Emerging Wireless Technologies in the Internet of Things: a Comparative Study

The Internet of Things (IoT) incorporates multiple long-range, short-range, and personal area wireless networks and technologies into the designs of IoT applications. This enables numerous business opportunities in fields as diverse as e-health, smart cities, smart homes, among many others. This research analyses some of the major evolving and enabling wireless technologies in the IoT. Particularly, it focuses on ZigBee, 6LoWPAN, Bluetooth Low Energy, LoRa, and the different versions of Wi-Fi including the recent IEEE 802.11ah protocol. The studies evaluate the capabilities and behaviours of these technologies regarding various metrics including the data range and rate, network size, RF Channels and Bandwidth, and power consumption. It is concluded that there is a need to develop a multifaceted technology approach to enable interoperable and secure communications in the IoT.