As smart spaces become increasingly popular, ensuring that these installations have all the necessary infrastructure will become critical, and trying to go for one single network solution will likely fail. What challenges do smart spaces face? How will LAN and WLAN come together to support future networks? And what solutions exist for LAN options?
The problem that smart spaces will face
There is no doubt that IoT devices are on the rise, and it won’t be long before there are 20 billion IoT devices globally, but while individual sensors have their advantages, it will be the collection of many sensors working together that will bring about major changes. For example, an individual IoT thermostat can control the temperature of a single room, but a collection of environmental sensors throughout a building can be used to understand how air flows between rooms, the quality of air, and how best to heat the space.
But in order to create such systems, there needs to be a strong underlying infrastructure that is capable of providing both power and connectivity. Engineers have numerous options available to them, but these options always come in one of two categories: wired and wireless. Each of these technologies has its own advantages and disadvantages, and yet there seems to be a fixation that engineers must choose one technology, and one technology only. If the wrong choice is made, future upgrades can be expensive or even outright impossible to implement, which is why such decisions must not be taken lightly.
The challenges with cables
Cables have been the primary means of communication for well over a century thanks to their relative simplicity in construction and operation. As cables are easy to manufacture, using cables for short-distant communication is highly cost-effective. While installation of cables over great distances introduces large labor costs, the infrastructure needed to send messages across thousands of kilometers is easier and cheaper to implement than a wireless alternative.
However, cables suffer from numerous physical phenomena, which makes high-speed data transfers difficult. For example, high-speed data signals will almost always rely on a twisted differential pair to eliminate common-mode noise, and if these pairs are not carefully matched, signal integrity can suffer. To make matters worse, older cable installations will often be unable to handle modern data rates, meaning that any upgrade to a system can require the replacement of all data cables. For example, older ethernet cables may support speeds up to 100Mbps, but none of these cables can be used with the more modern 1Gbps connections.
Another challenge faced with cables is that they are physically laborious to install, often requiring digging equipment if cables need to be buried, or poles erected if cables are being suspended in the air. Even data centers require large cable assemblies and routing systems that are extremely challenging to install and repair.
Depending on the technology, cables utilizing electric signals will only be able to support one device per cable, meaning that trying to connect to multiple devices can require additional cables. Of course, there are bus protocols that allow multiple devices to connect to a single wire, but such arrangements significantly reduce the bandwidth of the cable.
Finally, many older LAN networks are highly susceptible to attacks. Depending on the infrastructure used, many LAN networking technologies do not implement credentials by default, meaning that any device capable of connecting to a network has permission to use it. This is one of the primary reasons why hackers will look for exposed LAN ports that are not actively being used.
How wireless technologies can suffer
Compared to cables, wireless solutions can indeed alleviate many challenges, including the ability to use different frequencies for channel separation (thereby reducing the number of devices interfering), and directed antenna that can be used to create beams that don’t interfere with other beams at the same frequency (thereby increasing bandwidth).
As such, if cables suffer from so many challenges, then the logical choice for engineers is to go wireless, right? Well, just as cables can be problematic, so can wireless networks; this is especially being noted in the introduction of 5G with numerous reports of interference, and the negative press received when residents find cellular towers being erected outside of their homes.
To start, the radio frequency used by a wireless system will determine its effective range such that the frequency is inversely proportional to the range. Thus, low-frequency radio systems can communicate over tens of kilometers, while high-frequency radio systems can communicate over shorter distances. But at the same time, the bandwidth of a radio wave (or how much data it can provide per second) is directly proportional to its frequency. This means that long-range communication often provides little bandwidth, while short-range communication offers excellent bandwidth.
To understand how this is problematic, an excellent example is 5G. The use of higher frequencies allows for vastly more bandwidth compared to 4G, but the increased frequency means that 5G coverage is extremely poor; this has resulted in the need for many more cell masts located close to users (i.e., outside of residential properties).
Another challenge that wireless networks can face is that they are vulnerable to remote attacks. While ethernet cables require physical access, a wireless network can be attacked at a distance with ease. To make matters worse, the use of radio packet sniffers can allow attackers to monitor traffic in a wireless network, which, if broken, allows the attacker to identify a device — and the data being sent.
