M2M
Machine to Machine Communications
A new paradigm in mobile communications has arisen. Instead of human beings, machines are exchanging information to enable automated applications beyond those currently available. Examples range from tracking containers and emergency systems for car accidents to automatic control of industrial facilities.
M2M communications is the exchange of information from a source, via a gateway, to a server on which the applications are monitored and controlled. The source can be a measurement device, an identification module, a satellite navigation system receiver or a combination of these.
The communications distance between the sources and the M2M gateway is usually short. Therefore, wireless short range communications systems such as BluetoothTM, WLAN, ZigBee and DECT can be used for this link. In many cases, the source is contained in the gateway itself.
From this gateway, information can be sent to the server either via cable (usually DSL), satellite or via cellular mobile communications systems. The latter provides tremendous flexibility at comparatively small costs which is why a steadily increasing number of applications are built on this communications link.
Which cellular mobile communications system, GSM, HSPA, LTE, CDMA2000®, WiMAXTM, etc., is used depends on the requirements of the intended application. Fleet management or medical surveillance systems, for example, have a small amount of data traffic, but need high coverage. Existing 2G systems are very well suited for this purpose. On the other hand, applications such as mobile surveillance cameras require a much higher data rate, so 3G systems are the technology of choice. LTE is also becoming more relevant for very high demand services.
Rohde & Schwarz supports all applicable wireless communications technologies for M2M. For further details refer to the technology web pages.
