Internet of Things (IoT) systems aren’t that complicated, but designing and building them can become a challenging task. To understand how to build solutions comprising IoT devices, it’s necessary to first figure out how they communicate with the world.
The communication technology you choose for your IoT system will affect your device’s hardware requirements and costs. Moreover, it’s possible to deploy IoT devices in many different ways, so no single networking technology fits all the requirements.
Read this article to learn how IoT devices connect to the internet.
Wi-Fi
The most obvious networking technology for IoT devices is Wi-Fi because you can find it all over the place. The high availability and accessibility of the solution make it a good candidate for many applications. Almost every household today has an internet connection and a Wi-Fi router. However, note that Wi-Fi requires a fair amount of power. Many devices might not be able to afford that level of power – for example, battery-operated devices or sensitive sensors positioned in locations that are difficult to power from the grid.
Bluetooth
Another technology used in IoT communication is Bluetooth. It’s particularly useful for commercial IoT applications as it enables local communication, so devices typically communicate only with other local devices.
Ethernet
This is another communication technology that enables local communication. In other words, it comes in handy if you want to build an IoT system where the devices are supposed to communicate with each other.
Low-power alternatives
Companies are now researching networking technologies that allow for low-power solutions to function properly and come at a relatively low cost. Such solutions will enable us to create large networks of small intelligent devices.
Currently, major research and development efforts are focused on building low-power radios that allow several years of battery life, energy harvesting as a power source for devices, new application protocols and data formats that allow for autonomous operation, and mesh networking for long-term operation without the need for human intervention.
Note that any device can also be connected to the internet through an IoT Device Management Platform that allows choosing between several alternatives.
We hope that this guide will help you understand how IoT devices connect to the internet.