An Overview of Internet of Things and

Wireless Communications

Umit Deniz Ulusar Fadi Al-Turjman Gurkan Celik

Computer Engineering Department Computer Engineering Department Institute of Science and Technology
Akdeniz University METU, Northern Cyprus Campus Electrical-Electronic Eng. Dept.
Antalya, Turkey 99738 Kalkanli, Guzelyurt, Mersin 10, Akdeniz University
umitulusar@akdeniz.edu.tr Turkey Antalya, Turkey
fadi@metu.edu.tr gurkancelik07@gmail.com

Abstract—Innovations in technology that have enabled to achieve its potential [3][4]. Hence, we focus in this article on
efficient wireless tiny devices propelled the concept of Internet of the design aspects of wireless connections in the IoT era [2].
Things. It is expected that mobile data traffic will experience 8-
fold growth between 2015 and 2020 and the number of mobile
II. WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN IOT
connected devices will reach 11.6 billion by 2020. Main factors of
this exponential growth and wide acceptance are the integration For wireless communication, there is a transceiver and
of several technologies and communications solutions such as receiver antennas that are attached with some geometry. The
wired and wireless sensor and actuator networks, next generation transmitter propagates a signal that is modulated onto the
communication protocols, identification technologies, and carrier frequency. Speed of signal is roughly the speed of
artificial intelligence for smart objects. In this work, we explore
light. Between these two antennas there can be obstacles that
the role of the IoT in various fields, consider technological
aspects, and examine the challenges and opportunities the IoT can cause the signal to be reflected, refracted or diffracted.
offers. Modelling physical phenomena are essential for rapid
addressing various network deployment problems. Figure 1
Keywords—path loss; heterogeneous networks; wireless sensor
depicts a wireless communication model where the line of
network; Internet of things
sight is highlighted. Other design issues of networks are path
loss, delay and mean queue length (MQL) [5].
I. INTRODUCTION
The Internet of Things (IoT) was initially presented at the
end of the last century and is recently gaining grounds in
various fields of technology. Nowadays, IoT is enabling
several applications/services in academic/industrial disciplines
ranging from environment to healthcare and medical fields
[1][2]. The main idea of this concept is the ubiquitous presence
around us with variety of things or objects that are connected to
the Internet such as mobile phones, laptops, daily used objects
like refrigerators, televisions and smart sensors.
Mainly, due to the rapid proliferation of wearable devices,
smart sensors and smartphones, the IoT enabled technology is
evolving from conventional hub based system to more
personalized systems. The successful utilization of IoT enabled Fig. 1. Path loss, distance and line of sight are main parameters for wireless
communication model.
technology in e-health and smart cities will enable faster and
safer preventive care, lower overall cost, improve person-
centric practice and enhance sustainability. Similar benefits are A. Path Loss and Loss of CommunicatiÕn
available for other fields such as security, monitoring and Wireless communication is susceptible to various
industrial management applications. interferences which can corrupt the communication. Path loss
Efficient IoT-enabled systems can be realized by providing is the reduction in signal power of communication signal as it
highly customized access to rich information and efficient propagates through space. Transmitter power is the amount of
decisions to each individual situation with unobtrusive energy a transmitter can produce and closely related with the
monitoring. Wireless communications are at the heart of this energy source that is being used with the device. Receiver
concept, and their development is a key issue if such concept is sensitivity is the minimum received signal power for a

