Ad Code

IoT NETWORKING CONSIDERATIONS AND CHALLENGES

 

IoT NETWORKING CONSIDERATIONS AND CHALLENGES

IoT connectivity challenges, such as scalability and compatibility, complicate deployments, so IT admins must plan for the infrastructure needed to support IoT initiatives. In this digital world where technology has changed everything. Technology has made many impossible things possible. Touch of technology has turned the world into a magic world and the Internet of Things (IoT) is nothing but one of the greatest gifts of advanced technology which is one of the most demanding and popular technologies in the current situation. It has transformed the world to a new level.

This Internet of Things (IoT) technology has a great hand in making everything connected and automatic. Connection, Communication, and Automation have changed human life by making it more comfortable. Application area of IoT covers most the parts starting from personal life to professional life, business to the defense sector, education to the medical sector, agriculture to the airline, etc. But nowadays also IoT is facing a lot of challenges may be technical, implementation, management, security, etc and among them, Connectivity is one of the important challenges in the Internet of things.

In IoT, digital devices are connected and communicate with each other through the internet, and in small networks and for a couple of devices connectivity is seamless. But when IoT is deployed on a global scale and several devices and sensors connect and communicate then connectivity issues arise. And also the internet is not just only a network it includes heterogeneous networks having cell towers, slow connectivity, fast connectivity, proxy servers, firewalls, and different companies with different standards and technologies all things that can disrupt connectivity. Connectivity is treated as one of the important components of IoT as data transportation depends upon good connectivity. So now let's analyze factors for which challenges arise in connectivity in IoT technology.

When you consider which networking technologies to adopt within your IoT application, be mindful of the following constraints:

  • Range
  • Bandwidth
  • Power usage
  • Intermittent connectivity
  • Interoperability
  • Security

Range

Networks can be described in terms of the distances over which data is typically transmitted by the IoT devices attached to the network:

PAN(PersonalAreaNetwork)

PAN is short-range, where distances can be measured in meters, such as a wearable fitness tracker device that communicates with an app on a cell phone over BLE.

LAN(local area network)

LAN is short- to medium-range, where distances can be up to hundreds of meters, such as home automation or sensors that are installed within a factory production line that communicate over wifi with a gateway device that is installed within the same building.

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

MAN is long-range (city-wide), where distances are measured up to a few kilometers, such as smart parking sensors installed throughout a city that are connected in a mesh network topology.

WAN (Wide Area Network)

WAN is long-range, where distances can be measured in kilometers, such as agricultural sensors that are installed across a large farm or ranch that are used to monitor micro-climate environmental conditions across the property.

Your network should retrieve data from the IoT devices and transmit it to its intended destination. Selecting a network protocol that matches the range is required. For example, do not choose BLE for a WAN application to operate over a range of several kilometers. If transmitting data over the required range presents a challenge, consider edge computing. Edge computing analyzes data directly from the devices rather than from a distant data center or elsewhere.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transmitted per unit of time. It limits the rate at which data can be collected from IoT devices and transmitted upstream. Bandwidth is affected by many factors, which include:

The volume of data each device gathers and transmits

The number of devices deployed

Whether data is being sent as a constant stream or in intermittent bursts, and if any peak periods are notable

The packet size of the networking protocol should match up with the volume of data typically transmitted. It is inefficient to send packets padded with empty data. In contrast, there are overheads in splitting larger chunks of data up across too many small packets. Data transmission rates are not always symmetrical (that is, upload rates might be slower than download rates). So, if there is two-way communication between devices, data transmission needs to be factored in. Wireless and cellular networks traditionally have low bandwidth, so consider whether wireless technology is the right choice for high-volume applications.

Consider whether all raw data must be transmitted. A possible solution is to capture fewer data by sampling less frequently. Thus, you’ll capture fewer variables and may filter data from the device to drop insignificant data. If you aggregate the data before you transmit it, you reduce the volume of data transmitted. But this process affects flexibility and granularity in the upstream analysis. Aggregation and bursting are not always suitable for time-sensitive or latency-sensitive data. All of these techniques increase the data processing and storage requirements for the IoT device.

Power usage

Transmitting data from a device consumes power. Transmitting data over long ranges requires more power than over a short range. You must consider the power source – such as a battery, solar cell, or capacitor – of a device and its total lifecycle. A long and enduring lifecycle will not only provide greater reliability but reduce operating costs.

Steps may be taken to help achieve longer power supply lifecycles. For example, to prolong the battery life, you can put the device into sleep mode whenever it is idle. Another best practice is to model the energy consumption of the device under different loads and different network conditions to ensure that the device’s power supply and storage capacity matches the power that is required to transmit the necessary data by using the networking technologies that you adopted.

