Technology has changed life, and the Internet of Things has become ubiquitous in life. With the continuous development of the Internet, more and more areas have achieved full coverage of wireless networks. Today, let's analyze and understand the connection methods of common IoT wireless networks.

In consumer electronics, cellular, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet connections are already widely available, but the Internet of Things (IoT) is different from consumer electronics in that most IoT edge devices aren't checking email or obsessing over watching a movie. So they don't require the high data rates used in consumer electronics.

IoT solutions typically consist of hundreds or thousands of connected edge devices. Typical design constraints such as cost and power management become greater as more edge devices are added. And as the scale increases, the way IoT products connect to the Internet becomes more and more important, and can even determine the success or failure of the product.

1. Ethernet

Ethernet is a fast and reliable way to connect things to the internet. Commonly found in industrial and building automation, Ethernet is widely used in systems involving many nodes on the same network. Since Ethernet is hardwired, it is also inherently a very secure method of connection. Power over Ethernet cables can also be used to power the device via Power over Ethernet (PoE), eliminating the need for a separate power supply module.

2. Wireless Internet access

As a must-have for Internet connectivity, the wireless nature of Wi-Fi is very appealing. It is widely supported by mainstream devices and does not contain the hardwired constraints of Ethernet. ?Wi-Fi is the most popular Internet connection option in consumer electronics, which brings the benefits of high speed and wireless connectivity. Despite its popularity, adding Wi-Fi functionality to embedded designs is often complex. Wi-Fi is attractive because it's wireless and fast, but those features come at the cost of security holes and power consumption. Therefore, Wi-Fi-based IoT designs require engineers to carefully balance security, power consumption, and cost.

3. Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)

Less common in consumer products, so you may not be familiar with them. However, a large portion of IoT applications are in wide-area applications, such as environmental monitoring. The benefit of using a WAN for environmental monitoring is that we can monitor rural, offshore and normally inaccessible areas. But the problem is that these sites are in rural, offshore areas and are often inaccessible. So we can't fast charge a device floating in the Mariana Trench or connect to Wi-Fi in the Mojave Desert.

4. Satellite

Satellite connectivity is used in IoT applications such as transportation logistics in remote parts of the planet not covered by cellular service. While changes are expected as satellite technology evolves, developing satellite IoT applications is not as easy as other connectivity options.

5.Bluetooth 

Bluetooth is great for consumer electronics because it has low power consumption (BLE's extremely low power consumption), wide support, and fast pairing. Unlike Wi-Fi, Bluetooth doesn't connect directly to the Internet. You will need to set up a gateway to connect to the internet. While setting up your own gateway may seem daunting, it's often as easy as connecting to a mobile device that's also connected to Wi-Fi.