Protocols & connectivity
Mixed fleets are normal, so the transport is kept outside the application data model.
Production deployments use LoRa, NB-IoT/GSM, BLE, RS485/Ethernet, and Wi-Fi, sometimes together at one site. Adapters normalise those transports into the same variable model so dashboards and rules do not need protocol-specific logic.
The data path, including the hand-offs that usually cause trouble.
Choose per-site economics
Compare NB-IoT, BLE, and LoRa using battery life, gateway cost, coverage, and recurring cellular fees. Our Labs comparison uses figures from a shipped gas-meter architecture.
Gateway or direct
LoRa fleets aggregate through gateways; NB-IoT meters go direct to cloud; RS485/Ethernet serves industrial floors and intranets.
Normalize
Payloads from each transport map to the same variable model and use the same twin, rules engine, and API.
Degrade gracefully
Cached automations and offline control keep sites running when connectivity drops; data backfills on reconnect.
Where teams use this integration.
Treat radio choice as a cost model
Compare NB-IoT, BLE, and LoRa through battery life, gateway capex, and recurring fees before the rollout reaches an invoice.
Use the network already approved for the site
RS485/Ethernet and intranet Wi-Fi can run fully on premises without adding SIM contracts or inbound firewall rules.
Keep the site useful during an outage
Cached automations and local control continue through a connectivity loss, while history backfills after reconnection.
Want this wired into your stack?
Bring the source system, target system, and security constraints. An engineer will map the interface and the unresolved questions.