13 mainstream wireless communication technologies -by C&T RF Antennas Inc

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13 mainstream wireless communication technologies
Written By Calio Huang
Wireless communication (data) transmission methods and technical principles:
Wireless communication is a communication method that utilizes the characteristics of
electromagnetic wave signals propagating in free space to exchange information. Wireless
communication technology has many advantages and low cost. Wireless communication
technology does not need to establish physical lines, and it does not need a lot of manpower to
lay cables. Moreover, wireless communication technology is not limited by the industrial
environment, and it has strong ability to resist environmental changes. Also relatively easy,
compared to the traditional wired communication setup and maintenance, wireless network
maintenance can be completed through remote diagnosis, more convenient; scalability is strong,
when the network needs to be expanded, wireless communication does not need to expand the
wiring; flexibility, wireless The network is not limited by the terrain of the environment, and
when the use environment changes, the wireless network can be adapted to the requirements of
the new environment with little adjustment.
Common wireless communication (data) transmission methods and technologies are divided into
two types: "close-range wireless communication technology" and "long-distance wireless
transmission technology."
1. Near-field wireless communication technology
Short (near) distance wireless communication technology means that both parties of the
communication transmit data through radio waves, and the transmission distance is within a
relatively short range. The application range is very wide. In recent years, the short-range
wireless communication standards that are widely used and have good development prospects
are Zig-Bee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ultra Wide Band (UWB) and Near Field Communication (NFC).
(1) Zig-Bee: Zig-Bee is a short-range, low-power wireless communication technology based on
the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Zig-Bee is derived from the communication method of the
honeybee group. Since the bee (Bee) flies through the wings of the “Zig”, the Bee determines
the direction, position, and distance of the food source, thus forming a bee. Group of
communication networks. Its characteristics are close distance, its normal transmission
distance is 10-100m; low power consumption, in the low power standby mode, 2 AA

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batteries can support 1 terminal work for 6-24 months, or even longer; its cost , Zig-Bee free
agreement fee, chip price is cheap; low rate, Zig-Bee often work in the lower rate of
20-250kbps; short delay, Zig-Bee's faster response and so on. It is mainly applicable to home
and building control, industrial field automation control, agricultural information collection
and control, information detection and control in public places, smart labels, etc., and can be
embedded in various devices.
(2) Bluetooth: It is able to realize point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless data and sound
transmission within a radius of 10 meters. Its data transmission bandwidth is up to 1 Mbps.
Communication media is between 2.402 GHz and 2.480 GHz. Electromagnetic wave.
Bluetooth technology can be widely used in various types of data and voice devices in local
area networks, such as PCs, dial-up networks, notebook computers, printers, fax machines,
digital cameras, mobile phones, and high-quality headsets. Communication.
Bluetooth technology is widely used in the wireless office environment, automotive industry,
information appliances, medical equipment, school education, and factory automation.
Bluetooth is currently the main problem with high chip size and price, and weak anti-interference
ability. ,
(3) Wireless Broadband (Wi-Fi): It is a wireless LAN access technology based on the 802.11
protocol. (Wi-Fi) technology has an outstanding advantage that it has a wider LAN coverage,
its coverage radius is about 100 meters, compared to Bluetooth technology, (Wi-Fi) coverage
is wide; transmission speed is very fast, its The transmission speed can reach 11mbps
(802.11b) or 54mbps (802.11.a), which is suitable for high-speed data transmission services.
It does not require wiring, and it is not limited by the wiring conditions, which is very suitable
for the needs of mobile office users. In some densely populated places, such as train stations,
bus stations, shopping malls, airports, libraries, campuses, etc., ‘hot spots’ can be set up, and
the Internet can be accessed to these places through high-speed lines. Users only need to
support the wireless network terminal equipment in the area, you can access the Internet at
high speed; health and safety, WiFi-enabled products transmit power does not exceed 100
milliwatts, the actual transmission power of about 60-70 milliwatts, and mobile phones,
Handheld radios and other communications equipment, WiFi products, radiation is smaller.
(4) Ultra-Wideband (UWB): UWB is a carrierless communication technology that uses
nanosecond to picosecond non-sinusoidal narrow pulses to transmit data. Its transmission
distance is usually within 10M, and the use of 1 GHz or more bandwidth enables
communication speeds. Reaching hundreds of megabits/s or more, UWB operates from
3.1GHz to 10.6GHz and has a minimum operating bandwidth of 500MHz.
Its main features are high transmission rate; low transmission power, low power consumption;
strong confidentiality; UWB communication adopts time-adjusted sequences, can resist
multi-path fading; UWB requires few RF and microwave devices, which can reduce the system's
Complexity. Due to the high bandwidth occupied by the UWB system, the UWB system may
interfere with other existing wireless communication systems. UWB is mainly used in
high-resolution "smaller" radar and image systems that can penetrate walls, such as obstacles on
the ground.
This device can be used to inspect defects in concrete and asphalt structures in buildings, bridges,