At the same time, wireless networks can become congested if too many devices connect simultaneously. Cellular networks are less vulnerable to congestion compared to Wi-Fi as they are designed to handle thousands of simultaneous connections, but home networks using publicly available frequencies can often experience congestion. Furthermore, having thousands of devices connected to a single access point can quickly see increased latency, something which can be detrimental in systems requiring real-time performance.
Why are cables essential for the future of smart spaces?
When researching the topic of smart spaces and connectivity, most suggest that wireless technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi will dominate — it's understandable to think this. Their wireless nature not only helps to minimize cable installations but also provides greater freedom for device installation. Instead of being restricted by the length of an ethernet cable, an entirely wireless solution allows devices to be mounted exactly where they are needed. However, it is more likely that future smart spaces will combine the advantages of cables and wireless solutions instead of going for a “one size fits all” approach.
To start, future smart spaces will consist of thousands of devices, which will be far too many for any one wireless network. Of course, cellular technologies are designed for large loads, but as latency and bandwidth become important, trying to have all devices operate on wireless signals for this becomes expensive and difficult to implement.
In addition to the sheer number of devices, many of these devices will have power requirements that are far too great for energy harvesters. For example, security systems will require 100 percent uptime, and these will not be suitable for use with energy harvesters. Considering that these spaces will consist of thousands of devices, battery power will also be out of the question — maintenance of such devices will be extremely challenging. It is possible to use batteries that operate over the entire life of a device, but this can quickly lead to large amounts of e-waste — something the world doesn’t need.
As such, a permanent power source will be needed, and having a dedicated connection via LAN not only provides sufficient bandwidth but can also power over a single cable via Power over Ethernet (PoE). In fact, the use of PoE cables can simplify installation by reducing the number of cables a device needs to one — this allows for more cables to be bundled in a given area, thus servicing more devices.
Devices that will use energy harvesters will likely need to be positioned in close proximity to access points in order to reduce the energy cost of transmission. In this case, the access point will likely rely on PoE for both power and connectivity, further demonstrating the need for cables in a smart space.
The security aspect of smart spaces will also see cables preferred over wireless networks, especially for security-related devices such as cameras, microphones, and alarms. The use of cables prevents remote attacks, and the use of credentials and certificates for connected devices can deny access to unidentified devices added to the network by hackers. In fact, it is possible for future versions of PoE to detect when a device has been disconnected, and power monitoring of each PoE device can be used to detect suspicious activity — something which is difficult to do with wireless devices.
Finally, wired devices are immune to interference, and this allows thousands of devices to be closely positioned to each other. The use of cables also resists wireless jamming, meaning that smart spaces can be made extremely hardened against attacks.
What solutions exist in the LAN environment?
Fortunately for engineers, numerous LAN and WLAN solutions exist that can be implemented today to create smart spaces that provide high bandwidth while remaining resistant to security threats. One company that is notable for its networking solutions for IoT devices is Lantronix, which provides numerous solutions including System on Modules (SoM), network switches, and gateways.
For example, the XPCW1002100B is a serial-to-Wi-Fi module that is an extremely compact, low-power networking solution that enables IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN connectivity on virtually any solution with an SPI or serial interface. By reducing the complexity of wireless designs, the XPCW1002100B allows engineers to rapidly test and manufacture IoT devices and communicate over networks as if they were a physically connected serial port. For those looking for an ethernet solution, the XPC100100B-01 is extremely similar to the XPCW1002100B in that it provides a serial-to-network connection, but instead of connecting over WLAN it connects via LAN.
With regards to network connectivity, Lantronix also offers numerous solutions in gateways and switches with one example being the SGX5150020US. This device provides a 5GHz Wi-Fi network with internet connectivity via LAN, and such access points can help segregate networks while simultaneously providing wireless capabilities.
Overall, it is likely that future IoT smart spaces will utilize a fusion of cabled and wireless solutions to capitalize on the advantages of both technologies.
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