Top 10 Most Popular IoT Protocols In The Market Right Now

ByKotai Electronics

What is an IoT protocol? In simpler terms, IoT protocols are a number of procedures or sets of rules that decides how data will be transmitted between two devices generally those two computers there are many protocols each of them works differently than others on how any data will be structured how it will be sent between devices and it will be received. There are basically 11 types of protocols for IoT

IoT protocols list
  • Bluetooth
  • 6LowPAN
  • Zigbee
  • Z-Wave
  • WiFi
  • Cellular
  • Thread
  • NFC
  • Neul
  • LoRaWAN

Bluetooth

top IoT protocol

It is one of the first wireless connections that was ever introduced back in the 90s. The name came from a Norse kind Harold Bluetooth. Today it’s one of the most important short-range communication technology. It’s almost everywhere today from speakers to computers to headphones to everywhere. Who knew it will be the making the wearable technologies a thing when it came. The modern alternative of traditional Bluetooth which came as Bluetooth-LowEnergy consumes less power which is marking the way for future inventions as it offers a similar range and less power consumption.

It suggests that in the future this technology which is better known as Bluetooth-Smart will be used more and more in the area of the connected devices so its one of its main protocols of it. However, it cants properly transfer large size of data instead they are capable for effectively transferring small chunks of data. One of the reasons why it’s preferable for connected devices that are for more personal uses like headphones and fitness bands is the reliability of this protocol in shorter distances over other options.

After the arrival of Bluetooth 4.2, it is capable of making smart sensors connect to the internet 6LoWPAN connectivity (more on this below).

6LoWPAN

6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks), is a low-power wireless mesh network where every node has its own IPv6 address. This allows the node to connect directly with the Internet using open standards. It is a completely IP-based technology 6LowPAN (IPv6 Low-power Wireless Personal Area Network). It is not an IoT application protocols technology like Bluetooth or ZigBee, 6LowPAN is a network protocol that defines encapsulation and header compression mechanisms.

ZigBee

Just like Bluetooth, it has a large installed base of functions. Whenever we talk about IoT Development ZigBee has to come to mind. Traditionally though ZigBee PRO and ZigBee Control were vastly used in large industries as it offers wireless connections in the 2.4GHz range. As industrial technologies require less frequent data transfer. Industrial Equipements also works behind many walls and barricades, where the signal needs to pass through many obstacles, and also the factory working area is mostly restricted small area secluded from others. So the signal area of 100 meters is enough for it.

ZigBee transfers data at low rates which are capable of doing all that in low power consumption and a highly secure way. It’s also more robust than other IoT protocols in terms of scalability. Connecting it to sensors in the IoT hardware is also a breeze. The latest version of ZigBee is the 3.0 version. Here all the previous wireless standards from ZigBee have come together into one standard.

Z-Wave

Its a kind of radio frequency that is used for IoT devices that are used for home automation. This IoT protocol is used in things like lamp controllers and sensors among many others. It is designed for reliability and zero-latency. It breaks the data into small packets of 100kbit/s. Its fully functional under sub-1GHz bandwidth.

The specialty of this is that it cant be disrupted by the interference of Bluetooth and Zigbee connections. It supports full mesh topology and it’s super scalable. It’s also easier to develop than other IoT protocols. The only downside of this is that it needs a special chip that is only built by one company named “Sigma Designs”

WiFi

Even if you are living under a rock you would know what WiFi is. It’s one of the most popular choices of IoT protocols when developing IoT solutions. As wifi offers a wide range of connectivity options within the home environment any developer fall for it. It’s fast and can handle large amounts of data. Current Gen, the WiFi standard that is mostly used is 802.22n capable of transferring hundreds of megabits per second. Though it consumes so much power for doing that Here at Kotai Electronics we offer Wifi enabled IoT solutions that can offer a significantly balanced outcome without taking a hit on performance.

Cellular

All the previous data transfer options were fine for transferring data over a short distance but for sending data over a long distance we need something cellular network. For cellular data transfer, we have options like GSM/3G/4G. We all know that cellular data that is also used in smartphones are capable of sending high-quality data over long distances. We also know how expensive internet charges are. However, while sending data of sensor-based low bandwidth the data transfer is also low so the cost of it doesn’t bother much while developing.

Recently we have developed a soil characteristics measuring IoT device for Efrac Ltd that uses cellular technology for transferring data. If you are also looking for a similar IoT-enabled device you are most welcome to check our service page.

Thread

In order to make future inventions in home automation, this is a recently introduced IP-Based networking protocol. It’s based on 6LowPAN. So quite naturally it’s not like IoT application protocols like Bluetooth and ZigBee. It was introduced to be used as a complement to the WiFi. While the Wifi was doing just fine but it has limitations like security and range limitations. In the home automation setup.

In order to perform a home automation setup using this IoT instead of WiFi with limitations in 2014 Thread was introduced. It’s a completely royalty-free IoT Protocol.

A very new IP-based IPv6 networking protocol aimed at the home automation environment is Thread. Based on 6LowPAN, and also like it, it is not an IoT applications protocol like Bluetooth or ZigBee. However, from an application point of view, it is primarily designed as a complement to WiFi as it recognizes that while WiFi is good for many consumer devices that it has limitations for use in a home automation setup.

Designed to work on existing IEEE802.15.4 wireless silicon from chip vendors such as Freescale and Silicon Labs, Thread supports a mesh network using IEEE802.15.4 radio transceivers and is capable of handling up to 250 nodes with high levels of authentication and encryption. A relatively simple software upgrade should allow users to run a thread on existing IEEE802.15.4-enabled devices.

NFC

NFC stands for Near Field Communication as the name suggests it enables simple two-way interactions between electronic devices in a very short distance they are specially used in smartphones for scanning for a short distance of around 4 cm to perform a contactless payment or access other digital content just with a wave. Its also another IoT protocol that is getting popular after the pandemic.

Neul

Neil works at the sub-GHz level and leverages very small slices of the TV White Space spectrum to deliver high scalability, high coverage, low power, and low-cost wireless networks. This IoT protocol is based on Iceni Chip that communicates white space radio to access the high-quality UHF spectrum, now available due to the analog to digital TV transition. Connections done by Neul is called weightless technology. In order to compete against GPRS, 3G, CDMA, and LTE WAN solutions it was created with the power to support a wide area of wireless technologies it only 2 AA size batteries it can send data ranging from a few bits per second to 100 Kbps.

LoRaWAN

LoRaWAN targets wide-area network (WAN) applications just like WiFi but it’s specially built to support low-cost mobile devices. t supports bi-directional communication in IoT, M2M, and smart city and industrial applications. It was purposefully designed to work with low power consumption and to support large networks with millions of devices.

best IoT protocol

Conclusion

There have been many protocols that came and dominated the market and then disappeared without a trace as soon as the next technology came. The IoT protocols list is given above are more versatile than those we used in the past. These protocols have so many wide-range of usage across many platforms that its quite hard to make them off-balance in today’s market. So there is quite a big chance that they will stay and dominate the IoT market for now.

These are not the only IoT protocols but they are surely the most popular ones. Which one of these protocols did you like the most comment down below. For now, hope you like our content, and please share if you find it useful.

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