IoT Protocols for Low-power Massive IoT: A Communication Perspective

The constantly growing number of resource-limited MTC (Machine-Type Communication) devices is challenging both the telecommunication operators as well as industrial companies to efficiently design communication technologies, protocols, and end-devices for data transmissions in the upcoming 5G and beyond wireless communication networks. As the communication technologies for mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications)/massive IoT (Internet of Things) attracted significant attention over the past years due to the extended communication range and improved lifetime of battery-operated devices, the debate turned from the communication parameters of available Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) technologies towards the implementation issues related to efficient data transmissions with respect to certain level of Quality of Service (QoS). In this regard, this paper aims to analyze already introduced communication protocols (i.e., TCP, UDP, CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol), and MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport)) possible to use for data transmission in massive IoT scenarios. Along with the highlights of the protocols in question, a practical implementation is done using the emerging cellular IoT standard, namely, NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT). Out of the obtained data, the focus is primarily given to the side-by-side comparison of protocols' overheads and the subsequent data usage as the amount of transmitted data is deriving the monthly fees.