Ultra-Low-Energy Internet of Things from a Network and Device Perspective

IoT devices are undoubtedly the most basic building blocks of the IoT paradigm, and their battery life essentially determines the life span of an IoT network. We point out a misconception about massive IoT device design and the importance of rethinking it from both the network and device perspectives. We show that the design of device characteristics to maximize the device battery life alone does not warrant maximum network longevity but only leads to sub-optimal network solutions. We propose a network longevity principle and recognize that it takes the synergy of design efforts at both the device and network levels to make a truly ultra-low-energy and long-lived IoT network.