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IoT Cloud Application Development

In an IoT deployment of significant complexity, the ecosystem is usually cloud-based. Cloud computing encompasses the following characteristics that sets it apart from distributed computing technologies:

  • Ability to scale up and down
  • Utility based pay-as-you-go model
  • Security
  • Provision of self-service
  • Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
  • Performance measurement
Reduced capital expenses and business agility are some of the main business drivers behind the rapid adoption of IoT cloud application by industries and enterprises. With industry experience spanning 13+ years, Embitel has been at the forefront in the deployment of secure IoT solutions with cloud computing at the core.

IoT Cloud Application – Architecture

IoT Cloud Application – Architecture
An IoT cloud hosts the following essential components:
  • IoT Cloud Application, loaded with APIs and other interfaces, to push and pull the data/commands to & from the IoT sensor nodes/devices and downstream applications.
  • IoT Integration Middleware, such as an MQTT Cluster, that receives information from the sensors and transmits it to the cloud services for processing. The MQTT broker ensures that there is no data loss and establishes asynchronous communication between IoT devices and cloud services.
  • Databases, Security Patches and other Software/Algorithms to provide the necessary infrastructure.
  • Analytics Engine – Relational Databases, Machine Learning and AI software algorithms.
  • Integration with IoT based mobile/web/desktop applications or downstream Business Intelligence apps.

IoT Cloud Application Development Services

Cloud Interfaces Development

IoT Sensor Nodes & Cloud Interfaces Development

  • Secure and robust communication interface development between IoT devices and cloud using MQTT, CoAP, AMQP, Websocket, etc.
  • Connectivity of IoT device is continuously monitored by the IoT Cloud Application. It also alerts end-users of connectivity issues and suggests resolutions.
  • Implementation of secure handshake mechanism for communication/data transfer between IoT sensor nodes/devices and cloud services.

Database Design

Database Design and Data Management

  • Robust database design and architecture (relational/non-relational) ensuring no data loss.
  • Database optimisation to manage scalability and voluminous data.
  • Storage and management of all IoT device data for real-time monitoring of the deployed devices.

End-user IoT Application

End-user IoT Application development

  • End-User Role Management – A user accesses only the assigned IoT sensor nodes/devices after successful login. End-users are defined with respect to roles and responsibilities which are maintained and managed by the IoT Cloud Application.
  • IoT Device Management – IoT device identity is created and stored in the cloud and is mapped to respective users to avoid unauthorised access.
  • IoT Mobile App/ Web Application – Device parameters, status and processes stored in the IoT cloud can be accessed, monitored and controlled by end-users through Mobile/Web/Desktop applications.

Analytics and Reporting

Analytics and Reporting

  • Development of intuitive mobile, web and desktop applications for monitoring/managing the connected devices.
  • Development and integration of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms with the IoT cloud as per the business requirements.
  • Enable IoT Cloud Application to process historical data in order to predict the device’s behaviour and identify patterns for predictive maintenance, asset utilization or other business applications.
  • Support for customized text-based and graphical reports for analysis and monitoring.

Best Practices for Developing a Robust IoT Cloud Application

Database Design

Database Design Matters

  • Consult your IoT platform development partner to understand the scale of the project, i.e., the number of IoT sensor nodes or devices that needs to be deployed, the volume of data, criticality of data, business intelligence requirements, etc.
  • Your IoT Cloud Application development partner should design databases to optimize data management.

Server Scaling & Application Cloning

Server Scaling & Application Cloning

  • Analyse and anticipate the current and future number of end-users of your IoT Application.
  • Set-up ramp-up/ramp-down of Cloud Server bandwidth based on traffic, i.e., Auto-scaling using AWS- EC2.
  • Implement IoT Cloud Application Cloning to avoid system overload due to increased traffic.

Cloud Application Security

IoT Cloud Application Security

  • Enable TLS/SSL certificate: This will ensure that hackers are not able to establish remote access of IoT devices/nodes even if they sniff the IoT network packets.
  • Ensure that your IoT Cloud Application development partner implements the encryption and decryption of the data packets to protect against data tempering at the network level.