978-1-5386-0930-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

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successful signal reception. For a successful communication, of IoT wireless networks it usually represents packets. In
the signal power at the receiving end of the network has to be previous research studies [10][11], queuing systems have been
above the sensitivity level of the receiving device. Main path used to study the energy consumption of a campus wireless
loss reasons are heavily dependent on the physical local area network (WLAN). Also, performance evaluation of
environment. Other path loss reasons are; gain and height of wireless heterogeneous environments as well as wireless
the transmitter/receiver antennas, distance between transmitter cellular networks as a queuing systems have been studied
and receiver, communication frequency range, obstacles, user extensively in articles such as [12], [13] and [14] without
mobility and environmental conditions. considering the energy consumption of the system. This
necessitates a special care and further analytical studies about
Various researchers have studied path loss and offered energy consumption in IoT.
different models. Some of models are Hata Okumura, Egli,
Green-Obaidat, Welfisch-Ikegami and TM90. Hata Okumura
model is the most known model for PL [5]. IoT devices can D. Routing
exist in different environments. As a result of this, stochastic Routing is the process of directing data across a network
fading path loss model typically gives the closest values to the using the optimum path to reach from transmitter to receiver.
real measurements. The optimum parameter depends on various parameters and
routing model. Widely-known models are minimum delay,
B. Propagation Space and Environment minimum cost or maximum lifetime. Between transmitter and
receiver, there can be intermediate nodes which relay the
Environment around propagation space affects signal signal. Data routing in sensor networks are classified into three
characteristics and due to the mobile nature of devices and main categories; data-centric, hierarchical and location-based
users in IoT, in order to be able to create an accurate model for [15]. Some design considerations are delay, energy
wireless communication, various environmental conditions consumption, error rate and reliability. Sequential Assignment
must be considered. There are three widely-acknowledged Routing (SAR), The Stateless Protocol for Real-time
factors that significantly change signal prorogation Communications in Sensor Networks (SPEED), Real-Time
characteristics and network parameters: location, population with Load Disturbed Routing (RTLD), Multiple Constraint
and flora. Population wise the environment is typically divided Multi-Path (MCMP) are some of the widely-used routing
into two subgroups; urban and rural. In urban areas, user models [6].
mobility within the network is significantly higher. In terms of
flora, vegetation of the environment and humidity increases the III. WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS (WSNS) AND
attenuation of radio waves [6]. Different weather conditions ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
and locations effect the path loss parameter such as attenuation
Wireless sensor network (WSN) has been regarded as a
is different if the device is located indoor or outdoor, under a
promising data acquisition tool that can measure ambient
tree or in an open area. conditions, process and reveal events happening near sensors
Some of the widely-known terrain models are ITU, ITU-R and send collected data through a gateway or directly to a
452, Longley-Rice Irregular. The ITU terrain model combines collection center [16]. Energy consumption, memory storage,
free-space path loss with a single diffraction. ITU-R 452 communication bandwidth, localization, geographic routing
estimates path loss by aggregating free-space attenuation, and data aggregation are major design issues.
absorption due to atmospheric gases, knife-edge diffraction,
obstruction from the curvature of the earth and tropospheric
scatter [6].

C. Wireless Communication in IoT using Q-Theory

Q-theory from a pure performance point of view has been
quite popular in the literature, however the mean energy
consumption and energy efficiency of the wireless
communications in IoT are not sufficiently considered. This is
mainly due to the fact that usually base stations have unlimited
power supply [7], which is not the case in IoT. With the rapid
increase in data traffic and handheld devices, improving energy
efficiency helps network operators to reduce the amount of
CO2 emission levels and the operational costs as energy
accounts for a significant part of their expenditures [8][9].
Therefore, it is very important to measure energy consumption
and look into how to save power in such systems and queuing
theory is the most popular approach in this field.
In a queuing system, customers arrive on the system and
leave after they are being served. The term “customer” is a
general term and varies in different application. In the context Fig. 2. IoT application areas.

