IoT Components

An IoT solution can be conceptually considered to consist of the following components, comprising both hardware and software, all working together to provide a complete connected network of things:

• Sensors:

  These components can detect the various properties of their surroundings (such as temperature, pressure, sound, moisture, and so on) convert them to data, and transmit them to the processor for analysis or storage. In an IoT solution, which is a machine-to-machine solution, sensors can be considered to be the input component, just as a keyboard or a touch screen are input components in a human-to-machine solution.

• Gateways:

  In the context of IoT solutions, a gateway is a server that receives data captured and sent by sensors and passes it on to processors. Gateways can perform several pre-processing actions to clean up and validate data before it is passed on to the processor.

• Processors:

  These are the servers that process the data read by the sensors and then filtered by the gateways. Processors analyze the data based on the programmed application logic. Based on this analysis they can determine what action needs to be taken. Here, the action could be limited to simply storing the data for future reference, alerting a human user, or making a machine do something.

• Controllers:

  These components receive instructions from the processors based on the decision taken by the processors. Controllers can control a machine and make it do something, for example, turn a thing on or off. As you will learn later, controllers take the form of devices known as actuators and relays.

• Workers:

  Machines, appliances, devices, vehicles, and anything that can do some work or perform some function, are referred to as workers. Based on signals from controllers, workers do the task they are instructed to do. A human can also be a worker in this context, who will manually take some actions based on the data or analysis presented by the processor.

  Component Interaction

An IoT solution must have either a sensor or a processor (to manage a worker), for example, a smartphone. A complete IoT solution may contain sensors that send data to a smartphone for human action or workers controlled via human inputs through a smartphone. The other components come into play when the solution gets more complex.