Thursday, March 31, 2016

Internet of Things is more than One Thing




Technology and buzzwords go together like your favorite hackneyed expression.  Technology is dynamic, diverse, and complicated. Even the most technically competent have expertise in just a few areas.  Most people only learn the very basics and the buzzwords.

Such is the case with the Internet of Things (IoT).  We all understand the basic IoT concept that all kinds of devices communicate over the Internet, not just computers.  We understand that IoT enabled devices send data to other applications, and in some instances, the applications send commands and data to the devices.  That is as far as most people go.

This limited understanding of IoT can lead to some very dangerous situations.    Very simply put, if IoT devices receive commands from the application, software engineers must design the system following good real time embedded control system design and development practices.  People unfamiliar with real time embedded control systems can inadvertently create conditions that can damage equipment and hurt people.

In this series of articles, you will learn some different uses for the Internet of Things.  It covers three main use cases:

  • Data collected from sensors/devices and processed by the server application (unidirectional messaging)
  • Data collected from sensors and preprocessed by devices before sending it to the server application (unidirectional messaging)
  • Devices controlling local machines send messages to the server application for overall command and control (bidirectional messaging)

You will see that the IoT architecture you choose differs based on the purpose of the installation.

No comments:

Post a Comment