1,007 research outputs found
Long-Range Communications in Unlicensed Bands: the Rising Stars in the IoT and Smart City Scenarios
Connectivity is probably the most basic building block of the Internet of
Things (IoT) paradigm. Up to know, the two main approaches to provide data
access to the \emph{things} have been based either on multi-hop mesh networks
using short-range communication technologies in the unlicensed spectrum, or on
long-range, legacy cellular technologies, mainly 2G/GSM, operating in the
corresponding licensed frequency bands. Recently, these reference models have
been challenged by a new type of wireless connectivity, characterized by
low-rate, long-range transmission technologies in the unlicensed sub-GHz
frequency bands, used to realize access networks with star topology which are
referred to a \emph{Low-Power Wide Area Networks} (LPWANs). In this paper, we
introduce this new approach to provide connectivity in the IoT scenario,
discussing its advantages over the established paradigms in terms of
efficiency, effectiveness, and architectural design, in particular for the
typical Smart Cities applications
Understanding the limits of LoRaWAN
The quick proliferation of LPWAN networks, being LoRaWAN one of the most
adopted, raised the interest of the industry, network operators and facilitated
the development of novel services based on large scale and simple network
structures. LoRaWAN brings the desired ubiquitous connectivity to enable most
of the outdoor IoT applications and its growth and quick adoption are real
proofs of that. Yet the technology has some limitations that need to be
understood in order to avoid over-use of the technology. In this article we aim
to provide an impartial overview of what are the limitations of such
technology, and in a comprehensive manner bring use case examples to show where
the limits are
Goodbye, ALOHA!
©2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The vision of the Internet of Things (IoT) to interconnect and Internet-connect everyday people, objects, and machines poses new challenges in the design of wireless communication networks. The design of medium access control (MAC) protocols has been traditionally an intense area of research due to their high impact on the overall performance of wireless communications. The majority of research activities in this field deal with different variations of protocols somehow based on ALOHA, either with or without listen before talk, i.e., carrier sensing multiple access. These protocols operate well under low traffic loads and low number of simultaneous devices. However, they suffer from congestion as the traffic load and the number of devices increase. For this reason, unless revisited, the MAC layer can become a bottleneck for the success of the IoT. In this paper, we provide an overview of the existing MAC solutions for the IoT, describing current limitations and envisioned challenges for the near future. Motivated by those, we identify a family of simple algorithms based on distributed queueing (DQ), which can operate for an infinite number of devices generating any traffic load and pattern. A description of the DQ mechanism is provided and most relevant existing studies of DQ applied in different scenarios are described in this paper. In addition, we provide a novel performance evaluation of DQ when applied for the IoT. Finally, a description of the very first demo of DQ for its use in the IoT is also included in this paper.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Throughput and range characterization of IEEE 802.11ah
The most essential part of Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure is the
wireless communication system that acts as a bridge for the delivery of data
and control messages. However, the existing wireless technologies lack the
ability to support a huge amount of data exchange from many battery driven
devices spread over a wide area. In order to support the IoT paradigm, the IEEE
802.11 standard committee is in process of introducing a new standard, called
IEEE 802.11ah. This is one of the most promising and appealing standards, which
aims to bridge the gap between traditional mobile networks and the demands of
the IoT. In this paper, we first discuss the main PHY and MAC layer amendments
proposed for IEEE 802.11ah. Furthermore, we investigate the operability of IEEE
802.11ah as a backhaul link to connect devices over a long range. Additionally,
we compare the aforementioned standard with previous notable IEEE 802.11
amendments (i.e. IEEE 802.11n and IEEE 802.11ac) in terms of throughput (with
and without frame aggregation) by utilizing the most robust modulation schemes.
The results show an improved performance of IEEE 802.11ah (in terms of power
received at long range while experiencing different packet error rates) as
compared to previous IEEE 802.11 standards.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 5 table
Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Communication Networks for the Maritime Internet of Things: Key Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges
With the rapid development of marine activities, there has been an increasing
number of maritime mobile terminals, as well as a growing demand for high-speed
and ultra-reliable maritime communications to keep them connected.
Traditionally, the maritime Internet of Things (IoT) is enabled by maritime
satellites. However, satellites are seriously restricted by their high latency
and relatively low data rate. As an alternative, shore & island-based base
stations (BSs) can be built to extend the coverage of terrestrial networks
using fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and beyond 5G services.
Unmanned aerial vehicles can also be exploited to serve as aerial maritime BSs.
Despite of all these approaches, there are still open issues for an efficient
maritime communication network (MCN). For example, due to the complicated
electromagnetic propagation environment, the limited geometrically available BS
sites, and rigorous service demands from mission-critical applications,
conventional communication and networking theories and methods should be
tailored for maritime scenarios. Towards this end, we provide a survey on the
demand for maritime communications, the state-of-the-art MCNs, and key
technologies for enhancing transmission efficiency, extending network coverage,
and provisioning maritime-specific services. Future challenges in developing an
environment-aware, service-driven, and integrated satellite-air-ground MCN to
be smart enough to utilize external auxiliary information, e.g., sea state and
atmosphere conditions, are also discussed
Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions
Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to
address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information
flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs
offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers,
involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems.
SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the
grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises
in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the
tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things
(IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the
generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by
incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as
well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such
devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG
systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes
of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues,
challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems
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