Practical articles about the Internet of Things
For people who build, buy or run connected systems: smart home users, small businesses adding sensors, developers and students, and the operations people who keep plants, farms and fleets running.
Latest articles
50 articles across 5 topics
- Hall effect sensor: how it works, types and uses
How a Hall effect sensor works, its switch, latch, linear and 3D types, wiring to a microcontroller, common uses, and how it compares with a reed switch.
- IoT security standards and laws explained
Which IoT security rules apply in the US, UK and EU: ETSI EN 303 645, NIST IR 8259, the Cyber Trust Mark, California's law, UK PSTI and the EU CRA.
- IoT vulnerabilities: the common weak points
IoT vulnerabilities explained: the OWASP IoT Top 10 in plain words, why connected devices are exposed, how Mirai spread and how to look up a device's CVEs.
- What is LPWAN? Low-power wide-area networks
What LPWAN is, what it gives up for range and battery life, how NB-IoT, LTE-M, LoRaWAN and Sigfox differ, who runs each network and how to choose.
- What is SCADA? How supervisory control works
What SCADA is and how it works: field devices, RTUs and PLCs, communications, HMI and historian, polling, protocols, SCADA vs PLC vs DCS, and security.
- What is Zigbee? How the smart home mesh works
What Zigbee is and how its mesh works: the 2.4 GHz radio and channels, coordinators, routers and end devices, pairing and keys, hubs, Matter and Tuya.
- What is a smart home? How it works, what breaks
What a smart home is: the devices, radios, hubs and apps it is made of, how an automation runs, where Matter fits, and what tends to break and why.
- What is a smart plug? Relay, metering, limits
How a smart plug works: the relay, US load ratings, how far to trust energy readings, schedules, standby draw, what it cannot do and which radio to pick.
Topics we cover
- Smart home
Practical smart home guides on Matter, Thread border routers, Zigbee, Z-Wave and Wi-Fi devices, local-only setups and what to check before you buy.
- Industrial IoT
Industrial IoT explained for plant and operations people: what a system is made of, PLCs, RS-485 and Modbus RTU, predictive maintenance, OPC UA and MQTT.
- Sensors and hardware
IoT sensors and hardware guides: what an IoT device is made of, mmWave and PIR presence sensors, ESP32 and Pico boards, humidity sensors and battery power.
- Connectivity
IoT connectivity guides: LoRaWAN and Wi-Fi HaLow range, NB-IoT, LTE-M and 5G RedCap, IoT SIM cards and identifiers, Wi-Fi bands, and how MQTT works.
How we write
Every article starts from a question people type into a search box and answers it in plain words. We state how a protocol or a device works only when that behavior is well established, and we say near the top what the article does and does not cover, so you can leave quickly if it is the wrong page.
There are no invented figures here. When a number would help but we cannot stand behind it, we describe the size of the effect in words instead. Sponsored articles carry a label at the top and follow the same rules. The full editorial policy is one page long, and the about page says who writes and how the site is funded.
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