Different from what we have experienced in the past, we have come to the beginning of a new era of online and convenience. The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to realize the vision of home and work environment anytime, anywhere, and it may have arrived, just like Geoffrey Moore's "Chasm", where are you standing? One side? Nowadays, you can monitor your home environment online through networking, ensure your family's safety and security, make the most efficient use of your home's energy, and check your pets, all at home or on the road. The tipping point is that there are very few innovative consumer products and services that even the most recent adopters cannot ignore. Since then, the arrival of the Internet of Things is beyond doubt.
If this has not happened, the company's management team will soon launch products to participate in the Internet of Things. How do you respond? The good news is that IoT applications now have a lot of ready-to-use protocol stack architectures, waiting for you and your team to leverage their creative expertise. In this article, we'll explore the common architecture of home connectivity and the technical considerations that help harness the Internet of Things.
Everyone wants to take care of the safety of their homes and their families, and only in the event of fire or theft will this need come to our minds. Some startups and cable operators have launched products for home interconnects to provide fire, security and convenience services. A typical home interconnect system architecture includes some simple to complex sensing nodes, a wireless network with gateways for wireless Internet access and possibly localized intelligent systems, and cloud services that link mobile devices. A similar home interconnect architecture is shown in Figure 1.
Embedded system designers must consider conflicting requirements when designing gateways or sensing nodes, such as processing speed, storage capacity, regulatory considerations, power consumption, system latency, online selection, system separation, and security requirements. , interoperability, future migration, and system cost.
Figure 1: Home Interconnect
The system gateway may be a cable set-top box or a stand-alone system. An example of a typical gateway architecture can be seen in Figure 2. Gateway microcontrollers (MCUs) are most likely to use ARM-based Cortex-M or Cortex-A processors with link options such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and sub-GHz/ISM. When selecting the most ideal microcontroller, you should consider the storage capacity and processing requirements of the communication stack and gateway services, the system latency requirements for "real-time" or offline operation, and the connection. When selecting a radio frequency subsystem, you should consider local regulations (FCC, ETSI, etc.), whether you want to link to a larger ecosystem (in which case you must have standards), or protocol stack requirements, link budgets. (to convert to the range of radio frequency) and system cost, if the system is self-contained (a proprietary protocol stack can be used). The power consumption of a wireless receiver is closely related to the system architecture because it affects the range of sensing nodes and the life of the battery.
When the mini gateway transmits the sensing and environmental data to the cloud, it only passes through the Ethernet network or the radio frequency subsystem, so the smaller and cheaper Cortex-M type processor should be sufficient, especially the protocol stack for communication. The request is reduced to a minimum. The advantage of the mini-gateway is that the intelligence and interoperability between nodes can be managed by the cloud service, but the disadvantage is that it may take a circle to wait for the cloud service to process and reply to the command and control commands. At the other extreme is the "smart" gateway, which provides local command and intelligent control with the advantages of minimal latency and full functionality - if the cloud is disconnected. However, smart gateway applications must manage business logic and must stand the test of future support for system upgrades. No one wants the wireless lighting control system that I bought today to be replaced with a new gateway tomorrow.
Figure 2: Home Interconnect Gateway Architecture Example
The basic node of an online home may be a door sensor, wireless lighting or smoke detector, as shown in Figure 3. Most microcontrollers use low-power 8-bit devices or 32-bit ARM Cortex-M devices. The storage capacity and processing requirements to consider when selecting the most ideal microcontroller include RF stack and sensor management, energy consumption, small package and cost. When choosing a radio frequency protocol, you should consider power consumption, link budget, and cost. The choice of wireless connection typically includes a dedicated sub-GHz/ISM stack, ZigBee, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Among these options, sub-GHz and ZigBee are the most commonly used protocols for home automation because of their most energy efficient, long-lasting battery life (typically three to five years) and a wide range to detect indoor areas. Sensing the node to avoid the hassle of replacing the battery frequently. For many wireless sensing node applications, Bluetooth lacks sufficient range because it does not support repeaters. Bluetooth has much higher power requirements than ZigBee. Wi-Fi requires more energy than ZigBee and sub-GHz, so it is not suitable for battery-powered applications because the battery cannot be easily charged.
For sub-GHz star nodes or flooding-capable radio frequency protocol stacks and space-constrained applications like sensing nodes, the most cost-effective solution may be small packages, ultra-low power 8-bit microcontroller and wireless RF receiver, or a single system chip that integrates the microcontroller and receiver. For ZigBee mesh network applications, the best choice is a system-on-a-chip that integrates the microcontroller and the radio frequency subsystem, especially in a place where the printed circuit board is a must for space. When looking for microcontrollers and wireless RF receivers, vendors need to offer low-power 8-bit and 32-bit ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers and wireless system-on-a-chip, as well as wireless radio protocol stacks. Develop development tools that require simplification.
Figure 3: Basic sensing node architecture
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