IoT glossary

6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks) is a standard that adapts IPv6 to low-power networks over IEEE 802.15.4. It is the basis of Thread.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

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Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the low-power variant of Bluetooth, for sending small amounts of data intermittently with minimal battery. It dominates wearables and proximity. Maintained by the Bluetooth SIG.

CoAP

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CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) is a REST-like web protocol over UDP for highly constrained devices, defined in IETF RFC 7252.

LoRaWAN

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LoRaWAN is an open LPWAN network protocol, based on LoRa modulation, to connect IoT devices over kilometers with very low power. Maintained by the LoRa Alliance.

MQTT

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MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight publish/subscribe messaging protocol over TCP/IP, standardized in ISO/IEC 20922, for IoT devices with low CPU and unreliable networks.

NB-IoT

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NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) is a 3GPP cellular LPWAN protocol using the licensed operator network, optimized for indoor coverage and multi-year batteries.

Thread is a low-power IPv6 mesh network protocol based on IEEE 802.15.4, used as a transport for Matter. Maintained by the Thread Group.

Zigbee

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Zigbee is a low-power wireless mesh network protocol based on IEEE 802.15.4, used in home automation and IoT. Maintained by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA).

The BME280 is a Bosch sensor measuring temperature, humidity and barometric pressure, widely used in environmental IoT over I2C/SPI.

ESP32

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The ESP32 is a family of Espressif SoCs integrating a microcontroller, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth/BLE on a single chip, dominant in maker and consumer IoT.

The nRF52840 is a Nordic Semiconductor SoC with a Cortex-M4F and ultra-low-power multiprotocol radio (BLE 5 and IEEE 802.15.4), a basis for many Matter/Thread devices.

Raspberry Pi

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The Raspberry Pi is a low-cost single-board computer (SBC), used in IoT as a Linux-based gateway and edge node.

STM32WL

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The STM32WL is an STMicroelectronics microcontroller with a sub-GHz LoRa radio integrated on the same chip, designed for LoRaWAN nodes.

AWS IoT Core is the managed Amazon Web Services service to connect, authenticate and manage IoT devices at scale via MQTT on AWS infrastructure.

Azure IoT Hub is the managed Microsoft Azure service for bidirectional IoT device connectivity, with Device Twins and Azure ecosystem integration.

ChirpStack is an open-source LoRaWAN Network Server to deploy and manage private end-to-end LoRaWAN networks.

Eclipse Mosquitto is a lightweight open-source MQTT broker, widely used on edge gateways and on-premises deployments.

EMQX is a highly scalable open-source MQTT broker (written in Erlang) for IoT production, with clustering and multi-protocol support.

Helium is a decentralized LoRaWAN network (DePIN) run by privately operated hotspots incentivized with crypto tokens, on the Solana blockchain.

Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform focused on local control and privacy, with broad integration support.

An MQTT broker is the central server that receives messages from publishers and distributes them to subscribers by topic. Examples: Mosquitto, EMQX, HiveMQ.

Node-RED is a flow-based visual programming tool to wire together devices, APIs and services, widely used in automation and IoT.

Particle is an integrated IoT platform combining its own hardware, managed cellular/WiFi connectivity, Device OS and a cloud for fleet management.

The Things Network is a community-driven, free LoRaWAN network with collaborative global coverage maintained by an open-source community.

ThingsBoard is an open-source IoT platform (Apache 2.0) to collect telemetry, visualize it in dashboards and automate rules, self-hosted or in the cloud.

DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) is a model where individuals deploy physical infrastructure, such as network coverage, incentivized with tokens.

A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical object or system, fed with real-time data for simulation, monitoring and analysis.

Edge computing processes data near its source (device or gateway) instead of the cloud, reducing latency, bandwidth and connectivity dependence.

GATT (Generic Attribute Profile) is BLE's data model: it organizes information into services and characteristics a client reads, writes or is notified about.

IIoT (Industrial IoT) is the application of IoT to industrial environments (manufacturing, energy, logistics), with strict reliability and latency requirements.

The IoT (Internet of Things) is the network of physical objects with sensors, software and connectivity that collect and exchange data and act autonomously.

LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network) is a category of long-range, low-power wireless networks for IoT. It includes LoRaWAN, NB-IoT and LTE-M.

A mesh network is a topology where each node relays data for others, extending coverage and resilience without central infrastructure. Zigbee and Thread use it.

MQTT QoS (Quality of Service) defines a message's delivery guarantee at three levels: 0 (at most once), 1 (at least once) and 2 (exactly once).

OTA (over-the-air) is the remote update of an IoT device's firmware over the network, without physical access, essential for large fleets.

Publish/subscribe is an asynchronous messaging pattern where senders publish to topics and receivers subscribe, via a broker that decouples both.

TinyML is running machine learning models on ultra-low-power microcontrollers, for AI inference directly at the edge.

IoT security protects Internet of Things devices, networks and data from unauthorized access, using TLS, X.509 certificates, secure boot and signed OTA.

IoT asset tracking locates and monitors physical assets (vehicles, containers, equipment) using GPS, BLE, UWB or LoRaWAN.

Industry 4.0 is the integration of IoT, cloud, AI and edge computing into manufacturing to connect machines, optimize processes and automate decisions.

Precision agriculture uses IoT sensors, GPS and data to optimize irrigation, fertilization and harvesting by zone, increasing yield and efficiency.

A smart city uses IoT sensors and data to manage urban infrastructure more efficiently and sustainably: traffic, lighting, waste and water.

A smart grid uses IoT and bidirectional communication to efficiently manage power generation, distribution and consumption.

A smart home automates lighting, climate, security and appliances through interconnected IoT devices.

ETSI EN 303 645 is the European cybersecurity standard for consumer IoT, with baseline provisions such as banning default passwords and requiring updates.

IEEE 802.15.4 is the low-power radio standard (PHY and MAC layers) that underpins Zigbee, Thread and 6LoWPAN.

Matter is a smart home interoperability standard over IP (Wi-Fi, Thread, Ethernet), backed by Apple, Google, Amazon and Samsung through the CSA.

OPC UA is an industrial interoperability standard (IEC 62541) for secure data exchange between machines and systems, key in Industry 4.0.