for that several network protocols (Communication protocols) are used to connect the IoT
enabled devices and to establish the communication.
Some of the popular Standard IoT communication protocols are:
1. Bluetooth :
Bluetooth is a PAN (Personal Area Network) or it is a short-range wireless communication
network for exchanging data between the connected devices through that network. It is very
cheaper in price and effective in a performance point of view for short-range distance. It is a
2.4GHz network that works well for personal wireless network communication. It provides a data
transfer rate of 3 Mbps in a range of 50m to 150m. Nowadays Bluetooth is almost present in all
smartphones and it is highly used in wearable devices connected with the mobile applications.
2. ZigBee :
Zigbee is similar to Bluetooth technology with 2.4Ghz frequency. It is a low power personal
communication network. It is cheaper and is widely used for several applications. It is used for
specific commercial and industrial applications. Its range varies from 10-100m. Mesh
networking is one of the important advantages of Zigbee technology. Zigbee supports star or
mesh network topology.

3. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) :

Bluetooth Low Energy is also known as Bluetooth smart which is a wireless PAN(Personal
Area Network). The range is similar to that of Bluetooth but it consumes low power than
Bluetooth. In 2011 BLE was introduced as Bluetooth 4.0. BLE goes to sleep mode when there
is no transmission of data. It is a low-cost networking protocol. The smartphones operating
systems like android, ios, etc uses this BLE technology and provide a Bluetooth network.

4. Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) :

WiFi is a local area network which is a wireless network there is no wired connection. It is
Proposed by Wi-Fi Alliance. WiFi provides Internet access to devices within a range of 60 feet
to 100 feet. It uses high-frequency radio signals for sending and receiving data. It uses the IEEE
802.11 standard. Its data rate varies from 2Mbps to 1.73Gbps. We can set up PAN (Personal
Area Network) or LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network) in IoT systems.
By Routing, we can increase the network area.

5. Z-Wave :
Z-wave technology is a wireless communication protocol that creates a wireless Mesh network.
It is based on low power RF(Radio Frequency) based technology. It is mainly used for home
automation applications and devices. It operates in 900 Mhz frequency bands. It is a more
secure technology. It offers data transfer rates of 9.6Kbps, 40Kbps, or 100Kbps. Its range varies
from 98 to 328 feet. It is low power and longer range IoT technology.
6. RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) :
Radio Frequency Identification technology uses radiofrequency waves to transfer data between
a reader and a movable item to identify and track. It does not require contact between reader
 and tagged item. RFID tag, RFID reader, RFID antenna are the key components of RFID
technology. Tags operate depending upon their frequency bands of 13.56 and are mostly used.

7. Cellular :
Increased quantities of data can be sent over longer distances or range by using Cellular
communications (GSM/3G/4G/5G etc). But it is very useful in sending a small quantity of data
over the internet. Cellular carriers manage the infrastructure so when we use it we don’t need
to worry about infrastructure costs and support costs.

8. Sigfox :
Sigfox is a form of wireless communications that provides low power and long-range wireless
connectivity for devices. The messages are transmitted over the Sigfox global network. Sigfox
provides one of the largest IoT networks. It is like Cellular network type which sets up
antennas on towers. It is a Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN).

9. Ethernet:
Ethernet is used to connect the devices in a Local Area Network (LAN) which is based on
IEEE 802.3 standard. Ethernet is a LAN technology in which the devices are wired connection
which provides data transfer rates as high as 100 Mbps. Choosing Ethernet for IoT ecosystem
is a little bit costly in terms of setup and management.

10. NFC (Near Field Communication) :

NFC is an IoT which helps to connect devices. It provides short-range wireless connectivity
technology but NFC transmission is slower than Bluetooth. It is based on Radio Frequency
Identity (RFID) technology. It can operate in low power. It operates at 13.56 MHz frequency.

11. LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) :

LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) is a wireless wide area network technology whose
range varies from 2 km to 1000 km depending on the technology. Siggfox, LoRa is the
examples involve all major LPWAN technology.

