In the Internet, a gateway is a device that connects an internal network to other networks on the Internet, also known as a “router”. In the architecture of the Internet of Things (IoT), an intermediate device is needed between the perception layer and the network layer, which is the “IoT gateway”.
IoT Architecture
1
What is an IoT Gateway?
A gateway is a product born to facilitate the conversion of different protocols. Internally, it is responsible for protocol conversion among different devices in a smart home system, and externally, it enters the Internet via Ethernet or WiFi to achieve remote communication.
Compared to the Internet era, the communication protocols of the IoT are more diverse, and the fragmentation of objects is very serious. The importance of gateways is thus highlighted—IoT gateways can integrate information collected from different objects and transmit it to the next level, enabling information to be transmitted among various parts. IoT gateways can achieve protocol conversion between perception networks and communication networks, as well as between different types of perception networks; they can achieve both wide-area interconnection and local interconnection.
For example, household appliances like televisions, washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators; security devices like access control, smoke detectors, and cameras; and lighting devices like table lamps, chandeliers, and electric curtains can form their own self-organizing subnet systems by integrating specific communication modules. Inside the home IoT gateway device, several commonly used self-organizing network communication protocols are integrated, enabling communication with devices or subsystems that use different protocols simultaneously. Users only need to operate the gateway to control all smart devices connected to it.
The gateway plays a very important core role in the system. What types of gateways are there?
Let’s briefly discuss:
Wireless to Wireless: WiFi to 433MHz, infrared, ZigBee (common in households)
GPRS (2G, 3G, 4G) to 433MHz, infrared, ZigBee (common in industry)
Wireless to Wired: WiFi to RS485, RS232, CAN (mostly industrial)
Wired to Wireless: Ethernet to 433MHz, infrared, ZigBee (common in households)
Wired to Wired: Ethernet to RS485, RS232, CAN (mostly industrial)
2
The History of IoT Gateways
The collection, transmission, and monitoring of device data is a key step in the entire process. As market demands continue to evolve and technology improves, IoT smart gateways have emerged. To better understand their value and the opportunities for their emergence, we must look at the development process of data collection, transmission, and monitoring of devices and machines.
In the early stages, when the awareness of data collection was just beginning to emerge, due to the scarcity of sensors and the backwardness of transmission technology, most data measurement relied on manual processes. The drawbacks of manual measurement are self-evident: it is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and the detectable range is very narrow. Therefore, manual measurement methods were quickly phased out.
1. Initial Local Monitoring: The First Attempt at Data Collection
True data monitoring should start with local monitoring. By connecting the device’s central control and PLC or HMI through wired networks, local human-machine interaction and information exchange can occur, with data displayed directly on a PC or HMI.
However, the PC needs to be installed close to the device, and personnel must monitor and provide feedback 24/7. At this time, manual effort was still dominant; the actual significance of local monitoring was minimal, merely staying at simple data statistical work.
2. The Emergence of Ethernet: Extending Physical Transmission Distance
Due to the limitations of local monitoring, people began to apply wired broadband technologies like Ethernet to data collection and transmission, extending the range of data transmission. When device nodes connect to sensors, the data is transmitted through certain conversions to Ethernet and then to terminal displays. In terms of transmission range, there has been a certain expansion based on the original range.
However, the differences in protocol standards in between lead to communication not being smooth, and the inherent limitations of wired networks mean that remote monitoring is not possible, creating a huge demand in the data market once again.
3. The Emergence of Gateways: Adapting to More Protocol Standards
With the advent of 2G/3G/4G networks, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other wireless transmission technologies, the problem of remote data transmission saw a breakthrough. However, the multiple protocol standards of various communication protocols hindered the “dialogue” between devices. At this time, the emergence of gateways was very timely to adapt to more protocol standards. In between communication protocols and data, gateways act as translators. Unlike bridges that simply pass on information, gateways repack the received information to meet system needs.
The conversion capabilities of gateways, combined with wireless communication protocol technology, greatly extend the distance of IoT. However, IoT technology also faces some unique challenges. One challenge is that many IoT nodes cannot connect directly to IP-based networks due to limitations in system memory, data storage capacity, and computing power, making it difficult to achieve the interconnection of all things. IoT gateways can fill this gap, bridging the public IP-based network and the local IoT, using different communication protocols, data formats, or languages, even systems with completely different architectures.
In simple terms, with a gateway, the so-called M2M communication is no longer just a narrow definition of machine-to-machine dialogue, but rather seamless communication between devices, systems, and people.
