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Fig. 1: IoT ecosystem with Melexis sensor and wireless products
(including automated lighting and
heating controls). Innovators will
continue to drive the IoT to create
new applications – many that we
are talking about already and,
without doubt, some that have not
even been thought of yet.
Yet, by definition, the IoT relies
on communication for its very
existence and with many devices,
such as sensors, being placed
remotely, wireless communication
technologies are enabling the brave
new world of the IoT.
IoT Ecosystem
As we see a strong trend of
applications moving from wired to
wireless, the whole radio spectrum
is a valuable asset which is being
used extensively. Availability of
spectrum bandwidth becomes even
more crucial to the evolution of
localized wireless sensor networks
(WSN) into the IoT. In the IoT
space each connected device is a
smart node that senses information
and performs some form of signal
processing and conditioning, either
digital or analog. An example of this
would be the filtering of valuable
signals from noise in order to reduce
the spectral bandwidth needed for
data communications.
In commonly-used configurations,
IoT sensor devices communicate
with a gateway (or data collector)
from which, data can be routed into
the Internet to a centralized data
storage that securely protects, stores
and processes that information. Fig.
1 shows one potential representation
of an IoT ecosystem where sensor
data is remotely acted upon via
the Internet. Melexis sensor and
wireless products can be used in
several applications here, both in
the IoT sensor devices themselves
and in the gateway that interfaces
to the wider Internet.
Sub-GHz – Enabling
greater distances
There is an industry-wide debate
regarding whether to use a Sub-
GHz or a 2.4GHz radio as the
preferred carrier for all types of
wireless data communication and
sensing applications. Within the
IoT infrastructure, 2.4GHz most
often means Bluetooth-based
technologies (often Bluetooth
Low Energy – BLE) or Wi-Fi. Sub-
IoT
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