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Emerging wireless communication for smart grid applications Chapter 5 177

This new version of the technology optimizes the protocol to significantly reduce
power consumption when compared with earlier ones. Thus, the batteries of BLE
enabled devices can supply energy for longer periods of time. In 2016, Bluetooth
SIG introduced Bluetooth 5 whose main new feature is related to IoT technology.
In addition, the Bluetooth 5.0 presents improvements on connectionless services,
and some important improvements provided by this version of the technology can
be listed as [15].
l Slot availability mask (SAM)
l 2 Msym/s PHY for low energy (LE)
l LE long range
l High duty cycle non-connectable advertising
l LE advertising extensions
l LE channel selection algorithm #2
Since its low power consumption and rapid data transmission characteristics,
this technology may be preferred for communications between smart home
appliances, energy management system and SM.

5.2.2 Near-field communication

Near-Field Communication (NFC) that is a set of very short-range radio trans-
mission standards provides data exchange opportunity among electronic
devices in a short range as much as 4 cm (1.6 in.). Data transmission via this
method can be performed by bringing devices close enough or contacting them
physically. In addition, communication can be accomplished between an NFC
device and a tag that is an unpowered NFC chip. This technology works at
13.56 MHz frequency that is an unlicensed band, and employs inductive cou-
pling. The NFC Forum collects several vendors, manufacturers and service pro-
viders, and carries out the studies to ensure interoperability. There exist three
different operation method for the NFC systems that are called as NFC card
emulation method, P2P method, and reader/writer method. In the first method,
the NFC acts similar to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) system. There-
fore, the NFC system in this operating mode can be regarded as an extension of
RFID technology. The P2P mode authorizes NFC devices to transmit data
among them in an ad hoc fashion. The last mode allows NFC devices to read
and write information on tags.
Even though the technology was actually improved by Sony and NXP Semi-
conductors, there exist various proposed standards for NFC technology. The
ISO/IEC 18092 is the international standard characterized by NFC Forum that
is created by Sony, Nokia and Philips in 2004. In addition, the NFC Forum sup-
ports NFC, and approves compliance of devices. Also, Sony developed FeliCa
and it complies with Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) X6319-4. The FeliCa
actually is a contactless RFID smart card system widely employed for payments
in Japan. NXP Semiconductors developed MIFARE that is based on the