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10 Security Every IoT connectivity solution incorporates multiple types of security ranging from AES encryption to multiple levels of authentication. Although solutions might implement security features differently from one another, they are all at least reasonably secure, with the caveat that every type of communication network is vulnerable. Various attack types have been used to infiltrate every IoT connectivity solution, and this situation will become increasingly challenging in the future when thousands or tens of thousands of sensors may constitute a single network. Knowing this, all participants in IoT connectivity are working to establish greater end-to-end security. Simplicity and Low-Cost Hardware In the earliest days of IoT, hardware was expensive, and there were few resources to help designers implement a connected environment. Fortunately, this is no longer the case, as every silicon vendor provides a broad array of tools that aim to ensure their products can be easily incorpo- rated into solutions. Some vendors also have complete "ecosystems" that range from design resources to complete system descriptions incorporating all aspects that must be considered. In addition, the cost of IoT devices is rapidly decreasing as volumes increase; this is predicted to continue even as devices have greater levels of function integration. IPv6 Capability Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the underlying technology that makes it possible to connect devices to the Web. It's been used since 1983 and, having reached its maximum of 4.29 billion addresses, will run out in the relatively near future. IPv6, however, will provide enough for a very long time, even with the massive increase in addresses attributable to the billions of new deployed IoT devices in the coming years. Implementing IPv6 rather than IPv4 in every new IoT system is essential, but it's not as simple as it might seem. It requires signif- icant changes to many types of software, and exchanging data between these protocols requires special gateways. Nevertheless, as IoT systems are (or should be) designed to be massively scalable over time, IPv6 is a standard requirement. All current connectivity solutions either natively employ IPv6 or can be configured to do so. Comparing the Major IoT Connectivity Solutions Table 1 summarizes the primary IoT connectivity solutions. While this list was made as inclusive as possible, there are no doubt others that might ultimately gain momentum in the future. The outlier among those in Table 1 is Wi-Fi, which is fundamen- tally different in many ways, in part because it has been around longer than any other short-range technology. Wi-Fi was also never intended to deal with tiny, power-sipping devices like IoT sensors, as the goal was to replace wired local area networks with wireless versions delivering comparable performance, primarily high speed. Wi-Fi requires relatively power-hungry access points, and its components remain comparatively expensive. Consequently, no other connectivity solution comes close to the throughput achievable by Wi-Fi, which keeps it very appealing as an adjunct to some low-power solutions for connecting them to the Internet. This is especially true for IoT applications like video surveillance that require broad channel bandwidths and high data rates. Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth are further along in their development than others, and ZigBee is currently used by the most IoT applications. Thread, which was created by Nest Labs (acquired by Google), is increasing in popularity and has more than 50 members (Figure 2), and ANT+ is somewhat popular in Europe. Figure 2: All Nest products like the Nest Learning Thermostat use 802.15.4 for connecting themselves together and Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet. Table 1 – Most Common Short-Range IoT Connectivity Solutions Bluetooth 5 6LoWPAN ZigBee Wi-Fi Z-Wave Thread ANT Standard 802.15.1 802.15.4 802.15.4 802.11a,b,g,n,ac 802.15.4 802.15.4 250 Frequency 2.4 GHz 868 and 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz 800 and 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz 2.4 and 5 GHz 908.4 MHz 902 to 928 MHz, 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz Maximum data rate 2 Mb/s 250 kb/s 250 Kb/s Up to 1 Gb/s 100 Kb/s 250 Kb/s 60 Kb/s Maximum range (m) 200 10 100 40 100 30 30 Power consumption Very low Low Low High Low Low Low Battery life Up to 10 years Hours NA 3 years Years Low Network size Unlimited 64,000+ 255 232+ 300 65,533 Mesh support Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Beacon support Yes No IPv6 support Yes Yes Overall cost Low Decreasing Moderate High Moderate Low Low Industry support Ubiquitous Growing Growing Ubiquitous Less Moderate Least

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