12. LoRaWAN :
LoRaWAN(Long Range Wide Area Network) is a wide area network protocol. It is a low
power consumption protocol that targets the wide-area network (WAN) applications with better
security and mobility. It supports a large network with millions and millions of low power
devices deployed on public networks. It is along with range bidirectional communication which
has a range of more than 15 km.

Wireless Media Access Issues in Internet of Things

When it comes to communication using a wireless medium there is always a concern about the
interference due to other present wireless communication technologies. Wireless means
communication and message transfer without the use of physical medium i.e., wires.
Let us understand how communication is done between them. Different Mobile stations(MS) are
attached to a transmitter/receiver which communicates via a shared channel by other nodes. In this
type of communication, it makes it difficult for the MAC design rather than the wireline networks.
The very important issues which are observed are: Half Duplex operation, Time-varying channel,
and Burst channel errors. These are explained as following below.
1. Half Duplex operation:
Half-duplex transmission means when the sender and receiver both are capable of sharing
data but one at a time. In wireless transmission, it is difficult to receive data when the
transmitter is sending the data because during transmission a large amount or a large
fraction of signal energy is leaked while broadcasting. The magnitude of the transferred
signal and received signal differs a lot. Due to which collision detection is even not
possible by the sender as the intensity of the transferred signal is large than the received
one. Hence this causes the problem of collision and the prime focus should be to minimize
the collision
2. Time-varying channel :
Time-varying channels include the three mechanisms for radio signal propagations they are
Reflection, Diffraction, and Scattering.
 Reflection –
This occurs when a propagating wave carrying information intrudes on an object that has very
large dimensions than the wavelength of the wave.
 Diffraction –
This occurs when the radio path between the transmitter and the receiver is collided by the
surface with sharp edges. This is a phenomenon which causes the diffraction of the wave from
the targeted position.
 Scattering –
This occurs when the medium through from the wave is traveling consists of some objects
which have dimensions smaller than the wavelength of the wave.
While transmitting the signal by the node these are time shifted and this is called multipath
propagation. While when this node signals intensity is dropped below a threshold value, then this is
termed as fade. As a result Handshaking strategy is widely used so as a healthy communication can
be set up.
3. Burst channel errors :
Burst channel errors are called as a contiguous sequence of symbols, which are received in
a communication channel, in which the first and last symbols has an error and there is no
evidence of contiguous sub-sequence of corrected received symbols. When time-varying
channels are used then signals strengths are introduced due to which errors are observed in
transmission. For these channels in wireline networks, the Bit rate is high as 10 -3.

Smart Objects, Sensors, and Actuators

An IoT device is made up of a Physical object (“thing”) + Controller (“brain”) + Sensors +
Actuators + Networks (Internet).
These elements are the objects without intelligence and objects with intelligence which are also
known as Smart Objects. Due to the existence of these elements, it is essential to know how to
distinguish the different type of objects and know the way in which these objects can interact with
us. The Not-Smart Objects can be formed by sensors and actuators.
Sensors are electronic devices composed of sensitive cells that are able to measure physical
parameters like the light fluctuation using a photoresistor, the temperature using a thermistor, to
detect flames, sounds, movements, or any other fluctuation in the environment and converts that
measurement reading into a digital representation.

Actuators, on the others hand, receive some type of control signal (commonly an electric signal
or digital command) that triggers a physical effect, usually some type of motion, force, and so
on. Sensors provide the information, actuators provide the action
Actuators also vary greatly in function, size, design, and so on. Some common ways that they
can be classified include the following:
 Type of motion: Actuators can be classified based on the type of motion they produce
(for example, linear, rotary, one/two/threeaxes).
 Power: Actuators can be classified based on their power output (for example, high power,
low power, micro power)
 Binary or continuous: Actuators can be classified based on the number of stable-state
outputs.
 Area of application: Actuators can be classified based on the specific industry or
commercial where they are used.
Smart objects are any physical objects that contain embedded technology to sense and/or
interact with their environment in a meaningful way by being interconnected and enabling
communication among themselves or an external agent.
According to the previous definitions, we could find devices that combine both types of Not-Smart
Objects, they not only would have actuators and sensors but also would have both. An example of
these are smartphones or any other Smart Object that are composed by sensors and actuators.
Another similar example could be a microcontroller like an Arduino. The Arduino microcontroller
is capable of manage almost any type of electronic device. Thus, an Arduino allows creating a
system composed only of actuators, only of sensors, or both. Therefore, the Smart Objects are
formed by Not-Smart Objects.

