Article

Universal IoT solution

SGET introduces hardware-related IoT standard for embedded systems

8. February 2018

For the widespread use of Internet of Things applications, a universal component is needed in order to establish the connection between hardware and cloud and at best standardizes it without restricting it. Exactly this gap is being closed by the Universal IoT Connector (UIC) recently introduced by SGET.

While existing solutions often focus on communication and its protection only, and thus on the layers of execution above the hardware layer and more application-related, UIC pursues a more far-reaching approach.

Specifically, the Universal IoT Connector consists of three function blocks: The Embedded Driver Module (EDM) interface, which controls the connected hardware peripherals via eAPI drivers, like sensors, actuators or embedded modules, such as Qseven or SMARC. The second functional block is the Project Configuration Provider, which provides a configuration mechanism for embedded systems with event-based data transfer. It regulates which peripherals are to be controlled, how raw data is processed and when and how often data is transmitted to the server. The Communication Agent as the third functional block, is responsible for communication with a (cloud) server, i.e. for sending and receiving data or events. An advantage of this approach: The configuration is called automatically and a secure data connection is initialized from the device itself which means that no port has to be opened/enabled since the communication is being established by the device.

As a founding member of SGET standardization group SDT.04, which is responsible for the standardization of UIC, iesy is involved in the development of the open standard. Ansgar Hein, Head of Innovation & Communication at iesy and Secretary of the UIC Developer Group, explains the benefits of UIC: "In practice, UIC offers an open approach: Depending on the configuration, Amazon's Web Service (AWS) can be accessed by a Qseven module through MQTT as well as a COM Express module with Microsoft Azure Cloud via XRCE or vice versa." What makes UIC special, according to Hein, is the double abstraction, which allows a particularly flexible approach. "For us, as a systems supplier for embedded computing, it's important that we are able to adopt a cross-platform and open approach in order to keep access from multiple hardware components of different vendors as consistent as possible, which includes using a wide range of protocols from MQTT to OPC / UA, to increase the number of supported cloud platforms." The release of UIC is an important step in the right direction.

UIC framework under MIT license on GitHub: https://github.com/sgetuic/UIC.net/

  • Universal IoT solution - SGET introduces hardware-related IoT standard for embedded systems