Internet of Things (IoT) Practice Exam

What protocol is commonly used for communication between IoT devices?

1. A. HTTP

2. B. MQTT

3. C. FTP

4. D. SMTP

The correct answer is: B. MQTT

MQTT, or Message Queuing Telemetry Transport, is commonly used for communication between IoT devices due to its lightweight nature and efficiency. This protocol was specifically designed for low-bandwidth, high-latency, or unreliable networks, making it ideal for IoT applications where devices need to communicate with minimal overhead. One of the key features of MQTT is its publish/subscribe messaging pattern, which allows devices to send messages to a central broker that distributes them to other subscribed devices. This is particularly beneficial in IoT environments, where numerous devices often need to communicate status updates or commands without overwhelming the network or requiring constant connections. In contrast, protocols such as HTTP are more suited for traditional web applications and may introduce unnecessary overhead for the constrained environments typical of many IoT scenarios. Similarly, FTP is primarily designed for file transfer, which is not the primary requirement in most IoT applications, while SMTP is used for sending emails and is not designed for machine-to-machine communication.