If a sensor is a standalone device that simply measures the humidity of the soil, it is interesting
and useful, but it isn’t revolutionary If that same sensor is connected as part of an intelligent
network that is able to coordinate intelligently with actuators to trigger irrigation systems as
needed based on those sensor readings, we have something far more powerful Extending that
even further, imagine that the coordinated sensor/actuator set is intelligently interconnected with
other sensor/actuator sets to further coordinate fertilization, pest control, and so on—and even
communicate with an intelligent backend to calculate crop yield potential.

Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an infrastructure-less wireless network that is deployed in a
large number of wireless sensors in an ad-hoc manner that is used to monitor the system, physical
or environmental conditions.
Sensor nodes are used in WSN with the onboard processor that manages and monitors the
environment in a particular area. They are connected to the Base Station which acts as a processing
unit in the WSN System.
Base Station in a WSN System is connected through the Internet to share data.
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) refer to networks of spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors
that monitor and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data
to a central location. WSNs can measure environmental conditions such as temperature, sound,
pollution levels, humidity and wind.
Applications of WSN:

 Internet of Things (IOT)

 Surveillance and Monitoring for security, threat detection
 Environmental temperature, humidity, and air pressure
 Noise Level of the surrounding
 Medical applications like patient monitoring
 Agriculture
 Landslide Detection

Connecting Smart Objects

IoT devices and sensors must be connected to the network for their data to be
utilized. In addition to the wide range of sensors, actuators, and smart objects that make
up IoT, there are also a number of different protocols used to connect them.
COMMUNICATIONS CRITERIA

The characteristics and attributes you should consider when selecting and dealing with
connecting smart objects

 Range Frequency Bands

 Power Consumption
 Topology
 Constrained Devices
 Constrained-Node Networks

Range-

How far does the signal need to be propagated?

That is, what will be the area of coverage for a selected wireless technology?

Should indoor versus outdoor deployments be differentiated?

 Short range: The classical wired example is a serial cable. Wireless short-range technologies are
often considered as an alternative to a serial cable, supporting tens of meters of maximum distance
between two devices. Examples of short-range wireless technologies are IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth and
IEEE 802.15.7 Visible Light Communications (VLC).

Medium range: This range is the main category of IoT access technologies. In the range of tens
to hundreds of meters, many specifications and implementations are available. The maximum distance is
generally less than 1 mile between two devices Examples of medium-range wireless technologies include
IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.15.4, and 802.15.4g WPAN. Wired technologies such as IEEE 802.3
Ethernet and IEEE 1901.2 Narrowband Power Line Communications (PLC).

Long range: Distances greater than 1 mile between two devices require long-range technologies.
Wireless examples are cellular (2G, 3G, 4G) and some applications of outdoor IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi and
Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) technologies. LPWA communications have the ability to communicate
over a large area without consuming much power. These technologies are therefore ideal for battery-
powered IoT sensors.

Frequency Bands

Radio spectrum is regulated by countries and/or organizations, such as the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These groups
define the regulations and transmission requirements for various frequency bands For example, portions
of the spectrum are allocated to types of telecommunications such as radio, television, military, and so on.

