At the moment, the Internet of Things has some communications issues.
Unless you shop carefully, you might end up with a smart garage door opener that can’t converse with your security camera, or a smart door lock that won’t talk to your alarm system. The set of connected light bulbs in your hallway might not be on speaking terms with the ones in the living room, and your basement flood detector probably couldn’t get a message through to your smart TV.
Ideally, these devices would simply have a standard way to communicate, so users wouldn’t have to worry about making sure every product works together. Some companies, such as Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Intel, are now trying to figure out how to make that happen.
Even so, the ambitious goal of a common Internet of Things language is starting to seem like a Tower of Babel. Over the last year, tech titans like Apple, Google, and Amazon have built up their own ways of connecting to vast numbers of smart home products, and these companies have shown little interest in standardization. As these platforms gain traction, is it too late for a unified language to take hold?
Waves And Words
The notion of interoperability in IoT devices typically refers to one of two different issues, which can sometimes get conflated.
First, there’s the networking layer, which determines how devices connect to one another through the airwaves. Some devices use well-established standards such Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, while a power-efficient alternative called 802.15.4 forms the basis of other protocols such as ZigBee and Thread. Each method has strengths and limitations, but because each requires a separate radio, it’s rare to see a single smart home product supporting more than one or two protocols.
Although the networking layer is a conundrum in itself, it already has a partial solution in “hub” or “bridge” devices, which act as switchboards for products that use different networking protocols. Philips Hue lightbulbs, for instance, use the ZigBee protocol to connect with a bridge device, which then connects to Wi-Fi for control by smartphone or tablet. We’re even starting to see bridge-like features built into wireless routers, such as Google’s OnHub.