Vlow

Vlow is a fictional data-communication protocol introduced in speculative technology literature to illustrate energy-efficient, low-bandwidth wireless communication for Internet of Things devices. The term is used to discuss how simple framing and duty cycling affect reliability, latency, and power consumption.

In the Vlow model, devices operate in long sleep periods and wake only for short transmissions. It employs a compact frame with a minimal header, a small payload, and a cyclic redundancy check. Acknowledgments are optional, and retransmission occurs probabilistically based on channel conditions.

An archetypal Vlow stack separates the physical and link layers from a tiny application interface. The design emphasizes low memory use and straightforward security, relying on pre-shared keys and lightweight encryption for end-to-end confidentiality.

History and use: Vlow appears in educational and theoretical discussions rather than real-world standards. It is commonly deployed in classroom demonstrations, thought experiments on sensor networks, and as a reference point for comparing real protocols.

Impact: As a hypothetical construct, Vlow helps illustrate trade-offs among energy, bandwidth, latency, and reliability in IoT networks, and it is often contrasted with real technologies such as LPWANs, MQTT, and CoAP.

See also: LPWAN, low-power wireless, duty cycling, IoT protocol.