IoT devices | IoT device categories class 0,1,2
This page describes IoT devices used for various applications e.g. retail, healthcare, transport, energy management etc.It mentions categories of IoT devices which include class 0, class 1 and class 2.
As we know Internet of Things provides features which makes it possible for people and things to communicate via internet highway. They communicate and reach to internet highway for data storage and internet applications using various wireless or wired infrastructure.
Figure-1 depicts internal blocks of a typical IoT device. Refer cellular IoT for more information.
IoT devices are classified into two classes based on capability and ability to communicate.
➨ The first class of IoT devices handle the sensors/transducers. They do not communicate with the server.
Data from these IoT devices can be transmitted to server using gateway devices.
Typically they use zigbee, NFC, Bluetooth and RFID standards for communication.
These class of devices are battery operated. They are portable devices.
Hence they require low power wireless technologies as mentioned above.
They take care of single sensors. They handle data volume of less size.
➨ The second class of IoT devices directly communicate to central servers for data storage.
It supports IPv6 protocol.
This class of devices use powerful processors. They are not constrained by battery power.
They also support gateway functionalities where in they support different types of communication ports such as
DSL, FTTH, WiFi etc.
They support multiple sensor devices.
IoT devices are further classified based on their functionalities into constrained devices and unconstrained devices. Constrained devices usually will have restrictions on memory and power supply need. There are further categorized into class 0, class 1 and class 2 as mentioned in the table-1 below.
Classes of contrained IoT devices-Class 0, Class 1, Class 2
| Class | RAM | Flash | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class 0 | < 1 KB | < 100 KB | Use Gateway for basic communication need |
| Class 1 | Approx. 10 KB | Approx. 100 KB | Use protocol stack as per IoT devicesusing CoAP. Interact with other devices without the need of gateway |
| Class 2 | Approx. 50 KB | Approx. 250 KB | These devices support regular IPV4 and IPv6 protocol. They function similar to other network devices. |
IoT Wireless Technologies
➤WLAN ➤THREAD ➤EnOcean ➤LoRa ➤SIGFOX ➤WHDI ➤Zigbee ➤6LoWPAN ➤Zigbee RF4CE ➤Z-Wave ➤NFC ➤RFID ➤Lonworks ➤CEBus ➤UPB