IoT data protocols/Session layer protocols

a. Message Queuing Telemetry Transport(MQTT)

MQTT is one of the prime IoT protocols. MQTT protocol is a type of IoT communication protocol
that is famous and is gaining popularity due to its transportation of messages through the
publish/subscribe messaging. It is lightweight and easily transfers data between two or more
machines.

Devices share information through a broker or server. Download the broker in your PC, MAC, Linux
system or in Raspberry pie. The most common brokers available in the market these days are
HIVEMQ and Mosquito.

MQTT is different to the regular client-server model. It divides clients into two groups. MQTT brokers
act as a mediator and pass on the messages from the clients(publishers in MQTT) to the consumers
who receive data on the other end(MQTT subscriber).

Base stations such as LPWAN receive messages from a sensor. The base station publishes the
message on the MQTT broker. The broker passes on or forwards the message through the TCP/IP
protocols. Only those devices that subscribe to the given topic receive the messages.

Features of MQTT

Lightweight protocol suits best-constrained nodes

Assists publish/subscribe messaging

Reduces the size of data packets

OASIS standard protocol

Pros of MQTT

Flexible options to choose from for quality of service within functionality

Easy to act upon

Cons of MQTT

Lack of encryption

Uses high power due to the TCP connections

MQTT Use Cases

A parking space with sensors that can sense empty parking spots to guide vehicles in the
right direction.

Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)

CoAP is another promising protocol in the future of IoT. CoAP protocol transfers documents in a way
similar to HTTP, however, CoAPs design fulfills the needs of constrained nodes. The packets in CoAP
are much smaller in size when you compare it with HTTP TCP. CoAP operates through UDP. Clients
and servers retrieve information through Connectionless datagrams.CoAP permits UDP broadcast
and multicast to address.

Quick resultsCoAP also acts on the client/server model. Clients generate requests to servers and
servers in return transfer responses. Clients can GET, POST, DELETE and PUT the resources.

“Confirmable” and “non confirmable” are tags for request and response messages. Non-confirmable
messages come under the label “fire and forget”. CoAP assures similar data security methods
except that the data transfer takes place through UDP and not TLS.

Features of CoAP
Low power consumption

Ideal for constrained devices

Pros of CoAP
Uses DLTS for security

Quick device communication

Packet sizes are small

Cons of CoAP
Since it is a one to one protocol there is no broadcasting option

Can be unreliable

CoAP Use Cases

Smart homes, smart cities, smart grids etc

6LoWPAN
6 LoWPAN is a wireless technology that is a combination of the Ipv6 and LoWPAN. 6LoWPAN
connects small devices with less process abilities to send information wirelessly over an IoT protocol.
It ensures that small devices can connect to the Iot framework as well.

It is a request/response protocol, it takes in requests from clients and passes it to users who give
back a response.

6lowpan connects things to the cloud. Low power, IP-driven nodes and mesh network support
makes this technology a great support in the internet of things. 6lowpan is an acronym for IPv6 over
Low Power Wireless Personal Area Network. It is a low-power wireless mesh network where every
node has its IPv6 address allowing it to connect directly to the internet. Internet packets can be
carried efficiently within small link-layer frames.
6lowpan should be used with low-power networks with memory-constrained embedded devices. A
6lowpan system is formally made of many low-power nodes in a self-healing mesh form. This allows
free exchange of data with the help of an edge router that acts as a simple gateway for the rest of
the internet. Applications running on the nodes pass IP packets to the servers on the internet
without thinking about the edge router.

6LoWPAN Security measure

System security and device security is one of the major worries about the 6LoWPAN protocol.
Attacks on the security state of 6LoWPAN could cause a major destruction in the direct network of
the protocol. We obtain 6LoWPAN by combining two systems so there is a chance that the system
gets attacked from both sides. These attacks target the 6LoWPAN stack.

Properties of 6LoWPAN

Nano IP

IPv6 over low power wireless personal area network

Developed by the IETF(Internet engineering task force)

HyperText Transfer Protocol(HTTP)

The World Wide Web commonly communicates through the HTTP protocol.It supports web
browsers and server functionality. HTTP/1.1 is the most supportive version currently in use around
the globe.

