In the future era of the Internet of Things (IoT), IoT gateways will play a very important role as they will become the link connecting the sensing network and traditional communication networks. So how should we choose the appropriate IoT gateway solution?
As we all know, a gateway in the Internet is an intermediate device that connects an internal network with other networks on the Internet, also known as a “router”. In the architecture of the IoT, we know that an intermediate device is needed between the sensing layer and the network layer, which is the “IoT gateway”.
Figure 1: Internet Network Model
Figure 2: IoT Network Architecture
The IoT gateway is a key device that integrates sensing devices such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), infrared sensors, Global Positioning System (GPS), and laser scanners into a sensing network, unifying them into the access network. The gateway can meet the access needs for short-distance communication in local areas, achieve connection with public networks, and also perform functions such as forwarding, control, signaling exchange, and encoding/decoding. In summary, if a company wants to deploy IoT, an excellent IoT gateway solution is crucial. This article will quickly introduce the IoT solution based on the IOT gateway controller launched by Guangzhou Zhiyuan Electronics Co., Ltd.
Below, we will take the smart parking solution as an example to showcase the capabilities that an intelligent IoT gateway should possess:
1. Network Interconnection Capability
Currently, there are many technical standards used for short-range communication. Just the common WSNs technology includes Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, LoRa, etc. From the position of the gateway, it can be seen that the gateway needs to have the capability to access various existing communication networks, which include: 2G/3G/4G mobile communication networks, wireless local area networks, and wired networks. Therefore, the gateway must have the corresponding network interfaces and hardware and software access capabilities. Zhiyuan Electronics’ intelligent gateway uses a Mini PCI-E interface, supporting various optional wireless communication modules such as Wi-Fi, 3G/GPRS, ZigBee, and 900M ultra-high frequency, allowing flexible selection of different short and long-range communication modules based on actual applications. This facilitates customers to quickly build suitable intelligent IoT gateway products for their industries.
Figure 3: Network Interconnection
2. Data Processing Capability
Figure 4 shows the complete solution launched by Zhiyuan Electronics for intelligent parking. Vehicles enter the parking lot using license plates or vehicle recognition methods, equipped with a LoRa wireless module to lock or guide parking spaces. This achieves convenience, speed, and safety for parking users, ultimately realizing information-based, effective, and stable management.
The hardware uses the Freescale I.MX6 series dual-core/quad-core Cortex-A9 processor with high-performance processing capability. The gateway is configured with 512MB DDR3 memory and 4GB NAND Flash, running a Linux system. It integrates high-performance interfaces such as CAN, Gigabit Ethernet, PCIe, and SATA-2, as well as multimedia interfaces like LVDS, HDMI, and MIPI cameras, supporting 1080P HD video decoding, efficiently completing the hardware access and data processing process.
Figure 4: Data Processing
3. Node Management Capability
The gateway manages the nodes within the subnet, such as obtaining node identifiers, statuses, attributes, etc., as well as remotely waking up, controlling, diagnosing, upgrading, and maintaining them. It comes pre-installed with a mature and practical Linux operating system, providing a stable and fast platform for users’ secondary application development.
In addition to intelligent parking, highly intelligent IoT gateways will also be widely applied in smart cities, smart grids, smart healthcare, smart transportation, and various industries. The IoT gateway will play a very important role in the future era of the Internet of Things. For different scene application requirements, intelligent gateway solutions based on ARM9 and A8 schemes are also available to provide diverse choices for you.
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