Comparing Modern Wireless Solutions
Some Modern Wireless Solutions
  • Bluetooth Classic
  • WiFi Direct
  • Near-Field Communication (NFC)
  • ​Bluetooth Low-Energy
  • ​ZigBee
  • ​6LoWPAN
  • ​WiFi
  • ​Cellular GSM/GPRS (2G/3G)
  • ​Cellular LTE (4G)
  • ​LoRa/LoRaWAN
Bluetooth Classic
-Peer-to-Peer wireless solution
-For short range applications e.g. headset, mouse keyboard etc
-Consumes less power compared to WiFi but more power BLE and Zigbee
 WiFi Direct
-Peer-to-Peer wireless solution
-Unlike traditional WiFi, it does not require an access point.
-It allows two devices to talk, similar to Bluetooth
-Hundred times faster than Bluetooth
-Consumes more power compare to Bluetooth
 Near-Field Communication (NFC)
-Very short range
-Uses electromagnetic fields shared between two coils to share information and power.
-Commonly used in contactless payment systems
 Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE)
-For short range, typically 10 – 30 meters
-For low bandwidth application e.g. sensor data
-Optimized for low power
-Peak current of consumption by chip during radio transmission is typically   under 15mA
-Speed can go as high as 2Mbps
-Allows mesh networking

ZigBee
-For short range
-Optimized for low power
-Allows mesh networking
-Speed can go as high as 250Kbps
-Primarily used for home automation
 6LoWPAN
-Stands for IPv6 Low Power Wireless Personal Area Network
-IP-base like WiFi
-Used in home automation applications

 Cellular GSM/GPRS (2G/3G)
-For long distance applications
-Voice, SMS and MMS, Video call, Internet
Cellular LTE (4G)
-For long distance applications
-Faster than GSM 2G/3G
-Voice, SMS and MMS, Video call, Internet
-HD mobile TV, gaming, conferencing etc.
LoRa/LoRaWAN
-LoRa stands for Long Range, LoRaWAN stands for Long Range Wide Area        Network
-LoRa is the underlying technology (modulating technique) and LoRaWAN is    the networking protocol stack on top of LoRa
-For long distance applications
-Optimized for low power
-For IoT applications

Conclusion

This is all there is for this 13 minutes introduction to modern wireless solutions. 
If you are really interested in learning how to professionally integrate these wireless solutions into your projects then take a look at our current courses on wireless firmware development.

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