IoT gateway

When you have an IoT scenario where you want to provide feedback quickly, you need an IoT gateway.

So what exactly is an IOT gateway?

In brief, an IoT gateway is a device that aggregates data from other IoT devices to perform decision making. When the gateway detects a problem that needs to be solved immediately, it either solves it or gets the user's attention. In addition to responding to critical problems, it also aggregates and uploads sensor data to the internet for reporting purposes.

sample IoT network diagram with IoT gateway

For example, in a vehicle, the gateway should sound an alarm when it detects that the driver is dozing off. On the other hand, it aggregates and uploads vehicle telemetry to the internet for reporting purposes.

Software and hardware mix for IoT gateways

Since an IoT gateway needs to make decisions, we usually choose a device with a microprocessor. In addition to the microprocessor, we should also choose a device with decent memory, storage, network adapters and/or USB ports. Given that, we will then be able to connect to different sensor input to the gateway.

In order to interact with the hardware components, we also choose a gateway that can either support an operating system or allow for customised programming.

Devices that can act as an IoT gateway

The following devices can act as an IoT gateway: