Business Models For IoT Connectivity

Introduction to IoT Connectivity

Discuss about the Business Models for IOT connectivity.

The network combination of certain smart working devices that communicate with each other in a normal way over the internet or some medium is being considered as the internet of things, and is contributing continuously in the way we perform things in our daily life.

It has been implemented in our day to day life in such way that the basic things are also being covered, and all these activities states a good example of strong connectivity such as-

1. IOT Alarm Systems- These are the smart alarm systems that work actively and senses any activity, held in the surroundings that are unusual[1]. This helps the house owners as well as the parking owners to be on a safer side.

1. Wearable Devices- Nowadays there are such devices that are being manufactured to trace the activities or to trace the moments of any moving body. These are generally being used on animals, so as to locate their moments and them as well.

1. Medical Appliances and devices- In the medical field, some devices are being tied to the patient and are kept near to them, to measure the heart rate and blood pressure along with the rate of breathing. It senses the overall working of the organs, and helps to locate the cause of disease easily.

The major stakeholder that seek for connectivity solutions mainly includes the chipset markers, radio, large scale device manufacturers and IOT enabled products [2]. The wide variety that is being provided or facilitated in the market, among the people is contributing more in evolving technology requirements and due to this the stakeholders bet on the connectivity options and become dominant.  The connectivity in IoT is the most crucial as the smart devices must be connected in secure way to communicate efficiently. In this report we will discuss the connectivity establishment in IoT using protocols. We will also see the architecture of IoT and the network infrastructure which can be used for better level of operations. Network topology is also consideration point as it will ensure the secure communication among IoT devices. In most of the IoT devices P2P protocol is used. It creates two endpoints between two devices through a dedicated channel. Some other network topologies which can be used in IoT network are star and hybrid network.

While the companies are contemplating the options for IoT connectivity, they must ensure the positive solutions among – Unlicensed, Low Power, Wide area (LPWA), Extra-terrestrial, Cellular.

Though it is so difficult to choose one among all these technologies as each of them works on different base criteria that includes unique requirements for the working range, bandwidth and other features that provides a push in connectivity [3]. This is at such a risk because these solution can’t be proved to be the best among all, until unless they are being implemented on a greater scale.

• Unlicensed Connectivity Solutions-

These solutions are not at all licensed to a particular organisation, and it completely allows the public to access them on any device that works on the principle of IoT and tend to use this technology. These are inexpensive as compared because it doesn’t rely on any mobile operator and permits to establish their own network [4]. Companies which choose the unlicensed technology usually face transmission problems with in the society, as these networks are vulnerable to interference from environmental obstacles. Distance is one more barrier for it, as the transmission can be done to a maximum of 100 meters. For an example, Wi-Fi connections are not that preferred over large distances and is one of the commonly known unlicensed option.

• Low-power, Wide-area Connectivity

Assortment of Connectivity Offerings

This technology is a bit new among the industries as compared to others. It comprises of two major characteristics-

Low Power- They allow the devices to work consistently over many years, by assuming that they collect data on hourly basis and it hardly impacts the battery degradation [5].

Wide Area- As far as distance is concerned, it delivers the signal transmission to at least 500meters range from the gateway device to the final end point. Coverage is lowest in underground circumstances and in urban areas as well.  

In both the situations, the technology is reliable as well as cost effective [6]. LPWA tends to be the major solution that provides the path to meet the level of significant IoT connectivity. It is growing with a high rate and has made its impact over a wide range. By the year 2022, it is being stated that most of the IoT devices will be working on LPWA networks, as it will provide an environment where connectivity choices will be less confusing [7].

• Cellular Connectivity

Currently the 4G LTE technology provides high bandwidth of 100mb per second along with a large area of transmission (up to 10kms). This states that in such a case the reliability as well as the availability of the network provided, both are good. But there’s a downside as well because the 4G networks are also associated with the high initial cost. The 4D networks has a higher rate of power-consumption and this establishes a limitation for those IoT devices that has less power backup [8].

Only some of the working industries are successful to rely on private networks, rest of the organisations failed just because they lacked in somewhere or the other significant requirements. Either it was the overall production, overall budget or the capabilities to meet the performance requirement [9]. Sometimes it also leads to heavy load on transmission, at places that are crowded and number of users are much more than expected.  

• Extra-terrestrial Connectivity

This type of connectivity includes the microwave technologies and satellite signal transmission as well. Due to its high cost and feasibility, the major stakeholder organisations use it only where cellular and fibre networks are not in option. Such an example is clearly shown in army or national defence colonies, where they might be using a different networks for unnamed drones or for security. Due to this private network policies, only some working organisations use this connectivity option just for their personalised IoT appliances [10].

