System design from the end-user perspective is an extremely important yet easily forgotten approach. I will use myself as an example. When I was designing a frame for the ‘autonomous’ lego car, I focused on the practical aspects. This frame should be: stiff, versatile, provide a space to attach sensors. My son (7y) understood all of the above but wanted to make this frame also look cool. Entertaining end-user experience is extremely important.

AWS IoT Geengrass is one of the core services used in Internet of Things deployments at Amazon Web Services. It enables the management of a fleet of Edge Devices at scale. AWS IoT Greengrass explanation AWS IoT Greengrass v2 cheat sheet Term Explanation Diagram GG Cloud Service Builds, deploys, and manages GG Core Device software across fleets of devices. GG Edge Runtime An application that runs on a GG Core Device, enables remote management and secure communication with AWS IoT Core.

Overview In this post, I show how to use the MQTT Retain message to simplify an IoT system. I will use a Smart Home example to explain this topic. Smart Home example We have two “smart” light bulbs connected to the MQTT Broker. Based on the structure of our IoT system, we defined the following general MQTT Topic structure: OWNER_ID/HOUSE_ID/ROOM_ID/light So the Topic structure for this specific deployment is following:

Overview Over The Air (OTA) update is the single most important feature of an IoT solution. You might not agree with me, but please let me explain. OTA The OTA allows updating: firmware/operating system business application configuration files security posture of an IoT device …once this device was shipped to the customer and/or installed in a hard-to-reach location. Most important feature? An IoT solution should realize the business needs of a customer/user.

Overview The MQTT was designed to support messaging in low bandwidth scenarios; by using Topic Aliases, we can reduce the bandwidth requirements even further. MQTT Topic Alias The Topic Alias is a property introduced in the MQTTv5. It reduces the network bandwidth required for the MQTT communication. A Topic Alias is an integer value that is used to identify the Topic instead of using the Topic Name. This reduces the size of the PUBLISH packet and is useful when the Topic Names are long and/or we work with extremely limited network bandwidth.

MQTT cheat sheet Term Explanation Diagram Client A program or device that uses MQTT. Client:opens the Network Connection to the Serverpublishes Application Messages that other Clientssubscribes to request Application Messagesunsubscribes to remove a request for Application Messagescloses the Network Connection to the Server Server (Broker) A program or device that acts as an intermediary between Clients which publish Application Messages and Clients which have made Subscriptions. Server:accepts Network Connections from Clientsaccepts Application Messages published by Clientsprocesses Subscribe and Unsubscribe requests from Clientsforwards Application Messages that match Client Subscriptionscloses the Network Connection from the Client Connection Connects the Client to the Server.