Communication Protocols for the Internet of Things

Abstract

The future internet is expected to be an internet of things (IoT) that makes a huge increase in its capability to collect, investigate, and distribute data that can be turned into information or knowledge. The changeover to IPv6, having a common set of standards and developing energy sources for millions of minute sensors, are the challenges of IoT. The environment can be made smart and self-aware by the direct communication between more and more devices that are part of the IoT. The low power lossy networks (LLNs) that consist of more tiny sensors and low power devices are the elements of the IoT. The TCP/IP reference model is used for the internet connectivity, which is not exactly suited for the network that uses smart objects. There is a need to connect the local network that has the smart objects to the internet. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has come out with the standardized protocols like 6LoWPAN, RPL, COAP, etc. This chapter provides the various protocols used in the internet of things network with their specifications, benefits, and limitations.