CODEWITHSUNDEEP
network-programmingembedded-linuxgsmzigbee
ebnius
ebnius

Reputation: 930

Wide Area Network for embedded systems without cellular or internet

I'm looking into how one would create a network of embedded systems. What I'd like to achieve is for a device (basically a chip with network capabilities) to directly send data to a server but not use the internet(tcp/ip) or cellular data(like GSM etc).

I don't have much expertise in this field. Most of the networking protocols I've seen like ZigBee are designed for a Local Area Networks. Wide Area Network can be achieved perhaps over mesh or hoping etc. But is there a known protocol for long range networking, say for sensors, assuming there aren't low power constraints?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 101

Answers (3)

Nebojsa Mrmak
Nebojsa Mrmak

Reputation: 128

The choice of networking technologies depends on many factors, such as range, power constraints, bandwidth requirements and so on.

User Raber already pointed out that you could look into LoRa / LoRaWAN. Since nobody else mentioned it yet, my suggestion is to also have a look at SigFox technology, which is slightly different from LoRa in what it offers and their business model.

Upvotes: 0

Raber
Raber

Reputation: 2080

I would look into LoRa which is designed with these requirements in mind. You still need infrastructure for that (gateways, network servers), you could roll out your own or (in urbanized areas) use pre-existing one like TTN.

Upvotes: 0

Mick
Mick

Reputation: 25491

I am guessing you want to avoid the internet and GSM, not because you have anything against the protocols but because you want your solution to work without having to rely these networks.

If so then you don't have to rule out TCP/IP as this can be used in private networks also.

From your description it sounds like the closest thing that would meet your needs would be a satellite based communications system. So long as you are not worried about price, power and to a certain extend size, then your sensors can communicate from anywhere using satellite links.

There are also HAP - High Altitude Platforms. These are essentially like low flying Satellites, or high flying planes/blimps, so don't have the same coverage but need less power for a given communication bandwidth. If you search for 'High Altitude Platform Networking' you should find plenty of examples such as the following which is an up to date summary of the technology at the time of writing:

As mentioned above, many if not all of these systems will support IP based communication protocols on top of their lower layers. Unless you really have some issue with the protocols themselves, it seems sensible to use them as there is such a wealth of experience, tools etc associated with IP communications, and using them does not make you dependent on the wider 'Internet'.

Its also worth mentioning that a common pattern is to have local groups of sensors communicate with each other and or with a gateway and the gateway then communicate over the long link back to your server. This allows the individual device be smaller, cheaper, lower power etc. This may not match your requirements if you are not likey to have clusters of sensors, however.

If you search for satellite sensor networks you may find you get a lot of hits for the gateway case mentioned above. This article 'A Survey of Architectures and Scenarios in Satellite-Based Wireless Sensor Networks: System Design Aspects' looks to be a good overview which includes HAPs also and it is available to download form this site at the time of writing:

Upvotes: 1

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