Focusing on IoT access technologies, the frequency bands leveraged by wireless communications
are split between licensed and unlicensed bands. Licensed spectrum is generally applicable to IoT
longrange access technologies. In order to utilize licensed spectrum, users must subscribe to services
when connecting their IoT devices. In exchange for the subscription fee, the network operator can
guarantee the exclusivity of the frequency usage over the target area and can therefore sell a better
guarantee of service. For example 2.4 GHz band as used by IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi.
 Unlicensed spectrum is usually simpler to deploy than licensed because it does not require a
service provider. However, it can suffer from more interference because other devices may be competing
for the same frequency in a specific area. The frequency of transmission directly impacts how a signal
propagates and its practical maximum range.

Power Consumption

Powered nodes and battery-powered nodes. A powered node has a direct connection to a power
source, and communications are usually not limited by power consumption criteria. However, ease of
deployment of powered nodes is limited by the availability of a power source, which makes mobility
more complex. Battery-powered nodes bring much more flexibility to IoT devices. These nodes are
often classified by the required lifetimes of their batteries.

For battery-powered nodes, IoT wireless access technologies must address the needs of low
power consumption and connectivity. A new wireless environment known as Low-Power WideArea
(LPWA). Battery-powered nodes are often placed in a “sleep mode” to preserve battery life when not
transmitting. Wired IoT access technologies consisting of powered nodes are not exempt from power
optimization.

Topology

Among the access technologies available for connecting IoT devices, three main topology
schemes are dominant: star, mesh, and peer-to-peer. For long-range and short-range technologies, a star
topology is prevalent. Star topologies utilize a single central base station or controller to allow
communications with endpoints. For medium-range technologies, a star, peer-to-peer, or mesh topology
is common. Peer-to-peer topologies allow any device to communicate with any other device as long as
they are in range of each other
 Constrained-Node Networks

IEEE 802.15.4 and 802.15.4g RF, IEEE 1901.2a PLC, LPWA, and IEEE 802.11ah access
technologies. Constrained-node networks are often referred to as low-power and lossy networks (LLNs).
Low power – battery powered constraints

Lossy network -- network performance may suffer from interference and variability due to harsh radio
environments. Protocols that can be used for constrained-node networks must be evaluated in the context
of the characteristics: data rate and throughput, latency, overhead and payload.

IoT Access Technologies

The Internet of Things (IoT) starts with connectivity, but since IoT is a widely diverse and
multifaceted realm, you certainly cannot find a one-size-fits-all communication solution.
There are six most common types of IoT wireless technologies. Each solution has its
strengths and weaknesses in various network criteria and is therefore best-suited for different
IoT use cases.
1. LPWANs

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) are the new phenomenon in IoT. By providing
long-range communication on small, inexpensive batteries that last for years, this family of
technologies is purpose-built to support large-scale IoT networks sprawling over vast
industrial and commercial campuses.

LPWANs can literally connect all types of IoT sensors – facilitating numerous applications
from asset tracking, environmental monitoring and facility management to occupancy
detection and consumables monitoring. Nevertheless, LPWANs can only send small blocks
of data at a low rate, and therefore are better suited for use cases that don’t require high
bandwidth and are not time-sensitive.

Also, not all LPWANs are created equal. Today, there exist technologies operating in both
the licensed (NB-IoT, LTE-M) and unlicensed (e.g. MYTHINGS, LoRa, Sigfox etc.)
spectrum with varying degrees of performance in key network factors. For example, while
power consumption is a major issue for cellular-based, licensed LPWANs; Quality-of-
Service and scalability are main considerations when adopting unlicensed
technologies. Standardization is another important factor to think of if you want to ensure
reliability, security, and interoperability in the long run.

2. Cellular (3G/4G/5G)
Well-established in the consumer mobile market, cellular networks offer reliable broadband
communication supporting various voice calls and video streaming applications. On the
downside, they impose very high operational costs and power requirements.

While cellular networks are not viable for the majority of IoT applications powered by
battery-operated sensor networks, they fit well in specific use cases such as connected
cars or fleet management in transportation and logistics. For example, in-car infotainment,
traffic routing, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) alongside fleet telematics and
tracking services can all rely on the ubiquitous and high bandwidth cellular connectivity.

