Internet of Things architectures are based out of Principles and Patterns that govern the IoT solutions. Presented here are primary architectural patterns for IoT solutions

1. ARCHITECTURAL PATTERNS
FOR
INTERNET OF THINGS
-GAURAV AWASTHI
PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT - IOT

2. IOT COMPONENTS
`
Device
Gateway
Stream
Ingestion
Processing
Data Store
Admin Portal
Enterprise
Integration
Analytics (
ML/AI)
IoT Devices
Mobile/Web
Apps
Device
Management

3. DATA INGESTION
• Ability to ingest data and
events at a Massive scale.
• Achieved using Stream
ingestion components like
Apache Kafka, AWS
Kinesis, Azure EventHub
CONTROL CHANNEL
• Ability to send commands to
device/gateways
• Achieved using bi-
directional communication
protocol that provides
persistent connections from
platform to devices
COMMUNICATION
• Communication mechanism
that scales to high volume
and velocity of incoming
data and also to
downstream systems
• Support for asynchronous
mode of communication
and command queuing for
intermittent connectivity
Architectural Patterns

4. HEARTBEAT
• Device heartbeat is
needed on the platform
to realize if the smart
equipment/devices are
reporting and are in
working condition
• Achieved using a device
health service which is
sometimes provided by
the platform or can be
custom built as well
DATA PROCESSING
• Business rules need to be applied
to streaming data to check for
any threshold breaches or other
data manipulation needs
• Many stream processing
components offer a rules engine
like AWS Kinesis, IoT Rules etc.
• Serverless compute mechanism
and docker based portable
services are generally used to
implement business logic and
data manipulation algorithms
IOT GATEWAY
• Required to aggregate device
data, perform edge analytics
and protocol conversion
• Generally a microprocessor or
microcontroller based
hardware gateway device that
connects to the sensors or
devices to collect data and
transmit it to the platform
over IP based protocols
Architectural Patterns

5. DEVICE
AUTHORIZATION
• Device authentication and
authorization is required
before they start sending
data to the IoT platform
• Client certificates for device
authorization is used. Some
platforms provide self-
signed certificates but
others provide only a key
vault to store and manage
CA signed certificates
ADMIN PORTAL
• Remote end point
management using admin
dashboard and APIs
• The Admin dashboard may
be custom built or some
platforms provide it to
manage an secure end
points in a unified way
• It may also display reports
on the collected telemetry
data
SOFTWARE UPGRADES
• Ability to upgrade the
software of gateways or
devices with the functionality
of campaign management,
rollout management, and
software installation
• Most IoT Platforms provide
Device Provisioning Service
but a full-fledged solution
usually has to include custom
components as well
Architectural Patterns

6. ENTERPRISE
INTEGRATION
• The RAW and Processed
telemetry data needs to
be shared with enterprise
and external systems
• Achieved using Message
Bus, Custom Connectors
for SAP/SF, API Gateway
tools
DEVICE REGISTRY
• Stores the basic device
characteristics on the
platform
• Constructed using device
management tools provided
by IoT platforms like AWS
and Azure
STATE
SYNCHRONIZATION
• Virtual representation of
device must be maintained
on the platform and
synchronized with it on a
regular basis
• Achieved using Device
Twin/Things Shadow
components provided as
managed services by the
platform
Architectural Patterns