Embedded Software for the IoT

7Networks

7.1Introduction to the internet protocols

“The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.”

The above quote is amusing because people agree that using standards is great, but nevertheless new standards keep popping up all of the time. This is especially true when it comes to protocols. However, most of these protocols are “application layer” protocols. The “internet protocol stack” has proven victorious—and it is the core of IoT. Instead of going through a myriad of application protocols, we will focus on the internet protocol stack, especially TCP. Look at any IoT application protocol and you will find TCP just beneath it (on few occasions UDP).

If TCP does not work seamlessly, the application protocol won’t ...