What is MQTT? Beginner Guide to MQTT Protocol

If you are a person who has an eye on the world of IoT, you might have heard the term MQTT protocol. This term refers to the communication protocol, which makes communication smoother and more systematic. It is mainly used in different applications of IoT to build a sustainable communication channel between sensitive devices. In this article, we will explore the MQTT meaning, its components, and its working.

What is MQTT, and What is its History?

MQTT is an emerging communication protocol for the IoT industry due to its unique features and capabilities. This light-weighted, open messaging protocol is beneficial for transmitting and receiving data from machine to machine, especially in low bandwidth environments. Although MQTT was exclusively used to communicate in the gas and oil industries, it became popular in the smart device industry due to its significant abilities.

MQTT protocol was invented in 1999 when the engineers of the gas and oil industries wanted to communicate with each other. It was necessary to ensure that communication was smooth so information could travel from one end to another without any issues. The IBM Cloud has supported this protocol in its initial phase and named this protocol MQTT. Later, in 2019, OASIS released the updated version 5 of MQTT, now considered the official name of this protocol.

Why is the MQTT Protocol Important?

There are several reasons why the MQTT protocol is very important. This includes the main feature that this protocol is very lightweight and helpful in the IoT industry. Moreover, check out the following reasons which tell the importance of this exciting protocol:

1. Scalability and Security

MQTT has several built-in features that greatly help several IoT devices. Its implementation requires minimal resources, which makes it the perfect communication protocol for small controllers. In addition, it allows the developers to easily encrypt the messages and data transmission from authenticated devices to ensure there is no security breach.

2. Lightweight & Reliability

One of the exciting features that this MQTT Protocol has is its built-in features. These features help reduce the time IoT devices take to reconnect with the cloud. MQTT is very lightweight, so small IoT devices can use it and consume less energy. This helps IoT devices to work more efficiently.

3. Quality of Service Levels

Based on the requirements of the application, MQTT provides three levels of quality of service to ensure the reliability of the delivered message. This feature allows the developers to select the right level of QoS to match the importance of messages.

4. Messages Retention and Bandwidth

With the help of the MQTT protocol, the Broker can store the published last messages on any topic. This way, the new subscribers of the topics can receive the latest value once they subscribe. Moreover, the lightweight nature of MQTT makes it the perfect option to use in environments with low bandwidth.

What are MQTT Components?

This amazing publish and subscribe messaging protocol has many components that make it more impactful. From its list of components, a few are listed below, which you can check out:

MQTT Client: MQTT Clients are those different devices or applications that use the MQTT Client library. These devices can act as both publishers and receivers depending on the Client sending or receiving messages.
MQTT Broker: In addition, MQTT Broker is the one that handles disconnections, unsubscribe requests, and routing messages. A single but powerful MQTT Broker can alone support many connections, which can help IoT service providers build reliable MQTT applications quickly.
MQTT Connection: Many clients and brokers use the MQTT connection to communicate with each other. This communication starts when the Client sends connecting messages to the MQTT Broker. Once the Broker confirms the message, a connection gets established between the Client and the Broker.

How Does MQTT Work?

MQTT follows a straightforward mechanism that ensures smooth communication between two or more devices or machines. This protocol has two main components, the MQTT Client and the Broker. The MQTT Client starts the communication process by sending a connection message to the MQTT Broker. Following this, communication starts when the Broker responds to this connection.

Remember one main thing the Client can act as a sender and receiver by publishing and receiving messages. In addition, the MQTT Broker uses the term “topic” as a keyword to filter the messages for the Client. In the case of a connection break between the subscribing Client and Broker, the broker buffers the messages and pushes them back toward the client as it gets online.

How Does ZEGOCLOUD Support MQTT?

Now, if you are wondering how to get help from a beneficial API/SDK provider, there is no need to worry. We recommend ZEGOCLOUD as one of the best API/SDK providers supporting the MQTT protocol to help its users in various ways. Moreover, it provides an In-app Chat API to create an interactive messaging service with ultra-low latency and high reliability.

Choosing the right messaging protocol is crucial to building a good chat platform. Moreover, ZEGOCOLUD has many unique features, such as a group call kit, a live streaming kit, and around 20+ prebuilt UIKits, which you can use as per your requirements. You can also customize these SDKs to build unique UI/UX to enjoy a fantastic real-time experience.

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