Other technologies

As more devices become 'smart' there is an increasing demand to be able to connect to a network. Most of these devices don't need to transfer a lot of information but are expected to be in an 'always on' mode or can 'wake up' when sent a control signal. 

As this is still a new and emerging technology, there are a number of competing standards, with the most common ones below. As these technologies evolve it can be anticipated that the number of competing connectivity options will decrease, as the technology moves towards standardisation of capability for the most common use cases and connectivity requirements.

The 6 in 6LoWPAN refers to the Internet Protocol (IP) version 6, or IPV6, and LoWPAN is Low-power Wireless Personal Area Network. 

This is a competitor to Zigbee with the main difference being that 6LoWPAN uses the existing Internet Protocol (IP) standards for connection. It is currently used for the same type of devices and applications as Zigbee and also uses the unlicensed 868MHz along with 2.4GHz frequencies in the UK.

This is a wireless standard which operates in the unlicensed 860MHz range, giving it good in building penetration. One of the benefits of this standard is the way that connected devices are powered. 

For devices to connect to any wireless network they will need power, and this usually comes in the form of a battery. With EnOcean there is the ability for energy harvesting, where power for a device is obtained wirelessly or harvested from the EnOcean system. This can remove the need for the device to have its own battery. 

However, at present only small amounts of power can be harvested, limiting the complexity of devices that  connect without a battery.

LTE-M is a subset of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard and can be seen as a competitor of NB-IoT.  This standard gives much better data transfer rate but at the expense of a greater power consumption, meaning connected devices will use more power and may need bigger batteries or more frequent charging.

Long-Range Wide Area Network. This is a wide area connection that can support connectivity over distances of up to 6 miles.  It is owned and provided by Semtech and has some coverage in the UK.

It’s low power consumption means that battery life on devices can be good. The primary market for LoRaWan to date has been for outdoor “smart”/IoT devices such as smart street lighting and pollution monitoring, along with asset tracking. LoRaWan uses the unlicensed 868MHz ranges in the UK.

NB-IoT is also part of the LTE standard but works in a very limited, narrow, bandwidth range.  Its design objects were built around improving inbuilding coverage, lower power and the ability to connect many devices.

This standard is owned by UnaBiz. The design goals of this standard are for the connection of devices over a larger distance, which can be up to several miles.  SigFox can be seen as a competitor to LoRaWan and as it is privately owned any manufacturer wishing to use this standard may have to pay royalties to do so.

This is a standard for connecting devices, especially smart home devices or building management systems.  It is a competitor of Zigbee and is built around IP standards making it easier for device manufacturers to connect.

One of the limitations of using radio to transmit data is having to adhere to regulations and standards around use of radio frequency bands. 

Ultra-Wide Band is a newer technology that can use a much wider part of its allocated radio band, and as such suffers less from congestion and interference. UWB can only be used for short range communications but is ideally suited for certain applications such as asset tracking and can track to an accuracy within centimetres. UWB is most commonly used in the 6 to 8GHz frequency ranges.

Zigbee is a product name for a type of short-range radio network, similar to Bluetooth Low Energy. Zigbee has been developed mainly for the connection of “smart”/ IoT devices and as such can support around 65,000 devices, significantly more than the current capability of BLE. 

Zigbee is most commonly seen within home automation networks that smart lights/heating and other sensors use, as well as some smart meters.  It uses the unlicensed 868MHz along with 2.4GHz frequencies in the UK