Cloud Database Design Considerations – Points to Note

  • Implement a secure protocol between the IoT device and the cloud platform to ensure that there is no data loss.
  • Based on use case, you can develop machine learning algorithms for time series analysis of data and report generation. These specifics should be identified during the database design phase.
  • Determine the length of time the collected data needs to be stored. This is a crucial aspect to be considered when designing the database.
  • Incorporate No SQL database for improved scalability and superior performance. If there is a requirement to collect data on device stage changes, SQL database is more reliable.

FAQs Regarding IoT Cloud Application Development

What is your Business Engagement Model for IoT Cloud Application development projects?

Ans.   After developing an in-depth understanding of the problem statement and project requirements, we partner with our customers based on the following engagement models:

  • Fixed Cost Model: The Development & Deployment of IoT cloud application is done based on a pre-agreed fixed cost.
  • Time & Material (T&M): The billing for development and deployment of the application is calculated based on the estimated number of man-hours, and infrastructure costs.
  • Post-deployment support: We also engage with our customers for 24×7 post-deployment support. This can include the following:
    • Support for post-production issues , the change requests (CR), feature enhancement requests, and software/security patch updates.
    • 24*7 monitoring and maintenance of the system.
What are the built-in security features of your IoT Cloud Application solution?

Ans. Our Cloud Application Solution for IoT projects is designed based on a multi-level security approach that includes:

Device Side Security: This is ensured through Root CA (Client Authentication) certificate that helps in verifying the source before any network connection is established between the server and any IoT device.

In addition to this, device IDs’ of each device are matched against an authentication device list, which is maintained by the server to ensure that only trusted devices get access to the data.

Cloud/Server Side Security: This is implemented using the Role Based Server Access management. This helps in streamlining the server data access based on user’s role and corresponding permission levels.

Network Security: Each interaction between the cloud and an IoT device within the network is secured using advanced encryption mechanisms ( SSL, HTTPS).

Does you Cloud Application solution offer support for business analytics and report generation?

Ans.Yes. Based on your business requirements, we can configure our IoT Cloud Application to store and process data for pattern learning, anomaly detection and more. Our team can help you in integrating advanced business intelligence dashboards and tools like Power BI, and Amazon Quicksight.

Additionally, we also offer support for generating real-time reports in various file formats including PDF, Excel, or CSV.

Does your Cloud Application solution offer scalability to support our future business requirements?

Ans. Our IoT Cloud Application solution is designed to cater to any future increase in number of connected devices as well as an increase in the data volume.

Usually, this is achieved by creating multiple instances of the database in a distributed environment, that helps in balancing the increase in load.

Additionally, we can also store the data in a non-relational database like NoSQL DBMS. A non-relational database uses a schema-less data management architecture which makes it easy to scale-up based on the business requirement.

What skill sets are required for IoT Cloud Application development?

Ans. Typically, a team developing IoT cloud application for IoT projects should have the following skillsets:

  • Software skills like expertise in Python Scripting
  • Cloud Platform development expertise
  • Experience in DBMS
  • Expertise in IoT communication protocols like MQTT, CoAP, HTTPS
  • Expertise in Cloud security management
  • Front –end UI/UX Design & Development Skills
  • Hands-on experience in Software Testing
What are the tools and technology frameworks required for developing a Cloud App solution?
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FRAMEWORK TECHNOLOGY TYPE
Frontend HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap, Javascript, Ajax, HighCharts
Scripting Language Python, C#.Net
Web Framework Python Based Django framework
Web server Nginx, Microsoft IIS, Apache
DBMS PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL,
Cryptographic protocols TLS/SSL
Security Services/ Encryption HTTP and/or HTTPS
Communication Protocol MQTT
 
What are the benefits of migrating the IoT application from physical enterprise server to a cloud server?

Ans. The following are some of the business benefits:

  • When an IoT Application is hosted on a Cloud Server, your team will have the flexibility to manage the devices and the data from a remote location through a secure authentication process. This helps in enhancing the response time to any issue that needs immediate attention.
  • Moving your application to the cloud offers scalability, which is limited when you are using a dedicated server. The pay-per-use business model of a cloud based server also ensures that a ramp-up doesn’t impact the bottom-line of the project.
  • You can leverage cloud based tools and APIs that can help to optimize and improve the overall performance and simplify operations.

IoT in Action: Customer Success Stories

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