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 Another type of WSNs is wireless multi-media sensor A. Availablity
networks (WMSNs) that are mainly designed for realizing the Main goal of the IoT is to provide observations on real-
IoT paradigm by fostering applications such as smart cities, world events and objects. Many such objects may move
smart agriculture, smart security and emergency systems [6]. around, thus the IoT devices attached to them has to follow
Figure 2 shows some of the application areas of WSNs. them. Handling such mobility is a key requirement for future
Information Centric Sensor Networks (ICSNs) is a new IoT solutions. During this mobility, lack of coverage and
paradigm that focus on delivering information from the handover are the main service failures. Other availability
network based on user requirements by observing past actions problems may be related with software bugs, hardware failures,
and outcomes, rather than serving as a point-to-point data human error or a combination of these factors.
communication network [17].
B. Scalability
A. Energy Consumption and Heterogeneous Networks
(HetNets) The scalability of the IoT refers to the ability to add new
objects, services and functions without significantly affecting
One of the main goals of future wireless communication is the quality of existing services. Adding new devices may be
to decrease the energy consumption of devices to prolong their challenging in the presence of different hardware platforms and
operational time. Designing hybrid network topologies that can communications protocols. Besides, scalability is a major issue
bring the network closer to the mobile user provides a more for real time data processing and storing collected data for
energy efficient communication. HetNet is a form of wireless future use.
network which supports different Radio Access Technologies
(RATs). The basic idea is to combine energy hungry Macrocell C. Energy-efficiency
Base Stations (MBS) and Femtocell Base Stations (FBS).
Combining multiple RAT’s creates interoperability problems With the increase of number of base stations and connected
such as mobility, handover and QoS. Deployment of femtocells devices, current mobile networks experience explosive growth
will also reduce the need for adding expensive macro base in energy consumption. Improving energy efficiency has
station towers [18]. FBS can also be used to aggregate mobile positive economic and environmental impacts and may help to
traffic and relay to macrocells or to other access networks. reduce electromagnetic radiation. Data compression
Recently, FBSs have been used by many mobile operators in algorithms, gathering techniques and energy-aware routing
outdoor deployments in rural and heavily populated areas. In protocols that monitor available energy in each node and select
the near future, mobile FBSs will become more prominent and the optimal path while satisfying the QoS requirements has
will offer better mobile coverage and capacity [15]. been proposed [8][9][10]. Improving energy efficiency also
reduces the operational cost.
B. Radio Frequency Identity (RFID)
D. Cost
IoT has already been integrated into our daily lives. The
amount of data produced by connected devices increased Another factor is the cost of deployment, maintenance and
exponentially and there is an immense research shift in finding operation of a network. An active research area is the
development of deployment strategies for minimum building
ways to process data in the most efficient and secure way.
and maintenance costs. Also, cost aware routing protocols are
Radio Frequency Identification is a unique identity of an object being investigated for minimizing operating costs [22]. Some
and is fundamental to the realization of the IoT because it routing algorithms such as minimum cost forwarding routing
enables things to be linked with their identity [19]. An RFID are proposed to minimize expenses. Recently, simple passive
system consists of a tag and a reader. Passive tags are typically RFID tags have become available at affordable prices. Similar
powered by electromagnetic signals generated by readers. Each price drop on encryption technologies may be a solution for
tag has an identification number and a memory that stores security issues.
additional data such as manufacturer and product type [20].
The reader is the active component of the system and attached E. Security
to an energy source [21]. For some of the applications of the IoT in the industrial
IV. CHALLENGES AND DESIGN FACTORS control, transportation and healthcare, it is imperative to ensure
a secure IoT system. IoT systems using IP networks for
The Internet has changed the way people interact with each communication are vulnerable to known and potential security
other and the IoT has the potential to add a new dimension by problems and attacks. The potential impact of security flaws
enabling communications with and among smart objects. could create significant damage to the infrastructure and for
Creating a new all connected system through the use of eHealth applications even can result in loss of life. Device
enabling technologies has design challenges as the application identity and authentication mechanisms are one of the
areas are often context specific with complex requirements. In fundamental elements in securing an IoT infrastructure. Most
this section, we discuss some of the major design issues for IoT devices may not have the required processing power to
seamless integration of WSNs in IoT applications. support the current authentication protocols. In order to
overcome security issues, new authentication schemes,
encryption/authentication algorithms and faster and cheaper
processors are required.

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