Internet of Things Using Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
Hoe Tung Yew, Raymond Heng Liang Chiam, Liawas Barukang, Mazlina Binti Mamat, Aroland Kiring, Seng Kheau Chung · 2023
Network connectivity issues, such as network congestion, failure and restricted coverage, can significantly impact the service quality and reliability of Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems that rely solely on a single communication network. To address this limitation, we proposed an IoT system that uses heterogeneous wireless networks to broaden the IoT service coverage and offer more reliable connectivity. The proposed IoT system is supported by two types of networks, Wi-Fi and cellular. A received signal strength (RSS)-based handover algorithm is employed to perform handover between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. This work prioritizes Wi-Fi because it offers high bandwidth and a lower cost than cellular. To validate the efficacy of the proposed system, a simple IoT prototype is developed using an Arduino controller that is integrated with wireless communication (cellular and Wi-Fi) modules and a temperature sensor. We applied the Blynk platform to monitor the real-time data collected by the proposed IoT system. The proposed system was tested in the laboratory. We measure the handover delay time from Wi-Fi to cellular network and vice versa. The results show that the handover delay is about 4.5 to 6 seconds. With the support of heterogeneous wireless networks, the IoT system provides wider coverage and more reliable connectivity.