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and roads, as well as locate faults in underground cables and other pipelines, as well as in disease
diagnosis. In addition, there are many applications in areas such as rescue, security, fire and
medical, and medical image processing.
(5) NFC: NFC is a new short-range wireless communication technology. Its operating frequency
is 13.56 MHz, which is developed from radio frequency identification (RFID) technology of 13.56
MHz. It is connected with the currently popular non-contact smart card ISO14443. The same
frequency is used, which provides a convenient means of communication for all consumer
electronics products. NFC adopts amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation, and its data
transmission rate is generally 106 kbit/s and 424 kbit/s. The main advantages of NFC are
proximity, high bandwidth, low energy consumption, compatibility with non-contact smart card
technology, and wide application value in such fields as access control, public transportation, and
mobile payment.
NFC application scenarios can be basically divided into the following five categories:
A contact-passing, mainly used in conference admission, traffic checkpoints, access control and
competition tickets;
B contact-confirmation / payment, mainly used in mobile wallets, mobile and bus payment;
C contact-connection, this application can realize two NFC-enabled devices to achieve
point-to-point data transmission;
D Touch-Browse, users can learn and use the functions and services provided by the system
through NFC mobile phones;
E Download - contact, through NFC-enabled terminal devices, use GPRS/CDMA network to
receive or download related information for access control or payment functions.
2, long-distance wireless transmission technology
Long-distance wireless transmission technology: At present, wireless communication
technologies widely used in remote areas include GPRS/CDMA, data transmission radios, spread
spectrum microwaves, wireless bridges, satellite communications, and shortwave communication
technologies. It is mainly used in areas that are more remote or unsuitable for laying lines, such
as coal mines, seas, polluted areas, or areas with the poor environment.
(1) GPRS/CDMA wireless communication technology: GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a
wireless packet switching technology developed and operated by China Mobile based on the
GSM communication system and is a technology between the second and third generations.
It is commonly referred to as 2.5G. It is a wireless transmission method developed using the
concept of packet switching. Packet switching encapsulates data into a number of
independent packets. These packets are then transmitted one by one. The format is similar
to that of sending parcels. The advantage is that the data bandwidth will be occupied when
there is data to be transmitted, and it is based on data volume. Improve the utilization of the
network. The GPRS network supports both circuit-type data and packet-switched data so that
the GPRS network can be easily connected to the Internet. Compared with the
circuit-switched data transmission method of the original GSM network, the GRRS
packet-switching technology has real-time on-line billing. High-speed transmission and other
advantages.
CDMA (acronym for Code Division Multiple Access) is a new wireless communication system

