Question

A flower nursery has commissioned you to investigate how an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor network can be effectively used to monitor several battery-powered sensors in their greenhouses. The sensors measure temperature, humidity, light intensity and soil moisture, as well as monitoring equipment such as water sprays. The owners want to use an IoT network to transmit and store sensor measurements on a server located in their nursery office. Their specification includes a requirement that the sensors must have very long battery lives; low transmission data rates with a maximum bit-rate of 8 kilobits per day, and sufficient radio range to cover all greenhouses, which can be located up to 1 km away from the nursery office. Based on what you have learnt in Block 3, Parts 3 and 4, write a short comparison for the nursery owners on the features and technical performance of the following IoT networks: Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), LPWAN and ZigBee. Your comparison, which must NOT be a table, should reflect on the respective data-rates, coverage and battery life performance features of the three technologies and their suitability for this nursery scenario. It should also conclude with your recommendation to the owners for which IoT technology to adopt for their nursery. The maximum word limit for Question 2(a) is 350 words.

Answer 1