WebSockets resolves a few issues involving HTTP. While using HTTP you can constantly request for
updates whereas with WebSocket you get real time updates continuously. Client-server model
communicates through the TCP connection. WebSocket fixes the latency issues in HTTPs request-
response model as it keeps a single, continuous open connection. WebSockets reduces large data
loads to the server.

Data Distribution Service (DDS)

DDS protocol acts as a bridge between databases and user applications in a network and hence it is a
middleware protocol. The protocol combines the parts of a system together. The protocol uses low
computing data, it is highly efficient and reliable and its architecture is extremely extensible.

Since DDS is a middleware software, its job is to provide effective communication and easy sharing
of data. It handles the tiring and confusing job of managing the communication paths and allows
developers to focus on building the applications.

DDS is a vital protocol whose main aim is M2M(machine-to-machine) communication. Data

exchange happens through the well-known publish-subscribe methodology. This protocol differs
from the above two protocols as it is brokerless. It serves high-quality QoS to the applications with
the help of multicasting. DDS protocols are developed from low-footprint devices to the cloud.

DDS is data-centric and is thus widely used in the internet of things technology since IoT
mainly involves the flow of data from one point to another. Data Centricity ensures that all
messages
include conceptual information and all applications require understanding the data that it receives.

Features of DDS

Designs structure supports real time systems

Publish/subscribe messaging

Direct connection of devices

Low overhead

Pros of DDS

Easy architecture that aids “auto-discovery” of new applications

Scalable and effective

Effectively uses transport bandwidth

Committed Data delivery

Cons of DDS

DDS has a heavyweight protocol and it becomes difficult to use in embedded systems

It consumes double the bandwidth as compared to MQTT

It is not possible to interface with web pages

Use Cases of DDS

Hospitals and healthcare, military and borders, wind farms, and tracking systems all use the DDS
protocol.

Extensible Messaging and presence protocol(XMPP)/Jabber

As the name suggests, XMPP protocol applies to long distance messaging due its scalability and
it involves human presence or human intervention. XMPP originates from XML, extensible
markup language and XML originates from HTML, a protocol used to create web pages. Both are
markup languages.

XMPP has a broad range of uses that can inter communicate with each other due to its extensibility.
It uses the standard internet communication protocol(ICP) and this makes it universally
communicable and it also communicates through HTTP. XMPP was created a long time ago and
further extensions in its development make it more accessible.

XMPP networks contain gateways to connect to other protocols. It is designed in such a way that it
supports instant message transfer through TCP link. This is highly useful in the internet of things
technology.

Features of XMPP
Extensible design

Open standards

Client/server architecture

Pros of XMPP

Labelling scheme to locate devices on the entire network easily

Cons of XMPP

End to end encryption not

possible Quality of service not

available

XMPP Use Cases

Smartphones can access a smart thermostat via the internet

A gaming console that allows gamers to message other gamers instantly.

IoT Communication Protocols

Bluetooth
Standard communication protocols help in unleashing the full potential of the internet of
things. More than one third of Iot devices contain bluetooth connectivity. Bluetooth is a
form of wireless technology used for device communication and to make personal area
networks(PANs). The latest version is the bluetooth5 and it has features such as high range,
speed and data broadcasting.

Bluetooth connects to devices with smaller distances and changes the device interaction. It
has some empowering features that support IoT devices. Bluetooth low energy(BLE)
supports devices that require less power and ideal for IoT enabled projects.

Zigbee
ZIgbee is a WLAN and a wireless technology that aims to support extremely low power
devices. It supports these kinds of devices and makes it possible to connect them to the
internet. It is an open global standard and works on IEEE 802.15.4 physical radio standards.

