Part of An introduction to Internet of Things in health
Appendix B: Expanded connectivity technology table
This section contains an expand list of connectivity technology capabilities, including those already detailed in the IoT connectivity technologies section for comparison.
| Technology | Range | Indoors / outdoors | Device power consumption | Data rates | Typical health use cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) | Up to 20 metres | Indoors | Very low | 125Kbps to 2Mbps | RTLS asset tags, patient monitoring, fitness trackers, health monitors |
| Long Term Evolution - Machine Connection (LTE-M) | 5 kilometres | Both | Low | 1Mbps | Asset tracking, patient health monitoring |
| Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) | Up to 10 kilometres | Outdoors | Very low | Up to 250Kbps | Remote and mobile health monitors, wide geographic asset tracking |
| Radio-frequency identification (RFID) | 1 centimetre to 5 metres | Indoors | Passive (no power) | Instant trigger | Asset tracking, inventory management, patient monitoring |
| Ultra-wideband (UWB) | Up to 200 metres | Indoors | Low | 27Mbps | High accuracy, real-time asset tracking, health monitoring, security systems |
| Wi-Fi | Up to 50 metres | Indoors | High | 10Mbps to 2Gbps | Medical imaging |
| Zigbee | Up to 50 metres | Indoors | Very low | 250Kbps | Smart lighting, healthcare sensor networks |
| 5G | Up to 10 kilometres | Outdoors | Moderate to high | Up to 10Gbps | Autonomous vehicles, smart cities, healthcare, high-speed IoT |
| 6LoWPAN | Approximately 200 metres | Both | Very low | 200Kbps | Medical devices, health monitors |
| Bluetooth | Up to 100 metres | Local | Moderate | 1 to 3Mbps | Wearables, virtual ward healthcare devices, smart home health devices |
| EnOcean | Up to 30 metres | Indoors | Harvested energy | Up to 125Kbps | Building automation, smart lighting |
| LoRaWAN | Up to 15 kilometres | Outdoors | Very low | 0.3Kbps to 50Kbps | Environmental health monitoring |
| NFC | 10 centimtres or less | Local | Passive (no power) | 100 to 500Kbps | Contactless payments, access control, healthcare authentication |
| SigFox | Up to 10 kilometres | Outdoors | Very low | 100 to 600Bps | Asset tracking, environmental sensors |
| Thread | 100 feet | Indoors | Low | 250Kbps | Asset tracking, environmental sensors, health monitors |
Explanation of characteristics
- range - the typical distance over which the technology can transmit data
- power consumption - the level of energy required by the technology. Lower power technologies are more suited for battery-powered IoT devices
- data rate - how fast data can be transmitted, with higher rates supporting more data-intensive applications
- indoors / outdoors - denotes typical use case scenario, although those marked as ‘local’ need to be close to the receiving device, which itself may be portable
- typical use cases - highlights the most common IoT applications for each technology, based on its characteristics
All of the characteristics are widely variable based on application, environment and configuration, although included for guidance purposes.
Last edited: 26 February 2025 10:36 am