Sprechen Zie Wireless M-Bus? Parlez-Vouz 6LoWPAN?

What’s Next
We’re likely to continue to live in a wireless world populated by numerous communication networks (both standard and proprietary) that have evolved to be optimized for their particular application. Many engineers will continue to work with several different solutions to address all their system needs.

For many applications that require squeezing every ounce of battery life or performance out of components, proprietary solutions will likely continue to dominate. IP networks based on 6LoWPAN are gaining traction in many areas due to the desire to get data from wireless nodes onto the Web. In the metering market, neighborhood-area networks and meter-to-meter communications are getting pressure to migrate to standards-based networks from governments and utilities.

Bridges in many networks will be required to consolidate all the data pipes between devices: a wireless access point in your house has Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and possibly powerline communications (PLC). The smart meter may have a sub-gigahertz node along with a ZigBee PHY and PLC PHY. Your home security system probably has a proprietary network along with Ethernet and possibly Wi-Fi to connect to the Web.

Suppliers, designers, and end users will continue to live in a multi-protocol wireless world, mixing and matching standard and proprietary solutions driven by our critical customer and application requirements. One size doesn’t fit all, and we will continue to see a polyglot of protocols.