IoT devices do not require extra functionality and Zigbee is an ideal protocol for transferring
data from one communication point to another. Zigbee makes data flow easy. It is used to
send small amounts of data using very less power which is why it is used in machine to
machine communication(M2M) and IoT.
Bluetooth Low Energy
BLE is a bluetooth that uses less power. It is designed to support the internet of things. BLE
is energy efficient and offers better connectivity compared to other forms of technology
such as Zigbee or LoRa. BLU fits the need of data transfers as they are the only function that
takes place in Iot sensors. BLE is used in the making of smartwatches, medical devices,
fitness trackers, beacons and home automation devices. BLE consumes less power and has
less bandwidth.

Wifi
Wifi is a form of local area network for wireless communication. It is a better option for data
transfers as it easily fits into a variety of standards. It plays an important role in IoT
communication and intercommunication with other cellular networks such as bluetooth.
Wifi supports high bandwidth and low latency.

LPWAN
LPWAN stands for low power wide area network. It offers wireless communication between
devices that consume less amounts of power. It connects these devices to the internet to
send and receive messages from devices within the same network. Some examples of
LPWAN are sigfox and LoRa.

LoRaWAN
Low range wide area network or LoRaWAN is a wide area network protocol. It was
constructed to connect objects to the internet and to act as a mode of communication
between these objects. These objects could be home automation devices, smart cars,
thermostats and so on.

IoT Network Layer Protocols

RPL
RPL is a routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks. Low power and loss networks
are resource-constrained networks meaning based on the available resources the networks
adapt themselves. Routers are usually limited in terms of processing power, battery, and
memory, and their interconnects are characterized by unstable links with huge loss rates,
low data rates and low packet delivery rates.

RPL is a distance routing protocol. RPL mainly targets collection-based networks, where
nodes periodically send measurements to a collection point. The design of the protocol was
to be highly adaptive to network conditions and to provide alternate routes, whenever
default routes are inaccessible. RPL provides a mechanism to disseminate information over
the dynamically formed network topology. RPL can handle thousands of nodes.

IEEE 802.15.4
IEEE 802.15.4 is a low-cost, low-data-rate wireless access technology for devices that are
operated or work on batteries. This describes how low-rate wireless personal area networks
(LR-WPANs) function.

IEEE 802.15.4e:

802.15.4e for industrial applications and 802.15.4g for the smart utility networks (SUN)

The 802.15.4e improves the old standard by introducing mechanisms such as time slotted
access, multichannel communication and channel hopping.

IEEE 802.15.4e introduces the following general functional enhancements:

1. Low Energy (LE): This mechanism is intended for applications that can trade latency
for energy efficiency. It allows a node to operate with a very low duty cycle.
2. Information Elements (IE) It is an extensible mechanism to exchange information at
the MAC sublayer.

3. Enhanced Beacons (EB): Enhanced Beacons are an extension of the

802.15.4 beacon frames and provide a greater flexibility. They allow to create
application-specific frames.

4. Multipurpose Frame: This mechanism provides a flexible frame format that can
address a number of MAC operations. It is based on IEs.

5. MAC Performance Metric: It is a mechanism to provide appropriate

feedback on the channel quality to the networking and upper layers, so that
appropriate decision can be taken.
6. 6. Fast Association (FastA) The 802.15.4 association procedure introduces a
significant delay in order to save energy. For time-critical application latency has
priority over energy efficiency.
7. IEEE 802.15.4e defines five new MAC behavior modes.
1.Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH): It targets application domains such as
industrial automation and process control, providing support for multi-hop and
multichannel communications, through a TDMA approach.
2.Deterministic and Synchronous Multi-channel Extension (DSME): It is aimed to
support both industrial and commercial applications.
3.Low Latency Deterministic Network (LLDN): Designed for single-hop and single
channel networks.

4.Radio Frequency Identification Blink (BLINK): It is intended for application

domains such as item/people identification, location and tracking.

5.Asynchronous multi-channel adaptation (AMCA): It is targeted to application

domains where large deployments are required, such as smart utility
networks, infrastructure monitoring networks, and process control networks.

