Wireless Communication Technologies for Cyber-Physical Systems

This article explores the different types of wireless communication technologies for cyber-physical systems and their comparison. It covers communication spectrum, modulation techniques, medium access control mechanisms, and network topologies. It also discusses the best standard for cyber-physical systems and the internet of things.

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Introduction
Wireless communication technology is the transmission of data without the help of cables
between different computers, devices and circuit boards[1] .
The transmission distance ranges from a few metres to thousands of kilometres.
There are different types of wireless networks and transmission:
1. Personal area network
2. Mobile network
3. Wireless wired area network
4. WLAN network
Wireless communications are categorized based on their spectrums of communication,
modulations, topologies and medium access control.
Comparison of wireless communication technologies.
a. Communication spectrum.
The wireless spectrum is the frequency of bands. These frequencies are regulated by
organizations and governments. Wireless spectra range from 0 to 300 GHz. Frequency is not
equal to bandwidth [2] . The spectra of wireless communications are selected depending on
the ability to carry data and the devices’ ability to receive and transmit signals.
The spectrum protocols for wireless communications vary.
From the four technologies, they both have different communication spectra.
Wireless local area networks. Examples include Wi-Fi and IEEE 802.11p. they have a
frequency of 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz for short wave frequency radio bands. Wi-Fi ranges can be
up to 100meters but the range can be increase by external antennas. The signals are
transmitted in different channels within the 2.4GHz band. The channels do no overlap if the
difference is more than 5. Transmission is in packets with a 32-byte service set identifier. Wi-
Fi communication are categorized according to the bandwidths of 40MHz and 20MHz.
Wireless wide area network which are wireless networks which covers large region have a
communication spectrum of point to point of 2.4GHz. The wireless communication of the
Wireless wide area network is packet based with data transmitted using the Gaussian
frequency shift modulation. It has a bit rate of 300Mbits/second, [3].

Mobile networks. These communication technology has the ability to re-use frequencies. This
allows for a large geographical area to be covered with more capacity. Frequencies range
from 450MHz to 2.1 GHz. Frequencies determined the coverage, geographical features
interference and capacity. Frequencies are directly proportional to capacity but inversely
proportional to coverage. The range is limited by frequency of the network choice, with the
range from 12 kilometres to 48 kilometres.
Wireless personal area networks (WPANs) internet devices within a relatively small area, that is
generally within a person's reach
Wireless personal area networks WPANs area devices of the interne which are around the
reach of a person and in a small area. The example includes Bluetooth radio and the infrared
light. But in this case, Bluetooth is used for description. Bluetooth wireless communication
have a communication spectrum of 2.4GHz. they have a power duration of a few days. The
wireless communication is packet based with data transmitted using the Gaussian frequency
shift modulation. It has a bit rate of 1Mbits/second. Bluetooth has two categories, the classics
Bluetooth technology that is the old module and the Bluetooth low energy technology. The
classic technology has a maximum range of 100 meters while the low energy technology
having a max range of slightly more than 100m. Bluetooth technology works by connection
of the slave devices to a master device. The number active slaves are implementation
dependent[3] .
b. Modulation techniques.
Modulation is the process of changing of the frequency, phase and amplitude modulation
characteristics of a network.
Wireless area networks based on the on the 802.11 technology are modulated differently.
The802.11b link with less than 11 Mbps uses the complementary coded keying where the
stream is processed and modulated using the Quadrature Phase Shift Keying. The 802.11a

and g with a bit rate of less than 54 Mbps use the 64-OFDM. The signals are modulated
using the quadrature amplitude modulation [6] .
Wireless personal area network like Bluetooth technology which is the considered WPAN
example employs frequency hopping spread spectrum during transmission where frequencies
are switched repeatedly to reduce interruptions. This technology is modulated using the
Gaussian frequency shift keying. To ensure a higher Bluetooth data rate, phase modulation
using TT/4 DQPSK and 8DPSK are used.
Mobile Network systems are used to provide network access to a wide geographical area. The
mobile are divided into GSM, EDGE, UMTS and WCDMA and LTE depending their
spectrum, speed and capacity. GSM networks are modulated using GMSK type modulation,
EDGE uses the 8PSK modulation while the UMTS and WCDMA uses the 64QAM
modulation techniques [10].
The wireless wide area network employs the use of technologies which aims at modulating
the voice and also data. The modulation at this stage converts the digital signals which
symbolizes the data which is inside the computer to light or the RF signals
c. Medium access control mechanisms.
Media access control is a layer in the OSI network model. It is a sublayer in the data-link
layer. The MAC transmits data packets to and from the network-interface.
The transfer of the data packets is compared with the speed in the four network technologies.
In wireless personal area network, the transfer of data packets are very slow and can ony
transfer data packets to upto 10m.
In Wireless wide area network. The data packets that are transferred in a single go are many
depending with the strength and number of users in the network. The speed is also faster than
any other wireless technology.
Transfer of data packets in mobile networks is slow, though the number of packets
transferred in a single go are many compared to the PWAN.
The Wireless Local area network is different. Transfer of packets depends upon the users but
literally, the speed is high though its also regulated. Comparing, the wireless LAN has the
same speed as wireless WAN but number of packets are moderate to high.