IoT Application Connectivity Architecture

Depending upon the basic requirements of a particular network and the expectation of the organisation, the cost of the whole project is being calculated for each and every scenario. After the study of every IoT solution, the best one is found and implemented keeping in mind that the cost should not exceed the company’s budget.

• Supporting Ecosystems

Some of the solutions for connectivity are easier to deploy as they are a strong surrounding support system that helps it and provide an ease in working. If we consider a network that is being used on the basic principle of LPWA, in such case there are a limited users that have access to much strong network connection that is reliable for years. Hence it will grow its numbers so that more networks could be developed.

• Commercial Readiness

There are various connectivity solutions that are not still being implemented over a large scale. Some of these solutions have very low power requirements, but they couldn’t be used widely as no organisation has taken a risk by implementing them commercially. Hence the solutions that are significantly used in networks over years are establishing their roots over various industries but the new solutions that might be proved better than other existing solutions are not given a try just because of the onetime risk involved.

The devices connected in IoT are the major component of IoT. The main objective of setting up connectivity is to build a network of smart devices of different platforms for simple and secure remote communication. In the following diagram we can see the platform which is preferred for IoT connectivity.

The most common protocol which is used to connect IoT devices is Bluetooth. It is very reliable and easy to setup for communication between short range devices. According to the latest trends of IoT Bluetooth is the fastest route in IoT network [11]. In IoT connected network the gateway plays a important role as it translated the protocols in diverse environment. Using gateway in IoT network has enormous benefits such as:

• Smart devices can be configured easily
• Internet is not interrupted
• Faster response
• Better UI
• Strong back end services

 One of the most significant requirements in an idol IoT system is consistent connectivity without any interruption and the feature of connection with any device, independent of the location [12]. In today’s world only the Mobile Virtual-Network Operators are successful in attaining such kind of stability in the field of Mobile Network signal transmission. These companies take wireless capacity of connections on lease from such stakeholders that have their own cellular networks at various locations. In such situation the MVNOs won’t be considered as the leaders in IoT connectivity or in their solutions because they haven’t filled the gap between the network and its usage on their own. To become a leader it very necessary that the company should have established its own connection and should be using the same application over years [13].

Exploring New Business Models

IoT is a bit complex in nature, with devices and applications that require the cooperation of multiple vendors. In a similar way, the system that provides end to end IoT connectivity are more complicated because it requires more input base and the vendors are increased. It might lead to figure out some other solutions as well just to attain the desired potential from the whole system. It is not at all necessary that the company would use a single solution for the connectivity, this may vary on the basis of situations over which the network needs to be provided. Sometimes the companies have to transmit the signal through large distances where the usage load would be negligible, but sometimes in urban areas there would be huge usage load over a small society or area.

It is important that the innovations in the field of IoT are exploring new model so that the user interactions can be increased in a positive way by IoT devices. There are following elements in IOT connectivity model to the interactions:

• The person who uses the device
• The devices which are connected
• The flow of data between the IoT device and the person
• The improved performance between user and connected device

In Internet of things a huge range of protocols is covered which may vary as per the industries [14]. It may differ from a single device to multiple devices which are connected and belong to different platform. Some of the main protocols which are shown in below table are commonly used in IoT architecture:

The purpose of using different communication protocols is to maximize the efficiency of IoT technology. Wifi is very common protocol which is very important in our day to day life. It is very simple to connect multiple devices using Wifi. It has a varied range also and it can pass the signals through wall or other obstacles. Wifi is not secure but can be used to save power [15]. Thread is also a communication protocol which is very efficient and reliable. It is used in case of machine to machine protocol. This protocol was specially designed to connect home appliances. Bluetooth is also M2M type of communication protocol which uses 2.4GHz bandwidth. It is a traditional way of communication protocol. To track any IoT device RFID protocol is used. It is common in wide range of IoT applications. One more protocol which is very important in current context, is NFC (Near field communication). It is very much similar to RFID. But NFC devices can communicate by simply tapping the devices. This protocol is used to save the efforts and time in IoT. It is short range type of protocol

Internet of Things is today’s the most demanding area which is expected a huge growth in coming years both for business applications and industry [16]. As per the analytic report published in 2017, there were around three categories of IoT devices: consumer, industry based and vertical specific industry. In first category of consumer IoT devices we can include television, smart wearable and automotive devices. In industry based IoT devices, LED lighting, security systems and HVAC can be concluded. In vertical specific category mainly manufacturing and real time location devices are included. Due to increasing demand of IoT, the improvement areas for better performance in ROI are consistently increasing. Investing on IoT connectivity without the security features is not a good approach, so it is mandate that by following simple standards the security features must be implemented to achieve the objective of IOT connectivity. As per the Gartner the IoT devices selling is explained as:

References

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