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• SigFox, an open standard, is most suitable for applications in the lowest
bandwidth region. In Europe and the US, it operates in the 868 MHz and
900 MHz frequency bands, respectively. SigFox is also recommended for
projects that require the lowest energy consumption.
• LoRa was developed by Semtech, a chip manufacturing company, and
offers much higher bandwidth than other LPWAN technologies. It also pro
vides an open standard.
• NB IoT, operating on narrowband, offers an appropriate LTE category for
low-bandwidth IoT devices. It takes advantage of the existing GSM and LTE
infrastructures to facilitate low bandwidth for IoT device communication.
• LTE-M is a part of Release 13 of the 3GPP standard, an improvement on the
bandwidth limitations of the NB IoT; it is aimed at reducing complexity in
device design and cost, and also lowering power consumption.
16.2.3.3 Cellular (3G/4G/5G) Networks
The well-established cellular network offers reliable, stable and secure broadband
communication, supporting audio, data and video. Its major limitation is the high
operational cost. While these networks may not be viable for IoT due to power
requirements, they fit better into applications like associated fleet management and
transport logistics.
16.2.3.4 ZigBee
By the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, ZigBee is a short-range, low-powered wireless IoT
technology generally organized in a mesh topology for extending the area of exposure
by relaying data over multiple sensor nodes. ZigBee provides higher data rates when
compared with LPWAN, but the mesh configuration poses a limitation to power-
efficiency. Due to its short physical range of less than 100 m, ZigBee is used for
nearby applications, such as in-home automation, security and energy management.
16.2.3.5 WiFi
It’s often used as a solution for large networks of battery-operated IoT sensors. It
can be used in industry, schools or homes. It finds application in a vast number
of domains, including smart buildings, home gadgets, security cameras, etc. The
following WiFi frequencies are used by IoT: 169, 433, 863–870, 2400 to 2483.5,
5150–5350 and 5470–5716 MHz (Zhao and Johnson, 2021).
16.2.3.6 Bluetooth
As a short-range technology, it finds application in the personal area network. It is
used in wearable devices like health and fitness monitoring devices. BLE-enabled
devices are generally utilized in combination with electronic devices, mainly smart
phones that help as a centre for transmitting data to the cloud.
Behr et al. (2020) provide a graphic summary of the application areas of the vari
ous IoT connectivity technologies in Figure 16.5.