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based on code division technology and multiple access technology operated by China Telecom. Its
principle is based on spread spectrum technology.
(2) Digital radio communication: A digital radio is an abbreviation of a digital wireless data
transmission station. It is a wireless data transmission station that uses digital signal processing,
digital modulation and demodulation, forward error correction, balanced soft decision and other
functions. Most of the operating frequencies of data radio stations use 220--240MHz or
400--470MHz frequency bands, with digital compatibility, good real-time data transmission,
dedicated data transmission channels, an investment, no operating fees, suitable for harsh
environments, and stability. Good advantages. The effective coverage radius of a digital radio
station is about tens of kilometers. It can cover a city or a certain area. Digital radio stations
usually provide a standard RS-232 data interface that can be directly connected to computers,
data collectors, RTUs, PLCs, data terminals, GPS receivers, digital cameras, etc. Has been widely
used in various industries, in aerospace, railway, electricity, petroleum, meteorology, seismic and
other industries have applications, in the remote control, telemetry, rocker, remote sensing and
other SCADA field has also made considerable progress and development.
Spectrum microwave communication: Spread spectrum communication, that is, spread spectrum
communication technology refers to a communication technology in which the bandwidth of the
signal used for transmitting information is much larger than the bandwidth of the information
itself. It was first used for military communications. The basic principle of its transmission is to
use the pseudo random code sequence (spreading code) to modulate the transmitted
information. The rate of the pseudo random code is much greater than the rate of transmitting
information. At this time, the occupied bandwidth of the transmitted signal is much larger than
that required by the information itself. Bandwidth achieves spectral spread, and the spectral
density of radio power transmitted to space is also greatly reduced. At the receiving end, the
same spreading code is used to perform the correlation demodulation and recover the
information data! Its main features are strong anti-noise ability; strong anti-interference ability;
strong anti-fading ability; strong resistance to multi-path interference; easy to multimedia
Communication network; has a good safety communication capabilities; does not interfere with
other systems of the same type, and has the characteristics of long transmission distance, wide
coverage, and is particularly suitable for field networking applications.
(3) Wireless bridge: the Wireless bridge is a combination of wireless radio technology and
traditional wired bridge technology. Wireless bridges are designed for point-to-point
interconnections between wireless (microwave) long-distance data transmissions. It is a storage
and forwarding device that implements LAN interconnection at the link layer and can be used to
establish long-distance (up to 50Km) and high-speed (up to 100Mbps) wireless networking
between fixed digital devices and other fixed digital devices. Both the spread spectrum
microwave and wireless bridge technologies can be used to transmit large-data-quantity signal
transmission services such as video surveillance, which require high bandwidth.
(4) Satellite communication: Satellite communication refers to a technology that uses an artificial
earth satellite as a relay station to relay radio signals to realize communication between multiple
ground stations. It is the inheritance and development of terrestrial microwave communication.
Satellite communication systems usually consist of two parts, namely the satellite end and the

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ground end. The satellite is in the air and is mainly used to amplify the signal sent by the ground
station and forward it to other ground stations. Ground stations are mainly used to control
satellites, track satellites, and enable terrestrial communication systems to access satellite
communication systems.
Satellites can be divided into geosynchronous satellites and non-synchronous satellites. The
direction and period of operation of geosynchronous satellites in the air are the same as the
rotation direction and cycle of the Earth. From any position on the ground, the satellites are
stationary; the operation of non-synchronous satellites. Periods greater than or less than the
Earth's operating cycle, the orbital height "dip" shape can be adjusted as needed.
The characteristics of satellite communication are wide coverage, wide working frequency
bandwidth, good communication quality, free from geographical conditions, costs and
communication distance irrelevant. It is mainly used in the fields of international communications,
domestic communications, military communications, mobile communications and radio and
television. The main disadvantage of satellite communications is that communications have
certain delays. For example, when they use satellite phones, they cannot hear each other
immediately, mainly because they are satellites. The transmission distance of communication is
long and there is a certain delay in the transmission of radio waves in the air.
(5) Short-wave communication: According to the division of the International Radio Consultative
Committee, short-wavelength refers to an electromagnetic wave with a wavelength of 100 m to
10 m and a frequency of 3 MHz to 30 MHz. Short-wave communication refers to the use of
short-wave radio communications, also known as high-frequency (HF) communications.
Shortwave communication can be divided into ground wave propagation and skywave
propagation. The attenuation of ground wave propagation increases as the operating frequency
increases. Under the same ground conditions, the higher the frequency, the greater the
attenuation. The use of ground waves is only suitable for short-range communications, and its
operating frequency is generally selected below 5 MHz. The ground wave propagation is affected
by the weather, is relatively stable, and the channel parameters do not change with time, so the
channel can be regarded as a constant reference channel. Skywave propagation is the way in
which radio waves are reflected by the ionosphere for long-distance communication. After the
obliquely projected electromagnetic waves are reflected by the ionosphere, they can be
transmitted to the ground thousands of kilometers away. Skywave's propagation loss is much
smaller than that of ground wave. After multiple reflections between the ground and the
ionosphere, it can reach extremely far. Therefore, Skywave can be used for global
communications. Sky wave propagation is extremely unstable due to ionospheric changes and
multipath propagation. Its channel parameters change drastically over time and are therefore
referred to as a variable reference channel. Shortwave communication is characterized by low
construction and maintenance costs, short cycle, simple equipment, easy circuit scheduling,
strong anti-destroy capability, narrow frequency band, small communication capacity, and poor
signal transmission stability of sky-wave channel.
Comparing various mainstream wireless communication technologies
Currently popular wireless communication technologies include RFID, GPRS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
(IEEE 802.11 protocol), IrDA, UWB, Zig-Bee and NFC, Huawei Hilink protocol, Mesh, Thread,

