As there are more and more types of wireless communication technologies, there are more and more choices for customer, but different communication technologies have different characteristics, and we will choose suitable solutions according to the characteristics.

Common wireless communication technologies:

  • Bluetooth
  • Wi-fi
  • Technology based on IEEE 802.15.4 (Fio, ZigBee)
  • Z-Wave
  • Cellular low-power wide area network technology (NB-IoT, LTE-M)
  • Non-cellular low-power wide area network technology (LoRaWAN, Sigfox)

Bluetooth

Bluetooth wireless communication technologies is a low-power wireless solution operating on the 2.4 GHZ ISM Frequency Band. Ao longo dos anos, A tecnologia Bluetooth continuou a expandir, and now has great flexibility in terms of distance, largura de banda, and communication topology to meet the needs of different IoT applications.

Bluetooth echnical details:

Atualmente, existem duas opções diferentes de rádio Bluetooth: Bluetooth Classic andMódulo de baixa energia Bluetooth (Bluetooth LE). Bluetooth clássico (ou BR/EDR), o rádio Bluetooth original, ainda é amplamente utilizado em aplicativos de streaming, especially audio streaming. Bluetooth Low Energy is mainly used for low-bandwidth applications where data is frequently transmitted between devices. A Bluetooth Low Energy é conhecida por seu consumo extremamente baixo de energia e sua popularidade em smartphones, comprimidos e computadores pessoais.

A baixa energia Bluetooth é dividida em ponto a ponto, Star Topology, mesh Topology and broadcast topologies. Na topologia de malha, nodes are directly connected without communicating with other nodes through the hub. Os nós podem enviar dados e informações para outros nós fora da faixa de comunicação do nó de origem original, expanding the network coverage in a large area. Related Bluetooth products：Silicon Labs Bluetooth Module SIG MESH | FSC-BT671

Wi-fi tecnologia

Wi-fi wireless communication technologies is the brand name of all IEEE 802.11 Redes de área local sem fio padrão (WLAN). A faixa de frequência de trabalho de Wi-Fi é geralmente 2.4 Ghz e 5 Ghz ism, Mas versões mais recentes do Wi-Fi também usam outras bandas de frequência.

Wi-fi technical details

Existem muitas versões de Wi-Fi. A aliança Wi-Fi adotou recentemente um novo sistema de numeração de versão: Wi-fi 1 (802.11b), Wi-fi 2 (802.11um), Wi-fi 3 (802.11g), Wi-fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-fi 5 (802.11AC) e Wi-Fi 6 (802.11machado). A versão mais recente pode atender às necessidades de vários aplicativos, including longer distances, maior taxa de transferência e cobertura maior. The most popular Wi-Fi topology is the star topology. Mas na topologia da estrela, nós só podem se comunicar através do hub.

Fio, ZigBee

IEEE 802.15.4 technology refers to the low-speed wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) access layer.

Fio, ZigBee Detalhes técnicos:

Thread and Zigbee wireless communication technologies are two technologies based on this specification. They are characterized by low power consumption and low data rate. IEEE 802.15.4 is mainly used in application scenarios where data is small, distance is short, and low power consumption is required at the same time. Although this technology also supports star topology, the most commonly used is mesh topology.

Z-Wave

Z-Wave wireless communication technologies was originally a lighting system control protocol, and later evolved into a home automation protocol managed by the Z-Wave Alliance.

Z-Wave Detalhes técnicos

This proprietary technology uses 908/915 MHz in the US and 868 MHz in Europe. The different frequency bands are to avoid interference with the 2.4 GHz ISM band and expand coverage. This technology mainly uses a mesh topology. This technology is mainly used in smart home scenarios.

NB-IoT, LTE-M

LTE-M (LTE Cat-M1 or Long-Term Evolution for Machines) and NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) are both technical standards developed by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), and are used for cellular devices.

These two technologies will coexist with other 5G technologies and are expected to become part of a long-term 5G IoT strategy. 5G is the general term for the fifth-generation cellular mobile communication technology, representing a high-speed network of 2 Gbps (it can even reach 100 Gbps in the future). 5G technology will reduce network latency and expand coverage (in terms of the number of devices connected to the network at the same time).

NB-IoT, LTE-M Detalhes técnicos

LTE-M and NB-IoT Wireless communication technologies are different in characteristics, so the suitable application scenarios are also different. NB-IoT is best suited for simple applications that require low power consumption and low bandwidth, while LTE-M is best suited for real-time and mission-critical applications due to its higher data rate. The main difference between the two is speed and delay (LTE-M has higher speed and lower delay).

NB-IoT and LTE-M mainly adopt star topology structure.

LoRaWAN, Sigfox

LoRaWAN is an open source wireless network protocol maintained by the LoRa Alliance. LoRaWAN is built on the basis of LoRa, which is a proprietary modulation format developed by Semtech.

LoRaWAN, Sigfox Detalhes técnicos:

LoRa only defines the lower layers of the network stack, while LoRaWAN defines the higher layers of the network stack. LoRaWAN is just one of many protocols built on LoRa. LoRaWAN is classified as a low-power wide area network (LPWAN) tecnologia, which can achieve remote communication between devices with low power consumption.

Sigfox is also an LPWAN technology, but it is a proprietary technology provided by the French company Sigfox. The company is the only network operator of this technology.

Comparison of wireless data transfer module technologies

wireless communication technologies Comparison
Comparison of wireless data transfer module technologies