Comparative analysis of ZigBee, 6LoWPAN and BLE technologies for the Internet of Things

What is it about?

The growth of Internet of Things (IoT) in recent years has led to the use and dissemination of various technologies to achieve the concept connected life. Some of the most common technologies that enable the implementation of the IoT concept are ZigBee, 6LoWPAN and BLE. The main obstacle to the realisation of this is the provision of quality service. The study of parameters affecting the Quality of Service (QoS) can be used as a mean to improve the service of objects and select a more appropriate wireless technology to communicate with them. In this paper construct an IoT network with Texas Instruments CC2650STK sensors that can be monitored and controlled with each of these technologies. Experimental studies were performed on a different number of sensors which are located at different distances from the network servicing device and for each of the technologies the following parameters characterising QoS were measured – End_to_End Delay, Throughput and Packet Loss Ratio. A comparative analysis for the impact of each of the considered wireless technologies on studied parameters is presented in order to formulate recommendations for selecting the most appropriate technology for the respective type of IoT application.

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Why is it important?

The paper presents investigation of Quality of Service (QoS) parameters of ZigBee, 6LoWPAN and BLE technologies for IoT. These technologies are some of the most popular. Investigation of QoS helps selecting most suitable technology for using on specific situation.

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