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Z-Wave, and LiFi.
1, RFID
RFID is a simple wireless system with only two basic components that are used to control, detect
and track objects. The system consists of an interrogator and many transponders.
Transponder: It is composed of an antenna, a coupling element and a chip. Generally speaking, a
tag is used as a transponder. Each tag has a unique electronic code and is attached to an object to
identify a target object.
Reader: A device that consists of an antenna, a coupling element, and a chip that reads
(sometimes writes) tag information and can be designed as a handheld RFID device.
Application software system: It is an application layer software. It mainly deals with the collected
data and is used by people.
2, GPRS
The following figure shows the structure of a typical GPRS system. Through the connection
between the monitoring center and the Internet, it can support some more complex applications.
In addition, it supports more communication methods, enabling users to monitor actual
application points at any time and in any place. The solution also allows the monitoring center to
communicate with multiple GPRS modules simultaneously to monitor multiple work sites.
3, Bluetooth/IEEE 802.15.1 agreement
Bluetooth technology was first started in 1994 and developed by Sweden Ericsson. It adopts
Frequency-hopping Spread Spectrum and the communication frequency band is 2.402G
Hz-2.480GHz. Up to now, 9 versions have been updated, namely Bluetooth
1.0/1.1/1.2/2.0/2.1/3.0/4.0/4.1/4.2, and the communication radius extends from a few meters to
several hundred meters.
When WeChat and Baidu Cloud are not yet popular, we are always accustomed to turning on
Bluetooth devices in mobile phones and sharing the fun and good things on mobile phones with
friends around us. Bluetooth technology is widely used in mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile
devices, PCs, GPS devices and a large number of wireless peripheral devices (Bluetooth headsets,
Bluetooth keyboards, etc.).
Bluetooth technology also follows the development of the Internet of Things. The latest
Bluetooth 4.2 data transfer rate up to 1Mbps, more powerful privacy features Ipv6 network
support. In the field of smart homes, Bluetooth devices using the Bluetooth Smart technology
may not be able to communicate between devices and devices. This can solve the case of sudden
disconnection without WiFi, smart home devices will still be able to continue working.
Advantages: Fast speed, low power consumption, high security.
Disadvantages: There are few network nodes and it is not suitable for multi-point deployment.
The Bluetooth system consists of a wireless unit, a link controller, a link manager, and a support
unit provided to the host interface function.
The Bluetooth wireless unit is a microwave frequency hopping spread spectrum communication
system in which data and voice information packets are sent and received at the specified
frequency hopping frequencies. The hopping sequence is determined by the address of the
master device, and the channel connection is established by paging and inquiry. The link control
(baseband controller) includes the hardware portion of the baseband digital signal processing

