Communication Protocols and Technologies

Abstract

This chapter looks at the characteristics and basics of the communication protocols that Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables employ for their data exchange, along with a dive into some of the most common technologies being deployed today. IoT and wearable system in general use a three‐layer architecture: devices, gateways, and data centers/cloud. The chapter presents a list of the most popular types of networks used in IoT and wearable technology. Networks can also be categorized according to their connectivity configuration, i.e. topology. IoT and wearable devices can be very constrained in terms of power and bandwidth, which triggers the need for a more efficient, secure, and scalable protocols for managing different types of devices communicating via different network topologies.