"Low-power wireless communications" refers to a class of wireless communication technologies and protocols designed to consume as little power as possible while transmitting data. These communication technologies focus on providing low power consumption, long life and An energy-efficient solution suitable for many application scenarios, especially those devices and systems that have strict requirements on battery life and energy efficiency.

Foreword introduction

The emergence of low-power wireless communications can be traced to the following historical backgrounds:

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Popularity of mobile devices: With the popularity of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices, there is an increasing demand for low-power wireless communications. These devices require long battery life while being able to transmit data and communicate wirelessly.

Rise of the Internet of Things: With the development of the Internet of Things, more and more devices and sensors need to be interconnected. Because these devices are often distributed in various environments and run for a long time, low-power wireless communication becomes a key element to connect and manage these devices.

Importance of energy management: For wireless communication devices, energy management is critical. Traditional wireless communication technologies perform poorly in terms of power consumption and cannot meet the needs of long-term operation of devices. Therefore, there is a demand for wireless communication technologies with low power consumption to reduce energy consumption and extend battery life.

Environmental protection and sustainable development: In the context of environmental protection and sustainable development, energy conservation and energy efficiency have become the focus of attention in various industries. Low-power wireless communication technologies can reduce energy consumption, reduce environmental impact, and promote sustainable development.

Development of wireless communication standards: With the continuous evolution and development of wireless communication standards, new communication technologies and protocols have gradually emerged, focusing on providing low-power wireless communication capabilities. For example, the emergence of wireless communication standards such as BLE, Zigbee, and LoRa provides a technical basis for low-power wireless communication

Low-power wireless communication technology features

Low-power transmission: low-power modulation and modulation techniques are used to reduce the energy consumption required for transmission.

Low Power Reception: Design efficient receiver circuits to reduce power consumption at the receiving end and use sleep modes where possible to reduce power consumption.

Sleep mode and wake-up mechanism: The device enters sleep mode when it is not required to communicate to reduce power consumption, and uses an external event or timer to wake the device to communicate.

Data compression and optimization: use data compression and optimization algorithms to reduce the amount of data transmitted, thereby reducing the energy consumption of communication.

7 Common Low-Power Wireless Communication Applications

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE): BLE is a low-power Bluetooth technology that uses low-power modulation methods and modulation techniques, such as efficient Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK) modulation. BLE devices can enter sleep mode in an inactive state and wake up only when communication is required, thereby reducing power consumption. It is specially designed for IoT and low-power applications, and the BLE protocol has the ability to quickly connect and quickly disconnect, to return to low-power mode as soon as possible after the data transfer is complete. It provides low power consumption, fast connection and data transmission capabilities in short-distance communication.

Zigbee: Zigbee is a low-power, low-data-rate wireless communication technology that uses the low-power IEEE 802.15.4 standard and uses the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communication method to To reduce power consumption, Zigbee devices can reduce power consumption by adjusting sleep and wake-up cycles, and only communicate during specific time periods. At the same time, devices in the Zigbee network can perform adaptive power control according to network load and communication requirements to minimize power consumption . It is suitable for IoT and sensor networks, supporting multi-device interconnection and ad hoc networks.

Z-Wave: Z-Wave is a low-power wireless communication technology designed specifically for smart homes and the Internet of Things. It provides long-distance communication and high reliability, suitable for connecting various smart home devices.

LoRa (Long Range): LoRa is a long-distance, low-power wireless communication technology that uses long-distance spread spectrum modulation technology to use lower power levels during transmission, thereby reducing power consumption. LoRa devices feature a low-power receiver design and the ability to enter sleep mode when not communicating to minimize power consumption. Suitable for IoT and sensor networks. Generally, devices in a LoRa network can make adaptive adjustments to power and transmission rates according to communication distance and transmission requirements to optimize power consumption and communication performance. It enables wide-area coverage and long battery life.

Sigfox: Sigfox is a global Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology for connecting low power devices and IoT applications. It provides low power consumption, long-distance communication, and is suitable for low data rate applications.

NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT): NB-IoT is a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technology based on cellular networks and designed for IoT applications. The circuit design of these communication interfaces is usually optimized for power consumption, using low-power hardware design to minimize energy consumption. During data transmission, the power consumption can be reduced by using appropriate communication rate and modulation method, as well as using low power consumption algorithms and protocols.

SPI/SOC/UART: SPI, SOC and UART are serial communication interfaces and integrated circuits for data transmission between devices, they play an important role in low-power wireless communication, and are related to communication interfaces of wireless modules or sensors, SPI, SOC, and UART enable efficient data transmission and communication while featuring low power consumption.

Relatd article :RS232/RS485 serial port communication introduction

The Importance of Low-Power Wireless Communication

Low-power wireless communication plays an important role in the data collection and transmission process of the Internet of Things, which is embodied in the following aspects:

Energy-efficient data collection: IoT devices usually need to collect data from the environment, sensors or devices, and transmit it to a central server or other devices for processing and analysis. Low-power wireless communication technology allows the device to minimize energy consumption during data acquisition. For example, the use of low-power sensors, optimized data acquisition algorithms, and appropriate data compression and packetization techniques can reduce data transmission volume and energy consumption.