Properties:

6.Standardization and alliances: It specifies low-data-rate PHY and MAC layer

requirements for wireless personal area networks (WPAN).
IEEE 802.15. Protocol Stacks include:

ZigBee: ZigBee is a Personal Area Network task group with a low rate task group 4. It
is a technology of home networking. ZigBee is a technological standard created for
controlling and sensing the network. As we know that ZigBee is the Personal Area
network of task group 4 so it is based on IEEE 802.15.4 and is created by Zigbee
Alliance.
6LoWPAN: The 6LoWPAN system is used for a variety of applications including
wireless sensor networks. This form of wireless sensor network sends data as
packets and uses IPv6 – providing the basis for the name – IPv6 over Low power
Wireless Personal Area Networks.
ZigBee IP: Zigbee is a standards-based wireless technology that was developed for
low-cost and low-power wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) and internet of things
(IoT) networks.
ISA100.11a: It is a mesh network that provides secure wireless communication to
process control.
Wireless HART: It is also a wireless sensor network technology, that makes use of
time-synchronized and self-organizing architecture.
Thread: Thread is an IPv6-based networking protocol for low-power Internet of
Things devices in IEEE 802.15. 4-2006 wireless mesh network. Thread is
independent.
2.Physical Layer: This standard enables a wide range of PHY options in ISM bands,
ranging from 2.4 GHz to sub-GHz frequencies. IEEE 802.15.4 enables data
transmission speeds of 20 kilobits per second, 40 kilobits per second, 100 kilobits
per second, and 250 kilobits per second. The fundamental structure assumes a 10-
meter range and a data rate of 250 kilobits per second. To further reduce power
usage, even lower data rates are possible. IEEE 802.15.4 regulates the RF transceiver
and channel selection, and even some energy and signal management features, at
the
physical layer. Based on the frequency range and data performance needed, there
are now six PHYs specified. Four of them employ frequency hopping techniques
known as Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). Both PHY data service and
management service share a single packet structure so that they can maintain a
common simple interface with MAC.
3.MAC layer: The MAC layer provides links to the PHY channel by determining that
devices in the same region will share the assigned frequencies. The scheduling and
routing of data packets are also managed at this layer. The 802.15.4 MAC layer is
responsible for a number of functions like:

Beaconing for devices that operate as controllers in a network.

used to associate and dissociate PANs with the help of
devices. The safety of the device.
Consistent communication between two MAC devices that are in a peer-to-peer
relationship.
Several established frame types are used by the MAC layer to accomplish these
functions. In 802.15.4, there are four different types of MAC frames:

frame of data
Frame for a beacon
Frame of acknowledgement
Frame for MAC commands
4.Topology: Networks based on IEEE 802.15.4 can be developed in a star, peer-to-
peer, or mesh topology. Mesh networks connect a large number of nodes. This
enables nodes that would otherwise be out of range to interact with each other to
use intermediate nodes to relay data.

5.Security: For data security, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard employs the Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit key length as the basic encryption
technique. Activating such security measures for 802.15.4 significantly alters the
frame format and uses a few of the payloads. The very first phase in activating AES
encryption is to use the Security Enabled field in the Frame Control part of the
802.15.4 header. For safety, this field is a single bit which is assigned to 1. When this
bit is set, by taking certain bytes from its Payload field, a field known as the
Auxiliary Security Header is formed following the Source Address field.

6. Competitive Technologies: The IEEE 802.15.4 PHY and MAC layers serve as a basis
for a variety of networking profiles that operate in different IoT access scenarios.
DASH7 is a competing radio technology with distinct PHY and MAC layers.
Advantages of IEEE 802.15.4:
IEEE 802.15.4 has the following advantages:
cheap cost
long battery life,
Quick installation
simple
extensible protocol stack
Disadvantages of IEEE 802.15.4:
IEEE 802.15.4’s drawbacks include:
EEE 802.15.4 causes interference and multipath fading.
doesn’t employ a frequency-hopping approach.
unbounded latency
interference susceptibility
Applications of IEEE 802.15.4:
IEEE 802.15.4 Applications:
Wireless sensor networks in the industry
Building and home automation
Remote controllers and interacting toys