Defining Your Product’s Role in the IoT Architecture: A Key to Success

Knowing the Ultimate Purpose of The IoT Solution Is Critical When Designing Your Product’s Specific Role 

With the IoT architecture divided into multiple layers, it is important not only to know what layer your product plays in, but also what your product’s contribution is in the larger scheme of things. Having a 360-degree view of the purpose of the IoT solution will help greatly in designing how your product will integrate accordingly. A quick review of the functionality of each layer should help serve as a reminder of the basics of an IoT solution, while offering thoughts for key considerations for providers of the products that comprise the IoT ecosystem.

Sensor Layer: This layer is often referred to as the “Perception Layer”. At this layer, sensors and actuators are responsible for collecting data from the environment. The main function of this layer is to get information from the surroundings and then to pass the data to the network layer so that some actions can be taken based on that information.

Gateway and/or Network Layer: This layer stores the majority of data collected from sensors, readers, and tags. It also transfers this data to the Middleware Layer. Gateways are commonly found in this layer, as they provide network protocols for different IoT devices. Gateways can be a microcontroller, an embedded OS, a radio communication module or a signal processor. The communications network is typically a Wi-Fi, Ethernet or LAN, or WAN connection.

Middleware Layer:  This layer secures IoT device analysis and device management. In essence, this layer enables the extraction of the necessary information from the collected sensor data. It enables the ability to model, configure and manage IoT devices. It can also contain some advanced features such as storage, computation, processing, and action taking capabilities.

Application Layer: This layer utilizes collected data for serving the required purpose. The application layer manages all application processes based on information obtained from middleware layer. This application mainly involves the taking of specific actions such as sending an alert, activating an alarm or turning on or off a device.

Many product providers in the IoT ecosystem do have a good idea of their product’s place in the overall architecture, and as the IoT ecosystem continues to evolve, the architecture becomes more advanced and more sophisticated. This is why it is imperative that your products are evolving at the same pace. This way they can continue to play a critically important role in the ongoing design and development process of the overall IoT solution.