Bringing Legacy Devices Online

Bringing Legacy Devices Online
14 June 2016, Berlin – IoT Tech Expo
Bernd Behler, CTO tresmo

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“As a manufacturer, I want to connect my
legacy devices to the internet so that I can
offer new services and enable my customers
to control their devices remotely.”

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?
? ? Cloud

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+
Option B
Internal IoT Gateway

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External Gateway
Option C
?
External IoT Gateway

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Service Ports

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Gateway Service Port Connection
Option C
Service port

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IoT Gateways
Gateways can make a legacy device IoT capable:
- talks device specific protocols on one side
- talks IoT protocols on the other side
- one or more devices can be connected to a gateway (wireless or wired)

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Gateway Usage Example
Cloud
Gateway
Device
Example: Connecting a Heating Appliance to the Cloud
App

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IoT Gateways
Typical Gateway Functionality

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Gateway - Typical Functionality
Cloud
Gateway
Device
App

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
connecting

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
read / write
connecting

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
read / write
send / receive
connecting

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
data preprocessing
read / write
connecting
send / receive

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
data preprocessing
local buffering
read / write
connecting
send / receive

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
data preprocessing
local buffering
read / write
connecting
send / receive
trigger rules

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
data preprocessing
local buffering
read / write
connecting
send / receive
trigger rules
local applications

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
data preprocessing
local buffering
read / write
connecting
send / receive
trigger rules
local applications
local connection
endpoint

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Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
firmware updates
data preprocessing
local buffering
read / write
connecting
send / receive
trigger rules
local applications
device id
local connection
endpoint

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Device Identification
At the time the gateway is
produced, you usually do
not know what device is
going to be connected to it.
There must be a device
identification mechanism to
detect which device (with
which firmware version) is
connected.

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Device Identification
“Who are you?”
“I am a heating appliance of type XYZ
with firmware version 1.2.3 “
Device
Gateway

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Datapoint Definitions
The gateway itself has no
knowledge about what
“datapoints” to read from
the device
The IoT cloud has to tell the
gateway which datapoints to
read.

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“Who are you?”
“I am a heating appliance of type
XYZ with firmware version 1.2.3 “
Device
Gateway
Cloud
I have a heating appliance XYZ
with firmware 1.2.3. Please tell
me what datapoints to read.
List with datapoint definitions
for the device.

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Example:
- address 0x1234
- datatype byte
- length 1
- scaling factor 1
- unit celsius
- min 10
- max 35
- stepping 1
- description temperature setting
- ...
datapoint definitions
for all devices
Datapoint Definition
Database

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Datapoint Value Propagation
Cloud
Gateway
Device
App
gateway reads from address
0x1234
1
2
cloud forwards datapoint
address value to app:
0x1234 = 00011000
24°
3
app shows
temperature

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Cloud
Gateway
Device A
App
cloud forwards datapoint
values to app:
0x1234 = = 00011000
Device B
address 0x1234
24°

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Cloud
Gateway
Device A
App
cloud forwards datapoint values to app:
Device A: 0x1234 = = 00011000
Device B: 0x5678 = 1011110000
Device B
address 0x1234
address 0x5678
Problem: different devices store values
under different addresses.
How does the app know what
those addresses mean?
24°

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Datapoint Mapping
Device A
Device B
address 0x1234
address 0x5678
Semantic Metamodel
/heating/temperature
= 24 °
App
24°

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Datapoint Mapping
1
Semantic Metamodel
Define a semantic
metamodel across your
devices
2
Mapping Rules
Define mapping rules
to convert:
- raw device datapoint
values to metamodel
values
- metamodel values to
raw device datapoint
values
3
Conversion Engine
Use a conversion
engine to perform
conversions between
datapoint values and
metamodel based on a
given set of mapping
rules

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Cloud
Gateway
Device A
App
cloud forwards datapoint values to app:
Device A: /heating/temperature = 24°
Device B: /heating/temperature = 24°
Device B
address 0x1234
address 0x5678
Datapoint
Standardization
24°

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Summary
Internal or external gateways can be used to connect legacy
devices to the Internet.
A device identification mechanism has to be in place, when
different devices are to be connected.
Datapoint definitions can be loaded from the cloud on demand.
Metamodel mapping is important if datapoints differ from device
to device.
1
2
3
4

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We are a 360° digital agency with passion for the IoT
Digital Transformation
Consulting
Software
Development
Digital Analytics /
Big Data

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How can we help you with your IoT project?
Bernd Behler
Bernd Behler
bb@tresmo.de
IoT Tech Expo booth #14
www.tresmo.de
#tresmo360

Bringing Legacy Devices Online

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