by Exosite, on January 19, 2016
At a high level, a good protocol for IoT connected products enables the use of inexpensive, low-power devices and provides high performance in a variety of end-use applications while maintaining a high level of security and reliability while maintaining a high level of security and reliability. This is a good starting point to describe the needs of all IoT applications; however, the way these are achieved varies greatly depending on the needs of specific use cases. Below is an examination of a couple features that will provide a good baseline for most general use cases.
STANDARDIZATION
IoT protocols are like human languages; you can only communicate with others that speak the same language. Selecting standardized protocols for IoT devices increases the number of devices and services with which it can talk. Unfortunately, a single protocol has not been universally accepted for all use cases and probably never will. But in order to interoperate with other devices or avoid implementation of protocol from scratch, selecting an off-the-shelf, standard protocol can save a significant amount of development time and money.
LOW LATENCY
Latency is the amount of time it takes for a device to react to an external event. In the most basic example, latency could be measured by the length of time it takes a lamp to turn on when a user taps a button in a phone app. Latency can be a big problem for some applications if reactions are user facing. For IoT product deployments, network latency is by far the biggest component of total system latency. As such, it is one of the most important factors to consider when selecting specific protocols, as latency can have a significant impact on the performance of the overall system.
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