As the concept of the Internet of Things continues to mature, various IoT smart products are changing our lives. As the heart of the Internet of Things, the IoT gateway will also play an increasingly important role. The gateway is the controller for the operation of the entire IoT system. It not only includes the collection, input, and output of information but also centralized, remote, and linkage control. It is a key that controls the door to intelligence.
What is a gateway?
A gateway is a computer system or device used for conversion, like a translator in different systems. The gateway repackages the received information to meet the needs of the target system. At the same time, it ensures filtering and security.
What is the gateway of the Internet of Things?
In the architecture of the Internet of Things, a bridge is built for the two different levels of the perception layer and the network layer, that is, the "Internet of Things gateway". It can realize both wide area network interconnection and local area network interconnection. In addition, the IoT gateway also needs to have device management functions. Operators can manage the underlying perception nodes through the IoT gateway device, understand the relevant information of each node, and realize remote control.
How do IoT devices access the network?
Only when the device is connected to the network can it be considered an IoT device. The key lies in the access method and network communication method.
Device access method:
Direct access
For example, by adding an NB-IOT communication module to the device, you can directly access the network.
Gateway access
The IoT terminal device itself cannot access the network. It needs to be connected to the network through the gateway after local networking. For example, the terminal device transmits via Bluetooth, and then the data of each device is uniformly connected to the network through the Bluetooth gateway. Minewtag's smart IoT gateway transmits data through the Bluetooth protocol.
The functions of the IoT gateway mainly include
1. Protocol conversion capability
Convert protocols from different perception networks to access networks, uniformly encapsulate data in the standard format of the lower layer, and ensure that the protocols of different perception networks can become unified data and signaling; parse the data packets sent by the upper layer into signaling and control instructions that the perception layer protocol can recognize.
2. Manageability
First, manage the gateway, such as registration management, authority management, status supervision, etc. The gateway implements the management of nodes in the subnet, such as obtaining the node's identification, status, attributes, energy, etc., and remotely realizes wake-up, control, diagnosis, upgrade and maintenance. Due to the different technical standards of subnets and the different complexity of protocols, the management capabilities of gateways are different.
3. Extensive access capabilities
There are many technical standards for short-range communications, such as 3GPP and sensor working groups, to achieve interoperability of various communication technology standards.
Two factors to consider in IoT gateway design
1. Data security
Determines whether large-scale IoT can be successful. Security issues should be implemented in every design stage, and it is wrong to add security features after all design tasks are completed. The minewtag gateway G1-D Bluetooth protocol uses 128-bit AES encryption, which can effectively protect the security of data during transmission.
2. Maintainability
No system is perfect. No matter how much testing is done before deployment, security defects, hidden dangers and vulnerabilities will be found after deployment. IoT gateways and nodes must support on-site maintenance and update functions. Equipment maintenance should not only rely on remote maintenance but also have more networking methods to choose from.