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and completes the baseband protocol and other underlying link procedures. The Link Manager
(LM) software implements link establishment, verification, link configuration, and protocols. The
link manager can discover other link managers and establish communication links through the
connection management protocol LMP. The link manager implements the above functions
through the services provided by the link controller.
4, Wi-Fi
The full name Wireless-Fidelity, wireless fidelity, is a standard in wireless local area networks
(WLAN). Since its launch in 1999, it has been one of the more commonly used ways of accessing
the Internet in our lives. WiFi technology usually uses 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz surrounding frequency
bands. By connecting a wireless router through a wired network, the wired signal can be
converted into a WiFi signal. The WiFi standard family also has 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and
802.11n.
The WiFi 802.11ah WiFi standard announced in 2016 by the WiFi Alliance has enabled WiFi to be
used in more places such as Small-sized, battery-powered wearable devices are also suitable for
deployment in industrial facilities, and in both cases. The application between. HarLow uses the
900MHz band, which is lower than the current WiFi 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Lower power
consumption, while HarLow's coverage can reach 1km, the signal is stronger, and it is not easily
disturbed. These features make WiFi more responsive to the development of the Internet of
Things.
Advantages: Wide coverage, fast data transfer rate.
Disadvantages: poor transmission security, poor stability, slightly higher power consumption, and
poor networking. The design of the Wi-Fi scheme is relatively simple compared to other schemes.
It only needs to control the WIFI module through the MCU, communicate with the main board
through the CAN bus, and then transmit the message to the Internet through the WIFI module.
By connecting to the server, the server then processes the data.
5, IrDA
Infrared communication mainly consists of three parts:
(1) Transmitter part: At present, the information sources of infrared wireless digital
communication systems include voice, data, and images.
(2) Channels: Their role is: shaping, filtering, field of view transformation, frequency band
division.
(3) Terminal part: The terminal part of the infrared wireless digital communication system
includes the light receiving part, sampling, filtering, decision, quantization, equalization and
decoding.
6, UWB
UWB (Ultra Wideband) is a carrierless communication technology that uses nanosecond to
picosecond nonsinusoidal narrow pulses to transmit data. By transmitting very low-power signals
over a wide spectrum, UWB can achieve data transfer rates of hundreds of Mbit/s to several
Gbit/s in a range of about 10 meters.
7, Zig-Bee/802.15.4 agreement
Technology is a two-way wireless communication technology that is close-range, low-complexity,
low-power, low-rate, and low-cost. It is mainly used for data transmission between various

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electronic devices with short distance, low power consumption and low transmission rate, and
typical applications with periodic data, intermittent data, and low latency data transmission.
8, NFC
Like RFID, NFC information is also transmitted through the electromagnetic induction coupling of
the radio frequency part of the spectrum, but there is still a big difference between the two. First
of all, NFC is a wireless connection technology that provides easy, secure, and rapid
communications with a smaller transmission range than RFID. Second, NFC is compatible with
existing contactless smart card technology and has become an official standard that is supported
by more and more major vendors. Again, NFC is a short-range connection protocol that provides
easy, secure, fast, and automatic communication between various devices. Compared with other
connection methods in the wireless world, NFC is a close-range private communication method.
9, Li-Fi technology
Optical fidelity technology is a new wireless transmission technology that utilizes visible light
spectrum (such as light emitted from a light bulb) for data transmission. It was invented by Prof.
Harald Hass, University of Edinburgh, UK. LiFi is equivalent to Wi-Fi's visible light wireless
communication (VLC) technology, which utilizes lightwave transmission data from light emitting
diode (LED) bulbs to provide lighting and wireless networking at the same time without
electromagnetic interference, helping to alleviate current network traffic bursts. Increased
questions. Li-Fi is considered as a new generation of wireless transmission technology. It uses
visible light communication technology (VLC) to realize the information transmission over the
Internet. Li-Fi uses a variety of visible light sources as the signal emission source to control the
on/off of light through the controller, thereby controlling the communication between the light
source and the terminal receiver.
Currently, measured in the commercial environment Li-Fi can reach 10Gbps transmission rate, far
more than the current Wi-Fi transmission speed. However, it should be noted that the current
Li-Fi technology has certain limitations, including limited transmission range (about 3 meters), if
the light is blocked or the light source disappears, the network signal will be cut off and other
drawbacks. Therefore, insiders say that the commercialization of Li-Fi technology will take at least
three to four years.
10. Huawei Hilink Protocol
Huawei has launched a self-developed "three-piece" smart home - Hilink protocol, Huawei-LiteOS
system, and IOT chip. At present, various Internet end-users' interconnection and interoperability
agreements in the market have been put into competition, but they do not seem to be friendly to
each other. They are isolated from each other and are behind closed doors. The Hilink protocol is
known as “Putonghua” among smart devices. It can automatically discover devices and connect
them in one click. It is also compatible with ZigBee, WiFi and Bluetooth protocols.
11. Mesh/IEEE 802.11s protocol
The Wireless Mesh Network, known as the cheap "Last Mile" broadband access scheme, utilizes a
multi-hop wireless mesh architecture to provide broadband access for mobile users. Mesh is a
combination of WLAN and mobile Ad Hoc (peer-to-peer) networks. Compared with the WLAN,
each network terminal can perform direct communication between peers, and no longer needs
to be forwarded by the AP (base station), and the coverage is larger. Compared with Ad Hoc, due

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to the fixed and power-supply backbone routers, there is no need to consider too much in terms
of mobility and power consumption.
Advantages: Fast network deployment, no complicated configuration; stable network, any node is
broken, does not affect data transmission from other devices; network coverage is wide and can
be connected with multiple broadband wireless access technologies (such as WLAN, WiMAX,
UWB, 3G, etc.) The combination of them forms a larger multi-hop network structure.
Disadvantages: With a certain degree of delay, it is not suitable for real-time monitoring
applications, and the network capacity is limited.
12, Thread / IEEE 802.15.4 agreement
Thread and ZigBee belong to 802.15.4 but have made great improvements for 802.15.4. The
thread is a protocol built on top of IPv6. It does a great job of optimizing transmission security
and system reliability. It can carry the AllSeen of Qualcomm Haier's dozens of enterprise groups
and the Internet of Things, and it can also support Apple's Homekit smart home platform.
Google’s Nest decided to use Thread as the only communication protocol for the household’s
Internet of Things. Nest’s industry alliance was subsequently launched. Alliance members
promoted the Thread agreement. Thread short-range communication is also promising.
13, Z-Wave agreement
The Z-Wave wireless networking specification was introduced in 2004, led by Denmark's chip and
software developer Zensys, and the Z-wave Alliance promotes its application. Z-Wave operates at
908.42MHz in the United States and 868.42MHz in Europe and uses wireless mesh network
technology. Therefore, any node can directly or indirectly communicate with other neighboring
nodes in the communication range. Data rates include 9.6kbps and 40kbps. Output power is
1mW and 0 dBm. The effective coverage of the signal is 30m indoors and over 100m outdoors.
Z-Wave is an emerging RF-based, low-cost, low-power, high-reliability, short-range,
narrow-bandwidth application.
Z-Wave focuses on home automation. It is more popular in European and American countries. It
enters the Chinese market later than Zigbee, and its market share is far behind Zigbee. Because
of the frequency band division, although it can develop in China, it is also cautious.
Advantages: Simple structure, low speed, low power consumption, low cost, long transmission
distance and high reliability relative to ZigBee.
Disadvantages: The standard is not open, the chip can only be obtained through the sole source
of Sigma Designs.
The applicable frequency bands, modulation modes, maximum range, data rate, and application
fields of various wireless communication technologies. The role of these wireless communication
technologies is related to the data rate. The higher the data rate, the shorter the working
distance. Network technology can be used to extend the reach while still maintaining data rates.

13 mainstream wireless communication technologies -by C&T RF Antennas Inc

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