Cellular next-gen 5G with high-speed mobility support and ultra-low latency is positioned to
be the future of autonomous vehicles and augmented reality. 5G is also expected to enable
real-time video surveillance for public safety, real-time mobile delivery of medical data sets
for connected health, and several time-sensitive industrial automation applications in the
future.

3. Zigbee and Other Mesh Protocols

Zigbee is a short-range, low-power, wireless standard (IEEE 802.15.4), commonly deployed

in mesh topology to extend coverage by relaying sensor data over multiple sensor nodes.
Compared to LPWAN, Zigbee provides higher data rates, but at the same time, much less
power-efficiency due to mesh configuration.

Because of their physical short-range (< 100m), Zigbee and similar mesh protocols (e.g. Z-
Wave, Thread etc.) are best-suited for medium-range IoT applications with an even
distribution of nodes in close proximity. Typically, Zigbee is a perfect complement to Wi-Fi
for various home automation use cases like smart lighting, HVAC controls, security and
energy management, etc. – leveraging home sensor networks.

Until the emergence of LPWAN, mesh networks have also been implemented in industrial
contexts, supporting several remote monitoring solutions. Nevertheless, they are far from
ideal for many industrial facilities that are geographically dispersed, and their theoretical
scalability is often inhibited by increasingly complex network setup and management.

4. Bluetooth and BLE

Defined in the category of Wireless Personal Area Networks, Bluetooth is a short-range

communication technology well-positioned in the consumer marketplace. Bluetooth Classic
was originally intended for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint (up to seven slave nodes)
data exchange among consumer devices. Optimized for power consumption, Bluetooth Low-
Energy was later introduced to address small-scale Consumer IoT applications.

BLE-enabled devices are mostly used in conjunction with electronic devices, typically
smartphones that serve as a hub for transferring data to the cloud. Nowadays, BLE is widely
integrated into fitness and medical wearables (e.g. smartwatches, glucose meters, pulse
oximeters, etc.) as well as Smart Home devices (e.g. door locks) – whereby data is
conveniently communicated to and visualized on smartphones.

The release of Bluetooth Mesh specification in 2017 aims to enable a more scalable
deployment of BLE devices, particularly in retail contexts. Providing versatile indoor
localization features, BLE beacon networks have been used to unlock new service
innovations like in-store navigation, personalized promotions, and content delivery.

5. Wi-Fi

There is virtually no need to explain Wi-Fi, given its critical role in providing high-
throughput data transfer for both enterprise and home environments. However, in the IoT
space, its major limitations in coverage, scalability and power consumption make the
technology much less prevalent.

Imposing high energy requirements, Wi-Fi is often not a feasible solution for large networks
of battery-operated IoT sensors, especially in industrial IoT and smart building scenarios.
Instead, it more pertains to connecting devices that can be conveniently connected to a power
outlet like smart home gadgets and appliances, digital signature or security cameras.

Wi-Fi 6 – the newest Wi-Fi generation – brings in greatly enhanced network bandwidth (i.e.
<9.6 Gbps) to improve data throughput per user in congested environments. With this, the
standard is poised to level up public Wi-Fi infrastructure and transform customer experience
with new digital mobile services in retail and mass entertainment sectors. Also, in-car
networks for infotainment and on-board diagnostics are expected to be the most game-
changing use case for Wi-Fi 6. Yet, the development will likely take some more time.

6. RFID

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) uses radio waves to transmit small amounts of data
from an RFID tag to a reader within a very short distance. Till now, the technology has
facilitated a major revolution in retail and logistics.

By attaching an RFID tag to all sorts of products and equipment, businesses can track their
inventory and assets in real-time – allowing for better stock and production planning as well
as optimized supply chain management. Alongside increasing IoT adoption, RFID continues
to be entrenched in the retail sector, enabling new IoT applications like smart shelves, self-
checkout, and smart mirrors.