Intermittent connectivity

IoT devices aren’t always connected. In some cases, devices are designed to connect periodically. However, sometimes an unreliable network might cause devices to drop off due to connectivity issues. Sometimes the quality of service issues, such as dealing with interference or channel contention on a wireless network using a shared spectrum. Designs should incorporate intermittent connectivity and seek any available solutions to provide uninterrupted service, should that be a critical factor for IoT landscape design. 

Interoperability

Devices work with other devices, equipment, systems, and technology; they are interoperable. With so many different devices connecting to the IoT, interoperability can be a challenge. Adopting standard protocols has been a traditional approach to maintaining interoperability on the Internet. Standards are agreed upon by industry participants and avoid multiple different designs and directions. With proper standards and participants who agree to them, incompatibility issues, hence interoperability issues may be avoided.

However, for the IoT, standardization processes sometimes struggle to keep up with innovation and change. They are written and released based on upcoming versions of standards that are still subject to change. Consider the ecosystem around the technologies: Are they widely adopted? Are they open versus proprietary? How many implementations are available? Using these questions to plan your IoT networks help plan better interoperability for a more robust IoT network.

Security

Security is a priority. The selection of networking technologies that implement end-to-end security, including authentication, encryption, and open port protection is crucial. IEEE 802.15.4 includes a security model that provides security features that include access control, message integrity, message confidentiality, and replay protection, which are implemented by technologies based on this standard such as ZigBee.

Consider the following factors in shaping a secure and safe IoT network:  Authentication Adopt secure protocols to support authentication for devices, gateways, users, services, and applications. Consider using adopting the X.509 standard for device authentication.  Encryption If you are using wifi, use Wireless Protected Access 2 (WPA2) for wireless network encryption. You may also adopt a Private Pre-Shared Key (PPSK) approach.

To ensure privacy and data integrity for communication between applications, be sure to adopt TLS or Datagram Transport-Layer Security (DTLS), which is based on TLS, but adapted for unreliable connections that run over UDP. TLS encrypts application data and ensures its integrity.  Port protection ensures that only the ports required for communication with the gateway or upstream applications or services remain open to external connections. All other ports should be disabled or protected by firewalls. Device ports might be exposed when exploiting Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) vulnerabilities. Thus, UPnP should be disabled on the router

'Acharya Ramchandra Shukla' was born in 1884 in a village named Agona in Basti district, Uttar Pradesh, India. His father Pt. Chandrawali Shukla was a Sarayuparin Brahmin. He was a supervisor Kanungo and biased of Urdu. Shuklji had studied till the Intermediate. After this, he did the job. Then he left the job and became a teacher. He started writing in Hindi from his student life. Impressed by Shuklaji's ability, Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Kashi called him to work in the Hindi literature. Shuklaji was appointed Hindi teacher in Hindu University and later became the Head of Hindi Department. He died in 1941 AD. Following are the major compositions of Acharya Ramchandra Shukla- 'Charan Vinod', 'Radhakrishna Das', 'Chintamani Triveni', 'Surdas', 'Ras Mimamsa', 'History of Hindi literature' etc. He edited 'Bhramar Geetasar', 'Bharatendu Sahitya', 'Tulsi Granthavali' and 'Jayasi Granthavali'. The talent of Acharya Ramchandra Shukla Ji was multi-faceted. He was a great essayist, critic and thinker. He is considered the first basic critic of Hindi. His history of Hindi literature is considered to be superior in history. Acharya Ramchandra Shukla was the pride of Hindi. Full name of 'Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam' was 'Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam'. He was born on October 15, 1931 at Dhanushkothi in the temple town Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. He was born in a poor family, but he was an exceptionally brilliant child. Kalam passed the B.Sc. examination from Saint Joseph College, Thiruchirapalli. He joined Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). His further knowledge in the field got upgraded when he joined Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in 1958 and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 1963. He is known as the Missile Man of India. The various Indian Missiles of world order like Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Agni, etc. are mainly the result of his efforts and caliber. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam became the 11th President of India. He served the country from 2002 to 2007. For his excellence and brilliance, he was awarded the prestigious Bharat Ratna in 1998; Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and Padma Bhushan in 1981. Dr Kalam expired on Monday 27 July 2015. He suddenly fell unconscious when he was delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management at Shillong. On 30 July 2015, the former President was laid to rest at Rameswaram's Pei Karumbu Ground with full state honours. Over 350,000 people attended the last rites, including the Prime Minister, the governor of Tamil Nadu and the chief ministers of Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was mainly interested in work. He was a bachelor. He was not interested in going abroad. He wanted to serve his motherland first. He said that he thinks his first and foremost duty is to serve his motherland. He was fond of music and the Koran and the Gita. Ever since becoming the head of the Indian State, he had been having interaction with children all over the country. He was by no means a miracle man. His advice to the youngster of the nation was to "dream dream and convert these into thoughts and later into actions".
Close Menu