Sensors, and other things connected to the internet, need a method of transmitting and receiving information. This is the topic of personal area network (PAN) and near-range communication. In an IoT ecosphere, communication to a sensor or actuator can be a copper wire or a Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). In this chapter, we concentrate on the WPAN as that is the prevalent method for industrial, commercial, and consumer connections to the things of the internet. Wire-based connectivity is still used, but primarily in legacy industries and areas that are not radio-frequency friendly. There is a wide variety of different communication channels between the endpoint and the internet; some may be built on a traditional IP stack (6LoWPAN) and others use non-IP (internet protocol) communication to maximize energy savings (BLE).
We separate out...