4. Modern IoT Smart Gateways: Promoting Predictive Maintenance of Devices
Modern IoT smart gateways play a very important role in the IoT era. They are not only the link connecting perception networks and traditional communication networks. As gateway devices, IoT smart gateways can achieve protocol conversion between perception networks and communication networks, as well as between different types of perception networks. They can achieve both wide-area interconnection and local interconnection. Additionally, IoT smart gateways also need to have device management capabilities, allowing operators to manage the underlying perception nodes through IoT smart gateways, understand related information about each node, and achieve remote control. The unique edge computing capabilities of IoT enable traditional factories to achieve faster and more accurate data collection and transmission during the digital transformation process.
Characteristics of IoT Smart Gateways
Support for remote updates and maintenance. For example, Ruff’s IoT smart gateways can add supported protocols based on software upgrades at any time, providing a development interface based on JS language. Simply downloading the corresponding configuration application completes the modification of hardware product functions. If issues arise during the gateway’s use, there is no need to go on-site for repairs; modifications can be made at the software level using the Ruff Explorer remote management tool, allowing for early detection and resolution of potential issues, making maintenance smarter and ensuring more stable and reliable device operation.
Ruff’s services for agricultural clients
Ruff Explorer remote management tool
Moreover, modern IoT smart gateways also possess strong compatibility. With a plug-and-play design concept, they are compatible with devices and protocols from mainstream manufacturers, providing protocol downloads and secondary development interfaces, making compatibility easier. Since hardware gateways are controlled at the software level, factories do not need to incur large costs to replace devices compatible with gateways during the transformation process; they can simply modify the software logic.
Currently, some domestic companies like Huawei and Ruff have successfully implemented edge computing gateways and IoT smart gateways in real production environments multiple times, helping clients in industries such as engineered wood, automotive manufacturing, and wood processing to quickly and efficiently connect devices, collect and transmit data. Through their own edge computing capabilities, they can provide nearby edge intelligent services, meeting the key needs of industry digitization in agile connectivity, real-time business, data optimization, application intelligence, security, and privacy protection. The reduction of labor costs, device maintenance costs, and time costs is very valuable, which will be one of the core competitive advantages for many small and medium-sized factories in the battle for industrial 4.0 transformation.
Of course, the technical capabilities of gateways have not yet reached their endpoint. As market demands continue to rise and IoT technology continues to improve, it is believed that more comprehensive IoT gateways will continue to emerge, providing better services for the future development of IoT.
3
The Role of IoT Gateways
Now that you know what a gateway is, you may wonder what benefits there are to taking extra steps between sensors/devices and the cloud.
Battery Life
If sensors/devices are located in remote areas, they may require remote connections, such as satellite connections, to communicate with the cloud. As mentioned here, longer ranges typically mean increased power consumption (and costs); this can be an issue for small sensors/devices with limited battery life.
If sensors can last for years instead of months or weeks, by using an elevated gateway installed near the perimeter or the top of a barn, sensors/devices only need to send data a short distance to the gateway, which can then relay that data back to the cloud via a single higher bandwidth connection.
Gateways allow sensors/devices to communicate over shorter distances, thereby improving battery life.
Protocol Conversion
A complete IoT application may involve many different types of sensors and devices. Again using smart agriculture, you may need temperature, humidity, and sunlight sensors, as well as automatic irrigation and fertilization systems.
All these different sensors and devices may use different transmission protocols (essentially the rules and formats for transmitting information). Protocols include LPWAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and more.
Gateways can communicate with sensors/devices using different protocols and then convert that data into standard protocols (like MQTT) for sending to the cloud.
Unfiltered Data
Sometimes, sensors/devices can generate so much data that it overwhelms the system or incurs extremely high transmission and storage costs. Typically, in such cases, only a small portion of the data is actually valuable. For example, security cameras do not need to send video data of empty hallways.
Gateways can preprocess and filter the data generated by sensors/devices to reduce transmission, processing, and storage requirements.
High Latency
Time can be critical for certain IoT applications; sensors/devices may not be able to transmit data to the cloud and wait for a response before taking action. This is particularly true for life-or-death situations in the medical field or for fast-moving objects like cars.
By processing data on the gateway and issuing commands locally, higher latency can be avoided. However, many sensors/devices in IoT applications are too small and have too low battery power to perform processing.
Gateways can reduce the latency of time-critical applications by executing processing on the gateway itself rather than in the cloud.
Security
Every sensor/device connected to the internet is vulnerable to hacking. Compromised sensors/devices are bad news—not just for the owners, but for everyone.
A few weeks ago, a malware named Mirai was used to attack and control thousands of IoT devices. This “botnet” of devices was then used to take over a significant portion of the internet (more on Mirai).
Gateways reduce the number of sensors/devices connected to the internet since sensors/devices only connect to the gateway. However, this makes the gateway itself a target and the first line of defense. This is why security must be a priority for any gateway.
Conclusion
In the future IoT era, IoT gateways will play a very important role, serving as the link between perception networks and traditional communication networks.
Source: IoT Observer
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