Skip to main content

How Wireless Technology is Evolving for IoT Apps

Smart home, beacon, wearable, and other nascent Internet of Things (IoT) applications -- including energy management and smart cities -- are to propel the wireless IoT connectivity market forward, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research.

The market's trend toward multi-protocol connectivity IC adoption will ease development time, boost scale, and reduce complexity and cost for manufacturers across these different sectors in the years ahead.

"2015 witnessed a growing trend toward the development of multi-protocol connectivity SoCs for the IoT, some of which support both Bluetooth Smart and 802.15.4," said Andrew Zignani, industry analyst at ABI Research.

ABI analysts believe the devices that incorporate multi-protocol chipsets will stand the tests of time. While a product might utilize Bluetooth in the short term, a device manufacturer may want to switch to Thread in the future or have the ability to talk to multiple connectivity protocols once deployed.

Demand for Multi-Protocol Semiconductors

Moving forward, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Thread technologies could coexist in a single device. ABI Research also expects to see a growing presence of smart home hubs that incorporate multiple connectivity solutions such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Smart, Z-Wave and 802.15.4 (ZigBee/Thread).

These solutions will have a significant role to play in the development and consolidation of wireless connectivity solutions for the smart home. These hubs are already being already offered by the likes of Google, Samsung, and Huawei.

ABI Research forecasts that Bluetooth smart home devices will show a 75 percent growth rate between 2016 and 2021, though 802.15.4-based ZigBee and Thread will lead with 34 percent volume share of the home automation and 29 percent of the smart lighting markets by this time.

The ZigBee/Thread technology will also see growth in smart metering, building automation, industrial applications, and in the street lighting market -- accounting for almost one third of 802.15.4 shipments by 2021.

Wireless Connectivity Market Development

A majority of fitness and activity trackers are utilizing Bluetooth Smart, with the solution extending to medical applications moving forward. It also promises significant opportunity for beacons across numerous verticals, such as retail and advertising -- with a 129 percent growth rate between 2016 and 2021.

However, looking ahead there will be increasing competition in the connectivity sphere across numerous IoT verticals. Wi-Fi HaLow, or 802.11ah, operating in the sub-1GHz band will be of increasing importance for the Wi-Fi Alliance and chipset suppliers over the coming years as it tries to target various IoT verticals with low-power requirements.

According to the ABI assessment, these solutions will also face new challenges from LPWAN technologies, such as Sigfox and LoRa, but most importantly, by emerging cellular technologies, such as NB-IOT and eMTC.

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

How Cloud Fuels Digital Business Transformation

Across the globe, many CEOs invested in initiatives to expand their digital offerings. User experience enhancements that are enabled by business technology were a priority in many industries. Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 21.7 percent to a total of $597.3 billion in 2023 -- that's up from $491 billion in 2022, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Cloud computing is driving the next phase of digital transformation, as organizations pursue disruption through technologies like generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web3, and enterprise Metaverse. Public Cloud Computing Market Development "Hyperscale cloud providers are driving the cloud agenda," said Sid Nag, vice president at Gartner . Organizations view cloud computing as a highly strategic platform for digital transformation initiatives, which requires providers to offer new capabilities as the competition for digital business escalates. "For example, generativ

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year