Physical layer aspects of wireless IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) is receiving important attention from industries and research communities as an important enabler for Fifth Generation (5G) of wireless communications. It has a wide range of application areas ranging from telecommunications to building smart communities, which will improve various aspects of our everyday lives. However, designing IoT-enabled wireless networks which can deliver a variety of services with desirable quality of experience under energy/resource constrained practical wireless scenarios is crucial. One of the important aspects here is to design the physical (PHY) layer of IoT-based wireless systems considering the practical constraints of energy efficiency, spectral efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and Quality of Service (QoS). In this regard, this paper provides an overview of the related existing works from the PHY layer perspective. Various PHY layer enabling techniques are highlighted and the PHY layer aspects of different IoT enabled wireless networks are discussed. Finally, it provides some interesting research issues and future recommendations.