Networking & Connectivity#

Embedded networking operates under constraints that desktop and server stacks never face — kilobytes of RAM for a TCP/IP stack, milliamps of current budget for a radio, and silicon that must maintain a wireless link while running real-time control loops. The protocols are often the same (IP, TCP, TLS), but the implementation trade-offs are fundamentally different when the endpoint runs on a Cortex-M4 with 256 KB of SRAM.

This section covers the physical, link, and transport layers of embedded connectivity — from WiFi association and BLE GATT profiles to Ethernet PHY configuration and IPv6 mesh networking. Application-layer protocols (MQTT, CoAP, HTTP APIs) and system-level concerns (OTA updates, fleet provisioning, cloud integration) live in IoT & Systems Integration.

Sections#

WiFi — 802.11 on microcontrollers: station mode, SoftAP provisioning, security, power management, and local discovery.
Ethernet & PoE — Wired connectivity from PHY/MAC hardware through TCP/IP stacks to Power over Ethernet PD design.
Bluetooth & BLE Patterns — BLE advertising, GATT services, bonding, connection parameters, power optimization, and central-role scanning.
IPv6, 6LoWPAN & Mesh — IPv6 on constrained devices, 802.15.4 header compression, Thread mesh networking, and Matter protocol fundamentals.
Protocol Selection & Radio Coexistence — Choosing between wireless protocols, managing 2.4 GHz interference, and TLS/DTLS on resource-limited hardware.