As shown in the last article, among the challenges Brazilian companies face in implementing Industry 4.0 is the standardization of IoT protocols. However, two means of exchanging information have been gaining traction in industrial plants: ZigBee and Bluetooth.
“In addition to offering a lower initial investment for application, they communicate with mesh networks (the most common type in the industry) and they have proven to provide excellent performance in indoor environments”, explains Sandro Kirchner, Khomp’s manager of IoT products.
ZigBee
Recognized as the more mature technology in the industrial context, since it has been in use longer than the other protocols. ZigBee stands out for its low energy consumption and its operation at low transmission rates, making it ideal for monitoring and control applications.
Another advantage it offers is the capacity to repeat received signals. “This way, it is possible to spread information throughout the environment, bouncing from sensor to sensor, instead of connecting all of the sensors to a single point,” he explains.
According to the Brazilian portal Teleco, the ZigBee protocol offers better performance in control applications and networks of sensors (or with a great number of devices), that work with small packets of data or when battery life is a critical factor.
Bluetooth
Considered to be an evolution of ZigBee, but not a substitute, Bluetooth shares a series of characteristics with its predecessor.
“This protocol has been becoming more popular recently, since the release of version 5.0. Applied to mesh network infrastructures, this technology is different than the kind commonly used in our smartphones, because it uses less energy and has a greater range (low power, long range),” testifies Kirchner.
However, the fact that it is widely used in mobile devices makes Bluetooth an interesting option for integrating this type of equipment with IoT machines.
Find out more about the fourth industrial revolution!
If you would like to know more about this movement, the Khomp Blog is addressing it in a series of articles. The first responds to the question What is Industry 4.0? and the second What challenges does the Latin America market face in implementing the fourth industrial revolution?
And feel free to share your experiences in regard to this subject in our comments area!