Discover the different modes of communication that allow devices to 'talk' to each other
The concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) Internet of Things) is already known to many people and refers to everyday objects or machines that are connected to the internet and that share information with each other and with cloud platforms. What many do not know, however, is how these devices connect and communicate.
Connectivity between devices is an essential factor for the development of a 4.0 economy. After all, it covers not only smart TVs, lamps and other items we use at home, but elements of smart cities such as buses and traffic lights, industrial and agro-industrial machines, government and logistics systems.
“The development of wireless communication technologies that are efficient, standardized and low power consumption is the main challenge of the IoT today”, says Jonas Ieno, CEO of Lieno Tecnologia. “With the popularization of the IoT, the trend is for more efficient and cheaper modes of communication to be developed, with devices that ‘talk’ to each other in an increasingly agile and intelligent way”, he explains.
One of the ways to achieve this objective is to use the technology of edge computing, which processes the data directly on the device, without the need to send it to a processing center or “cloud”.
According to Ieno, the different communication models serve specific objectives and must be applied according to the client's situation and objective. “Each communication protocol has its strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of IoT model employed in a project depends on which model offers the most cost-effectiveness for the customer's infrastructure,” he argues.
Get to know some of the main modalities of communication in the IoT available today.
CAT-M1
This technology is commonly used in mobile applications, using a 3G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, popularly known as 4G. This mode is used when the device needs to be permanently connected to the network, as in the case of vehicle tracking. Among the advantages are low power consumption and better coverage.
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Especially attractive for its low power consumption – as its name suggests – Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) remains “off” most of the time and is only activated to send specific information during certain periods. When a customer enters a store, for example, BLE can send information about discounted products to their smartphone.
Sigfox
The Sigfox network has communication based entirely on software: instead of taking place on devices, data is processed and transmitted in the cloud. Thus, it is possible for objects to communicate quickly and safely even when far away, overcoming possible noise that could interfere with the connection.
This type of network does not allow the transmission of a large amount of information simultaneously and, therefore, must be used in situations that require restricted data traffic, such as monitoring the temperature of an environment, for example.
LoRa
The name LoRa comes from the English Long Range – long range, in Portuguese. Is that this type of network allows communication over long distances with low energy: objects connected via LoRa can, for example, communicate at distances ranging from three to four kilometers in urban areas and up to 12 kilometers in rural areas, where there is less interference. In Brazil, the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) limited the range of LoRa networks to up to 2 kilometers.
Due to its great reach, the technology is used to transmit information in remote or difficult to access locations.
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