IoT Applications

IoT Applications

What is IoT?

IoT is essentially a platform where embedded devices with a level of digital intelligence are connected to the internet, so they can collect and exchange data with each other without a human being involved, effectively merging the digital and physical worlds.

India is fast growing into a strong global IoT hub. By the end of 2020, there were ~200 million ‘connected devices’ in the country, there are various technologies for large-scale IoT deployment one technology cannot equally serve all IoT applications.

Available Technologies for devise communication:

1)   RF : 2.4 Ghz. unlicensed IoT bands 

1. 2)   LoRa technology : 865-867 MHz unlicensed IoT bands 

3)   Narrowband IoT or NB-IoT. : 900 MHz band (licensed) is generally used.

The main variation between solution options is how information is wirelessly communicated by the devices to the management system and vice versa.

 Some of the application will be popular in future are:

1)   Smart Street Light Control System

2)   Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)

3)   Manufacturing automation

4)   Smart building & Campus

5)   Smart Parking

Smart Street light is one such application which started gaining momentum, and most of the companies are eyeing this segment, as controllers on each Street light across the city creates the back bone of communication.

Similar to this is the electric metering market, companies typically require frequent communication, low latency, and high data rate Typically, they require neither low energy consumption nor long battery life time as electric meters have continuous power source.

Moreover, companies need real-time monitoring to make immediate decisions, e.g., load, outages and interruptions.

 Challenges:

IoT and its Current Challenges

1.   Identification and Authentication of Technologies

2.   Integration of IoT Products with IoT Platforms and Interoperability

3     Connectivity

The growth of IoT in India will also be fueled by the network coverage capabilities of the technology.

Other Challenges:

Infra related challenges: Unconditioned power supply, High Voltage/ Low voltage.

Interference: Interference of other equipment like Wi-Fi tower.

What are Customer expectation?

While going for any IoT automation, the Smart City or Municipal Corporation are expecting following level of performance from the Services offered:

1)   Real time or near real time data: within 15 Minutes.

2)   Energy Saving Calculation – Metering - as more projects are coming in ESCO Mode.

3)   Fault notification on immediate basis.

So which is the best network for your IoT project.

RF Network Advantage:

The self-healing nature of the mesh network ensures the control nodes are always on the network

No per node cellular data charges

The devices update sensed data a few times per hour

Lora Network Advantage:

They do not require quality of service or frequent communication, therefore Sigfox and LoRa are a better fit for this class of applications.

Lower-cost device, with very long range (high coverage), infrequent communication rate, and very long battery lifetime

Cellular IOT/ NBIOT Advantage:

Apart from the ease of bandwidth availability, NB-IoT ensures minimal interferences, excellent battery performance, and general ease of usage

NB-IoT will serve the higher-value IoT markets that are willing to pay for very low latency and high quality of service.

The growth of NB-IoT in India will also be fueled by the network coverage capabilities of the technology.

Conclusion

Each technology will have its place in the IoT market, there is no one single IoT connectivity method that’s preferred and this is primarily due to the vast range of different applications that are needed to cater for industry.

A hybrid network is able to apply the correct connectivity to the correct job it’s the versatility of hybrid IoT configurations that mean they will likely be the preferred option going forwards

Henceforth, the winning communication protocol really depends on your goals and your clearly defined use-case.