Analyzing Layer 3 Information In IoT Networks

Different Protocols Used for Connecting IoT Devices

a) There are diverse types of IoT devices that utilizes the embedded computing system for the connecting and exchanging data with each other. The IoT devices finds its application in different network such as smart home network, smart transportation network, waste management, etc. It can be used for remotely controlling the current network framework and thus can be integrated with physical world for increasing the flexibility, accuracy and add economic benefit to the humans. The IoT devices can be used in medical, automobile and other industry for collection of collection of data and use the data foe different operations.

The IoT evolved from the convergence of internet and multiple technologies together that includes the machine learning, embedded systems, analytics in real time, etc. The IoT devices can be used for optimizing the energy consumption for balancing the usage of the power supply and power generation. Different power related information can be gathered from different fields and can be applied for the automation of the system and reduce the effort of the humans.

The report is prepared discussing the different protocols, standards and the addressing scheme used for connecting the IoT devices over the internet. Different network models are compared with each other for application of IoT in different field of the network.

1. b) There are different communication protocols used in IoT and some of them are listed below:

Zigbee –

It is quite similar with the Bluetooth and mostly used in industrial environment. It is based on the IEEE802.15.4 protocol that operates at a frequency of 2.4 Ghz. The main target of the application of ZigBee is to connect the devices that transfer data infrequently over a short range of 100 meters. The security of ZigBee is higher and is highly scalable due to its robust nature.

Thread –

It is a new IPV6 based protocol that is used for home automation and it is based on the 6LowPAN and completely different from the Bluetooth and Zigbee. The protocol is based on the different standards of IEEE802.15.4 and it is designed for working on IEEE802.15.4 silicon chips from different vendors. Mesh networking environment is supported by Thread utilizing IEEE802.15.4 radio trans receiver. It can alos support upto 250 nodes with encryption and authentication. It operates at a frequency of 2.4 Ghz.  

WiFi-

802.11n standard is used in most of the WiFi that support 100 mpbs data rate and it enough for transferring files and data in a network. The 802.11n standard can be power consuming for the IoT network. The minimum range of wifi is 60 meters and it can operate in different frequencies such as 2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz. The data transfer rate dpends on the frequency of the channel and the number of antennas of the wireless access point.

Challenges with IPv4 Address Limitation

2.5

1. c) Ipv6 is a replacement of the IPv4 addressing scheme and it is important for IoT due to the following advantages:
2. Security –

IPv6 have the advantage to run end to end encryption and it can be used as a standard for the virtual private network. The integrity checking is simple and it is supported for most of the devices. It can also be used for secure name resolution by sending a neighbour discovery protocol in the network in encrypted format (Chen and Liao 2017). This makes poisoning of the ARP protocol and secures the network from name based attack. In Ipv4 the redirection of traffic by the hacker is a difficult task.

1. Scalability –

With the growth of the internet it is expected that there would be 25 billion devices connected with the internet within the year 2020. The IPv4 would be unable to accommodate the growth and thus IpV6 addressing is required to be used because it have the support for accommodating more than trillion of new devices in a network.

1. Connect ability –

Billions of new IoT devices are entering the market ever year and for the connect ability the Ipv4 address faces few difficulty such as network address translation. The network address translation is used in IPv4 address for allowing the users of a work place to use the same IP address in different devices and fields (Putri and Sucahyo 2016). This reduces the security of the network and causes problem for the IoT devices for communicating with each other. The application of the IPv6 address resolves the problem and allocated uniquely identifiable IP address to all the IoT devices in the network.

1. d) There are different types of wireless connection used for connecting the IoT devices in a network and are given below:

IEEE 802.16 – WiMAX

It uses the microwave waves for transmission of data packets in the network. The technology is utilized by the mobile companies for providing wireless data to its consumers (Ya’acob et al. 2014). The WiMAX is used or long distance communication of the IoT devices and can be used for indoor and outdoor conditions.

IEEE 802.15.1 – Bluetooth

It is a wireless transmission technology used for short distance communication between two devices. It finds its application in the home speaker system, remote control, smart watch, fitness tracker, etc. It can transmit data without compromising the battery life of the device. It uses the UHF radio waves for transferring data between the devices.

