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47 | Zigbee and Z-Wave have carved out a significant portion of the smart home networking market, but are also used in enterprise and mesh networking applications. LoRaWAN is being used for low-distance and low-power communication for IoT devices, such as smart city applications, industrial monitoring, and asset tracking. Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and LTE-M are machine- type communications protocols designed for a multitude of IoT devices connecting to cellular systems. UWB is a revitalization of an older standard that is now being used as a short-range burst communication and high-precision location and proximity systems, such as car key fobs and vehicle- to-vehicle (V2V) communications. The core of these wireless communication devices is typically a wireless communication chipset that allows for programmability and reconfigurability, or a dedicated chipset for a given wireless protocol. Some wireless communication chipset manufacturers make multiprotocol chips capable of using two or more protocols, such as the Silicon Labs EFR32MG27 Wireless Gecko multiprotocol family of system-on-chips (SoCs), which are ideal for low-power IoT connectivity applications. The EFR32MG27 chipset (Figure 1) features Zigbee PRO and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, a 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M33 core, an integrated power amplifier, and a host of security features. Another example is the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52 Series of multiprotocol-capable SoCs. Chips in this family are capable of Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, ANT, Thread, 802.15.4, and proprietary 2.4 GHz stacks. These chips include a built-in NFC-A tag for simplified pairing and payment options and 32-bit Arm Cortex CPUs. Wireless Security With more people and enterprise, industrial, and government systems using wireless communication technology, wireless security is an area of increased focus for wireless system developers. All devices with wireless networking technologies can be remotely accessed and infiltrated, a process known as hacking. Hacking a wireless device can lead to more than just compromised information or control capability of the device; a wireless device can also be used as a vector to access other devices on a wireless network (known as network injection). Moreover, if the hacked devices are connected to a larger network or the internet, those devices can be used to attack or infiltrate other systems in other networks. Even a simple IoT sensor on a wide-area network (WAN) can be used to compromise an entire network, and a simple device like an IoT sensor wireless interface can be used as a hacking device if properly reprogrammed. More sophisticated wireless hacking tools exist, such as software- defined radio (SDR) devices that can be modified via hardware, software, and/or firmware to allow for the use of hacking tools. Figure 1: The Silicon Labs EFR32MG27 Wireless Gecko family offers various features for wireless applications, including support for Zigbee PRO, Bluetooth 5.x, and proprietary protocols. (Source: Mouser Electronics)

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