Long battery life: IoT devices are often powered by batteries, so extending battery life is critical to the reliable operation of the device. Low-power wireless communication technology achieves long battery life by reducing the power consumption of devices during communication. The device goes into sleep mode during periods of inactivity, only waking up when it needs to transfer data. Additionally, intelligent power management and sleep scheduling policies help devices reduce energy consumption without sacrificing communication performance.

Long-distance communication: IoT involves communication between multiple devices, sometimes across large distances. Low-power wireless communication technologies such as LoRa have long-distance communication capabilities and maintain a low power consumption level during communication. This enables IoT devices to collect and transmit data over a wide area without requiring excessive energy.

Network coverage and interconnectivity: Low-power wireless communication technologies such as Zigbee provide the ability to build ad hoc networks and interconnect multiple devices. Through optimized communication protocols and power control strategies, IoT devices can achieve reliable communication in low-power modes and be able to connect and exchange data efficiently. This provides a feasible solution for large-scale device deployment in IoT applications.

Are low-power wireless communication and long-distance wireless communication contradictory?

Low-power wireless communication mainly focuses on realizing short-distance wireless communication on the premise of saving energy and extending battery life. It is usually used in scenarios such as sensor networks, smart homes, and health monitoring in the Internet of Things, where the data transmission rate is relatively low and the communication range is relatively short.

The long-distance wireless communication technology focuses on providing wide-area communication capabilities, enabling devices to communicate wirelessly over longer distances. This type of technology is usually used in applications that need to cover a wide area in the Internet of Things, such as urban intelligence, agricultural monitoring, environmental monitoring, etc. Long-distance wireless communication technology has advantages in communication distance, but usually at the expense of certain power consumption.

Although there is a trade-off relationship between low power consumption and long-distance to some extent, the continuous development and innovation of technology enables some wireless communication technologies to take into account the needs of low power consumption and long-distance communication to a certain extent. For example, LoRa technology has the ability to communicate over long distances and operates in a low-power mode, making it a common solution in IoT applications.

Therefore, low-power wireless communication and long-distance wireless communication are not mutually exclusive, but choose the appropriate technology to meet the communication requirements according to different application requirements and scenarios

Low-power wireless communication VS long-range wireless communication

Power Consumption Level: The design goal of low-power wireless communication technology is to maintain the reliability of communication while minimizing power consumption. It employs a series of energy-saving strategies, such as sleep mode, power regulation and optimized data transmission method, to achieve long battery life and low power consumption communication. The long-distance wireless communication technology mainly focuses on maintaining the communication quality in the case of a long signal transmission distance, usually using higher transmission power and sensitivity.

Communication distance: Low-power wireless communication technology is mainly used for short-distance communication, such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc., and its communication range is usually within tens of meters. They are more suitable for LAN and near field communication scenarios. Long-distance wireless communication technologies such as LoRa, NB-IoT, etc., focus on providing wide-area communication capabilities, which can achieve a communication distance of several kilometers or even tens of kilometers.

E220-900M22S  long distance transmission LLCC68 LoRa module  New generation LoRa modulation technology                                    

[IC]：LLCC68

[Frequency]：850~930MHz

[Power]：

[Distance]：7km

[Interface]： SPI

[Weight]：1.5±0.1g

[Introduction]：E220-900m22S is an small module, self-developed based on the new generation of LoRa TM RF chip llcc68, produced by Semtech company. It is suitable for 868mhz and 915MHz LoRa TM wireless module and uses industrial 32mhz crystal oscillator

Data transfer rate: Low-power wireless communication technologies are typically characterized by relatively low data transfer rates and are designed for energy savings rather than high-speed transfers. This is sufficient for sensor data, control commands and other data with low bandwidth requirements in IoT applications. In contrast, long-distance wireless communication technology may provide higher data transmission rates to meet applications with greater bandwidth requirements, such as video transmission, remote monitoring, and so on.

Technical standards and protocols: Low-power wireless communication technologies are usually based on specialized wireless communication standards and protocols, such as BLE, Zigbee, etc. These standards and protocols define the specifications and parameters of communication to ensure the interoperability between devices and the reliability of communication. Long-distance wireless communication technology also has corresponding standards and protocols, such as LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, etc.

To sum up, there are obvious differences between low-power wireless communication and long-distance wireless communication in terms of power consumption level, communication distance, data transmission rate, and adopted technical standards and protocols. According to application requirements, an appropriate wireless communication technology can be selected to meet specific communication requirements.

Generally speaking, realizing low-power wireless communication involves comprehensive optimization of hardware and software. By selecting appropriate modulation schemes, adopting energy-saving circuit designs, reasonable power management strategies, and optimized communication protocols, these technologies can achieve low-power wireless communication and extend the battery life of devices.
These wireless technologies play an important role in low-power wireless communication and are widely used in the Internet of Things, smart home, industrial automation and other fields.

Low-power wireless communication technologies are widely used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications, wireless sensor networks, smart homes, medical devices, and wearable technologies to meet the requirements for energy efficiency and long lifespan. Some common low-power wireless communication technologies include Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, Z-Wave, LoRa, Sigfox, etc.

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