IEEE 802.11 – Wi-Fi

It utilizes radio waves for transmission of the data packets between the IoT devices connected in the network. WiFi can use both the 2.4 and the 5 ghz radio bands for transmission. The 2.4 Ghz band is susceptible to interference because this band is used by many other devices like cordless phones, Bluetooth or microwave ovens. Wi Fi is mostly used for connecting the wireless routers with the devices like tablets, smartphones and computers, but it can also be used for connecting different IoT hardware devices (Lauridsen et al.  2017).

Analyzing Layer 3 Information in IoT Networks

IEEE 802.15.4 – ZigBee

It is a wireless technology that is designed for application in M2M network framework. It requires less power and is an ideal solution for the IoT applications. The duty cycle and the latency of the network is low thus it helps in better battery life of the IoT device. It can be applied in te mesh network with 128 bit encryption. 2

1. e) Comparison of Sigfox with other networks such as LoRaWAN and RPMA

LoRaWAN –

A physical layer chip is utilized that enables transmission of the data generated from the IoT devices in the network

RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) –

Silicon technology is utilized in the RPMA for communication

SigFox –

It utilizes slow modulation rate for searching devices installed in a long range

Devices Used

LoRaWAN –  

It is used for the devices that runs on low power mode such as battery and that communicates less frequently with the other IoT devices installed in the network.

RPMA –

It is best for all types of IoT devices and it operates in different workplace such as traffic monitoring, air quality monitoring, environmental monitoring, etc.

SigFox –

It finds its application in smart network such as in parking sensors for smart parking, level indicators for smart dustbins or water meters.

LoRaWAN –

It does not founds its application in bounded network where bounded hitter and low latency are required for the proper operation of the IoT devices installed in the network.

RPMA –

No limitations found for the RPMA comparing it with the LoRaWAN and SigFox

SigFox –

The downlink competency of SigFox is unlimited and an inference of the signal can be caused from other mediums such as power sources and other wireless network (Barrachina et al. 2016).

Range

 LoRaWAN –

It operate at a range of upto 15 km in rural area and 2 to 5 km in urban area

RPMA –

SigFox –

It operate at a range of upto 30 to 50 km in rural area and 3 to 10 km in urban area 4

From the above report it can be concluded that with the inclusion of IoT in different field of the network the effort of the human can be reduced. The structure of the framework used in IoT is complex and similar with the distributed computing environment. It can be used for data logging and it provides a platform for the development of real time network solution. There are different technical standards and protocols used for communication with the different IoT devices installed in the network. There are problems regarding the installation of the IoT devices in the network such as addressability, where the IPv4 address faces limitation for providing address to a large scale of IoT devices. For the accommodation of the IoT devices a large address space is required and it is resolved with the application of IPv6 and enabling auto configuration for allocating IP address automatically to each of the IoT devices connected in the network. The IoT devices also finds its application in the short range wireless devices, medium range wireless networks, long range and wired network. The security of the IoT framework should be strong and government regulations are applied for improve the data security of the IoT network. 2

References

Barrachina, S., Bellalta, B., Adame, T. and Bel, A., 2016. Multi-hop Communication in the Uplink for LPWANs. arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.08703.

Chen, Y.S. and Liao, S.Y., 2017. A Framework for Supporting Application Level Interoperability between IPv4 and IPv6. In Advances in Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing: Proceeding of the Twelfth International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing, Nov., 21-23, 2016, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Volume 1 (pp. 271-278). Springer International Publishing.

Lauridsen, M., Vejlgaard, B., Kovács, I.Z., Nguyen, H. and Mogensen, P., 2017, March. Interference measurements in the European 868 MHz ISM band with focus on LoRa and SigFox. In Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), 2017 IEEE (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Putri, M.K. and Sucahyo, Y.G., 2016, October. Factors analysis that affecting the user acceptance towards IPv6 transition. In Advanced Computer Science and Information Systems (ICACSIS), 2016 International Conference on (pp. 97-102). IEEE.

Ya’acob, N., Goon, M.M.M.E., Noor, M.Z.H., Yusof, A.L. and Idris, A., 2014, September. RFID (NFC) application employment on inventory tracking to improve security. In Wireless Technology and Applications (ISWTA), 2014 IEEE Symposium on (pp. 176-181). IEEE. 1