Core Subsystems of an IoT Architecture

You’ve just been introduced to IoT architecture. Now let’s consider the core subsystems of IoT architecture and see where they fit into the implementation process.

The core of an IoT application consists of the following subsystems:

• Devices (and/or on-premise edge gateways) that have the ability to securely register with the cloud and have connectivity options for sending and receiving data with the cloud.
• A cloud gateway service or hub to securely accept that data and provide device management capabilities.
• Stream processors that consume that data, integrate it with business processes and place the data into storage.
• A user interface to visualise telemetry data and facilitate device management.

These subsystems are briefly described with prescriptive technology recommendations:

1. Cloud gateway: The cloud gateway provides a cloud hub for secure connectivity, telemetry and event ingestion and device management (including command and control) capabilities.

2. Stream processing: Processes large streams of data records and evaluates rules for those streams.

3. Business process integration: Facilitates executing actions based on insights garnered from device telemetry data during stream processing. Integration could include storage of informational messages, alarms, sending email or SMS, integration with CRM, and more.

4. Storage: Storage can be divided into warm path (data that’s required to be available for reporting and visualisation immediately from devices), and cold path (data that’s stored long-term and used for batch processing).

5. User interface: The user interface for an IoT application can be delivered on a wide array of device types, in native applications, and browsers.

In the next step, we’ll look at optional subsystems.