A Survey on IoT Modules: Architecture, Key Technologies and Future Directions

Abstract

The Internet of things (IoT) is a promising technology which offers the seamless connectivity of the global world via heterogeneous smart terminals. As the core component of IoT intelligent terminals, IoT modules integrate various electronic devices such as baseband chips, radio frequency modules and positioning modules, etc., and form single devices which can be embedded into different types of IoT terminals. In this paper, we present a survey on IoT modules. The architecture and the components of the IoT modules are briefly introduced. Then, the classification of IoT modules is discussed, which mainly includes cellular communication modules and non-cellular communication modules. One of the most widely used cellular communication modules, i.e., narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT) module, is further introduced and the characteristics of the module are examined in detail. In addition, the design and manufacturing process of IoT modules is summarized and the key technologies are discussed. Finally, the future research and development directions of IoT modules are specified.