Gateway technology of IOT technology stack

IOT technology stack

Compared with traditional enterprise application in Internet Application , The technology stack of the Internet of things is broader and more complex . The Internet of things can be roughly classified as follows 6 Group technology stack ：

1. Internet of things gateway

2. M2M/IoT Communication services

3. Big data and process management

4. User interaction

5. Platform and empowerment

6. Security

The depth of each technology stack is steep , Can be studied and discussed as a discipline alone . Here we only give an overview of the key technologies , Introduce a relationship between them and other concepts , Thus for the project manager 、 Product managers and solution architects provide an overview of different technologies , Make them better understand when to use ( Don't use ) These technologies ( It depends on the situation of the specific project ).

This article mainly introduces the related technologies of Internet of things gateway .

Internet of things gateway

One . Concept

In the Internet of things solution , Gateway is a crucial technology node . Think of the gateway as a special computer , Usually deployed on or near an asset . The gateway provides different devices 、 Interconnection of Internet or enterprise network .

In addition, gateways usually run local logic , It includes simple routing logic and complex data collection and filtering , Even very complex automation 、 Analysis and rule engine logic , It depends on the specific solution .

Using an IOT gateway centric architecture has many advantages ：

• By using the gateway to complete the protocol mapping and local interconnection , It is easier to integrate multiple heterogeneous devices .

• The gateway supports richer applications .

• Execute local business logic and support real-time operations , Help reduce response time .

• Gateways help achieve a degree of autonomy , Ensure stability and fault tolerance ( For example, when the external network is limited , The LAN between devices can support the availability of devices ).

• Local data analysis and filtering help reduce network traffic .

• The gateway can deploy local security solutions , Improve the security of the whole solution .

• The gateway function is decoupled from the logic of the hardware itself and the logic on the cloud , It is conducive to the scalability of the scheme .

This concept mainly revolves around the hardware end of assets , But because this is a very broad field , There are few widely accepted standards , Or combination Internet of things asset architecture Analyze from common application scenarios , Infer several common gateway models .

Two . Internet of things gateway model

Internet of things appliances

Support IP Intelligent self-contained appliances , Such as intelligent refrigerator 、 Intelligent air purifier 、 Intelligent electric tools, etc . This kind of Internet of things appliance can be directly integrated into any IP In the network , It usually does not rely on specific external gateways .

Smartphones and wearables

Provide connected smart phones or wearable devices through a mobile operator network ( ad locum , Assets can be abstracted into a person , This is also a key point in modeling the Internet of things , Later, we will analyze the IOT domain model in detail ), It can also provide local processing capacity and wireless interconnection with nearby wearable device Networks .

Industrial and household gateways and Sensor Networks

These gateways provide interconnection with back-end wireless or fixed lines . They may also provide local integration logic ( Such as binding adapter ) And wireless or wired interconnection with local devices . Local equipment can be household appliances ( Smart home gateway ) Or sensors ( Sensor networks )

Fog calculation

Fog computing is a technology invented by Cisco , This is an extension of the gateway based concept , Here, the gateway adds a lot of local storage and computing functions .( For the concepts of fog calculation and edge calculation, please refer to another article 《 Thoroughly understand fog calculation and edge calculation 》)

Edge of computing

Compared with fog calculation , Edge calculation further advances the fog calculation “ LAN processing capacity ” Idea , That is to say, the asset hardware is closer . Edge computing will be the intelligence of edge gateways or devices 、 Processing power and communication operation are directly driven to the device itself , Such as PACs( Programmable automatic controller ).

Currently in use IoT There are many different types of gateways , But they all have several common characteristics , If wired / Wireless Internet 、 Computing and storage 、 Back end interconnection, etc .

The following figure is taken from abroad Wyconn Summarized by the company IoT Gateway type matrix .

This matrix feels very good , Lao Ren vomited blood and translated him into Chinese

Next, we will analyze several key common features of the Internet of things gateway one by one .

3、 ... and . Internet of things gateway features

1. Computing and storage

Hardware

Every generation of chips is getting smaller , But the function is more and more powerful , The cost is getting lower . Smart phones needless to say , Now only with the lowest cost can we get the extremely powerful single chip microcomputer , Like raspberry pie (Raspberry Pi).( But if the products are commercialized in batches , It's still more expensive , Generally, cheaper single-chip computers are used for customized development and mass production ).

The hardware architecture of Internet of things gateway is divided into two parts CPU framework ： be based on ARM Of CPU, For medium and low-end gateways ; be based on x86 Of CPU, For medium and high-end gateways .

Software

Now more and more conductive embedded systems have been replaced by higher-level systems , Based on Linux The platform of , The raspberry pie mentioned above can be easily brushed into various advanced operating systems . This is because people need more functional solutions , This requires richer underlying operating system functions ( Like correspondence 、 Process management, etc ). The following figure summarizes the underlying operating system used by the more commonly used gateway layer .

Certainly many people will associate Huawei's Hongmeng operating system , Which type does he belong to ？ Simply speaking , Hongmeng belongs to micro kernel architecture , But it can be expanded into different types of operating systems on demand like building blocks , It is applicable to almost all Internet of things scenarios . Later, we will talk about its architecture in detail .

2. Local interconnection

Many gateways have this key feature , Support local wireless interconnection with devices or sensor nodes , Standards and technologies are complex and diverse . Generally, short-range wireless communication technology is used to realize . For this feature , The key factors are ： distance / Range , Bandwidth and latency , Power consumption and cost .

• NFC/RFID： low power consumption , But the distance is very short . To pay for , Logistics warehousing and other scenarios .

• Ultra wide band (UWB) ： Low system complexity , Low power spectral density of transmitted signal , Insensitive to channel fading , Low interception capability , High positioning accuracy , It is especially suitable for high-speed wireless access in indoor and other dense multi-path places .

• Wi-Fi： Widely adopted , High data transmission rate , However, there are also problems such as high power consumption and relatively complex infrastructure requirements .

• bluetooth (Bluetooth) ： This technology may have the largest ecosystem ( A smart phone , Tablet, etc ). It is characterized by low power consumption 、 large-scale 、 Moderate data rate

• Zigbee： Emphasize low power consumption , For intelligent instruments 、 Home Automation 、 Sensor networks 、 Remote control unit , Especially useful for battery powered devices .

The following figure is a comparison of the characteristics of commonly used short-range wireless communication technologies :

3. Internet wide area network

In order to integrate the gateway with the remote backend far away , Gateways usually have to rely on injecting satellite communications 、 Operator network (2G、3G、4G、5G)、 Low power wan (LPWA)、 Fixed line 、 Power line communication and other technologies . This part belongs to IoT The technology stack category of communication services , The following article will analyze in detail . The following figure is a comparison of the technical characteristics of commonly used Internet wide area networks .

All communication technologies will be based on energy consumption 、 cost 、 Coverage and other factors form a radar area .

Four . summary

The Internet of things gateway is the brain of the device , It can be roughly divided into ： Internet of things appliances 、 Wearable device 、 Industrial and household gateways 、 Fog calculation 、 Edge of computing   Several types . Even different types of gateways have several common features ： Calculation 、 Storage 、 Local area network 、 Internet wide area network . It can be selected and designed according to the specific needs of the project .

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