d. Network topologies.
Is the organized manner in which computers on a network.
The mobile networks is connected and distributed over the land areas which is referred to as
cells . Every cell is served by minimum of one location which is fixed called transceiver.
These station which are the ones which Supplies the cell with network.
Wireless personal area network like uses primarily pee-to-peer when establishing a
connection between the master server and one slave. This type of topology is optimized for
wireless devices such as speakers, mobile phones car systems. However, the broadcast
topology is used in advanced communication set ups where the master server is connected to
more than one slave. This topology is available on Bluetooth low energy technology [4] .
Wireless local area networks share information around a communication system using a
wireless technology. The interchange of information and data relies on a good pattern of
arrangement to facilitate exchange. The following are common topologies:
I. Star topology, is a connection type in which the peripheral computers or devices are
connected to a central server. The entire network depends on the central hub for
information. The limitation is, in case of the unfortunate that the central server fails,
the entire network breaks down.
II. Ring topology is a pattern of connection where the computers or devices are
connected in a circular framework in which case, a packet of data is send along the
network to the entire computers. The data packet is called a token.
III. Mesh topology is a pattern where all the computers on a network are interconnected
and data transmission is in either direction.
IV. The hybrid topology, in which involves a combination of two or more topologies?
Wireless communication standards for cyber-physical systems.
a. UHF RFID and NFC.
These are near-field wireless communication systems that allow devices to exchange
information in a peer-to-peer topology. The RFID are used primarily to identify items. The

network topology is made up of a tag, antenna and a reader. Ultra high frequency RFID have
a range of up to 100 meters.
NFC is a computer device that is able to function as a reader and a tag. NFC allows for
nearfield communication such as data sharing between enabled handsets and contactless,
cashless payments.
b. ZigBee, Z-Wave.
ZigBee wireless technology is based on the IEEE standards of 802.15.4 which have a
properly defines MAC and physical address. ZigBee enables interoperability between
different devices and computer systems through a well enhanced application and security
later. ZigBee has a range of around 70meters within its network, however, with wireless
network modulation and amplification, the range can be increased between networks [7] .
ZigBee is allowed to operate at frequencies of 868MHz with a data rate of 20kbps over the
only channel, at 915MHz at speeds of up to 40kbps within the network’s 10 channels and the
highest at 2.4GHz with20 channels transmitting at 250kbps. ZigBee have a maximum packet
data capability of 128 bytes hence its use in settings that require low data rates.
c. Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy
Bluetooth is a near-filed communication technology that has a range that reaches a maximum
of 100 meters. The classical Bluetooth technology was modified over time to result to the
Bluetooth low energy technology that has an improved performance. Bluetooth low energy
technology allows two types of topologies, the peer-to-peer and the broadcasting. Bluetooth
low energy supports a data transmission rate of maximum 100kbps and a payload of 20bytes.
The technology offers a secure end to end data transmission when using peer-to-peer
topologies. Bluetooth low energy has a very low connection time from latency of almost
7.5ms. Bluetooth low energy uses very low power and has low data interference rates too
[5] .
d. Cellular Systems
Cellular networks have the widest geographical area coverage among the wireless
communication technologies. Performance-wise, cellular networks have the best
packet capacity, speed and very low latency periods. Latency, amount of time it
takes a data packet to travel within a network, is reduced tremendously in the
cellular networks by modification of the network types with the lowest in GSM

networks and the fastest with a high data capacity in LTE 4th generation networks.
The performance protocol of the cellular networks is affected by the round-trip
times. With a low latency time, cellular networks have a very low round-trip time
and thus are faster. Cellular networks have the feature that allows service providers
increase the initial congestion window that has shown to increase data transfer. The
cellular network technologies have several data transfer protocols that allow a
transport layer mechanism that effective in securing communications between
client-server.
e. IEEE 802.11P
This wireless network technology is a modification of the 802.11 technology the
basis for Wi-Fi but it allows wireless access in vehicular environments. It allows
data transmission between moving vehicles. IEEE 802.11p uses 5.850 to
5.925GHz bandwidth.
f. Low-Power Wide Area Networks
Low-power network is a wireless data transmission technology that allows
transmission of packet data over wide geographical areas among connected devices
at low bit rates. LPWAN is different from other wide area networks such as
cellular systems in that the other network technologies transmit more packet data
between users thus more power consumption. LPWANs have neither a standard
technology nor a platform. They are offered and controlled by a variety of vendors
such as Ultra Narrow band modulation technology and the chirp spread spectrum.
LoRaWAN uses low radio frequencies within the radio spectrum that does not
need licencing. The frequencies used are 125, 250 and 500 kHz that are country
specific and thus allow for long range transmission. Data rate depends on the
bandwidth selected and the spreading factor [8] .
Wireless network performance.
In regard to the four network technologies which includes personal area network, mobile
network, wireless wide area network and Wireless local area network with respect to the

cyber physical systems and the internet of things. The best standard to be used for this case is
the wireless local area network (WLAN). The best example of the WLAN is the wireless
fidelity WI-FI. This is the best because for the cyber physical systems, the WLAN is secure
since it only allows users who are around the hotspot to access and get connected to the
network. Authentication is also available, this is to make sure that only authorized users are
connected to the network. Users who are not authorized are blocked incase they access
without the knowledge of the network system administrator. To the cyber, this helps the users
to move from there desks since the network doesn’t require the use of physical connection.
Conclusion.
There are different types of wireless communication technologies that allow data transfer
between different computer systems and devices. In the cyber=physical systems and internet
of things, low-power wide area networks should be implemented globally. If the idea of
internet of things is extended, for example we can have cyber-physical production systems or
smart-medicine systems that would reduce the cost and increase efficiency of production in
the respective fields.
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