HUAWEI CLOUD IoT device access service full experience

Abstract: Huawei Cloud IoT device access service, massive devices, one-click access, you deserve it!

This article is shared from the HUAWEI CLOUD community " [Cloud-based co-creation] HUAWEI CLOUD IoT device access service full experience directly hit by the Huawei Mate 40 production line", the original author: Qiming.

Foreword:

Before starting this article, let's ask ourselves the following two questions:

Question 1: Internet of Things slowly penetrates into thousands of industries, and its rapid development has become inevitable, but are there any challenges in the development process?

Question 2: At present, many IoT devices in the intelligent manufacturing industry rely on edge gateways, that is, the edge gateway is used to access the Internet of things, so why use an edge gateway? What are the benefits of edge gateways?

We will answer one by one through the following articles.

1. Opportunities Brought by the Internet of Things

According to survey data, 60% of enterprises are currently using or are about to deploy IoT services; 24% of their IT budgets will be used for IoT-related investments; at the same time, 63% of enterprises have passed The deployment of IoT has already reaped very generous returns. The Internet of Things is playing an increasingly important role in the economy. More data about the Internet of Things can be seen in the figure below:

At the same time, we can see that in real life, the Internet of Things is also everywhere: smart meter reading, smart street lights, smart manhole covers, car networking, smart retail, smart stores...The Internet of Things has deeply penetrated all walks of life. And promote the digital transformation of related industries, leading the industry to make very far-reaching changes.

Looking back at history, we can conclude that there are three "waves" in the Internet economy:

• first wave: information service industry digitization, mainly from 2000 to 2015. The development of Internet companies, through the digitization of Internet software, has promoted the transformation of the Internet of Things in related industries. And this is already in the past tense;
• second wave of service industry digitization, concentrated in 2014-2020, is mainly digitized by traditional services + Internet technology represented by telecommunications, banking, government, medical care, publishing, retail, etc. This stage has been basically completed;
• third wave: real economy, from 2015 to present. These include changes in some major industries related to people's livelihood, such as manufacturing, energy, transportation, agriculture, etc., which we are most concerned about. This is a "wave" of changes that are taking place.

From the national eleventh/12th five-year plan to the 13th five-year plan, to the recent hotly discussed "new infrastructure", all are promoting the upgrading of the manufacturing industry. But at present, my country's manufacturing industry is huge, but large but not strong, and its independent innovation capability is insufficient. How can we improve it? Digital transformation is the key way to enhance the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry.

2. Challenges Brought by the Internet of Things

The dividends brought by the Internet of Things are undoubtedly huge, but at the same time, they also bring certain challenges:

Challenge 1: Let "things" speak

In the process of letting "things" speak, our key challenges are:

• A large number of existing equipment has not been digitized;
• Diversified equipment, different industry agreements, and different communication methods for different industries;
• The equipment requires low power consumption and low cost;
• The equipment safety problem is outstanding.

At present, the most commonly used device to connect the device to the network is the sensor. Traditional sensors only record the amount of analog information, and cannot analyze and process the records. Therefore, the first step is to digitize all the sensor's perception, and use very objective numbers to express information such as temperature, pressure, location, and so on. At the same time, we need to make it "learn to express" based on the sensor's ability to perceive it, that is, to be networked. By connecting to the Internet, we need to "connect things". Digitization first, then networking, this is the first step to let "things" speak.

Challenge 2: Let "things" speak a word

The key challenge of letting "things" speak a word is:

• Millions of data elements lack standards and specifications;
• Diversified data formats;
• Vendors are developing in a "chimney style", with many isolated data islands, and data intercommunication is difficult.

For some current equipment, because of different industries, the manufacturers are also different, such as street lights, manhole covers, water meters, etc., are all produced by different manufacturers. Then, in the production process, they may use different protocols and access methods, which are equivalent to people from different countries. Without a unified language, they cannot communicate at all. Therefore, we need to "build a bridge" between various devices and let them speak the same thing. This is our "object model" or "product model". Standardize the data, unify the object model, and let the "things" speak the same thing.

Challenge 3: Let "things" speak valuable words

The key challenge of making "things" valuable is:

• Mass data brings computing power and storage problems;
• Real-time streaming, timing, offline, multi-dimensional analysis is complex;
• Complex industry application scenarios;
• Business closed loop, value realization and distribution issues.

How to make data valuable is a huge challenge facing the manufacturing industry. After the emergence of massive data, we need to analyze from all aspects: time dimension, hot and cold data, valuable data and worthless data, etc., so as to obtain a complete data analysis, and then be able to make decisions about "things". Make data valuable.

The above are the main challenges facing the Internet of Things. It can be seen that "Internet of Everything" is not a simple matter. Returning to the manufacturing industry, in the process of digitalization of the manufacturing industry, companies found that the amount of data is very large, it is very difficult to circulate, and the cycle of data collection is also very short, basically in seconds. At the same time, how the data is used has been restricted. Therefore, specific to the manufacturing industry, there are still the following problems in the digitalization process:

• Unable to do personalized customization: it is very difficult to collect all elements;
• Unable to network collaboration: Difficult to get through multi-domain data flow;
• Unable to intelligently produce: large data, difficult to analyze with multiple dimensions;
• Unable to extend as a service: It is difficult to develop intelligent products and services.

Three, HUAWEI CLOUD IoT device access service interpretation

(1) Architecture diagram of equipment access service solution:

Internet users have a basic perception that "data will not be generated out of thin air." The data is collected and then reported. Huawei Cloud IoT device access service is a tool, or platform, for data collection. The following is the architecture diagram of Huawei Cloud IoT's IoT solution:

HUAWEI CLOUD IoT cloud service uses LiteOS as the operating system to enable devices to "perceive" capabilities. At the same time, the device can be networked through the SDK; after the device is networked, it can access HUAWEI CLOUD IoT through gateways and other methods. Networking platform (including device access service, device issuance service, global SIM connection, data analysis service, etc.), performs data reporting, command issuance and other operations; and then connects to IoT applications through API to create smart transportation and wisdom Various smart scenarios such as cities and smart parks. Of course, there are many other services of HUAWEI CLOUD in the whole framework, such as databases, etc., to support the use of upper-level IoT applications.

Among them, device access service provides access and management capabilities for a large number of devices, and conjunction with other Huawei Cloud services to help customers quickly build end-to-end IoT solutions that meet their requirements. It includes functions such as multi-network access, device linkage rules, product model development, and so on. Through these microservices, it provides an overall service management capability for device access.

(2) HUAWEI CLOUD IoT device access service communication model

Letting "things" speak is just a anthropomorphic rhetoric. What we actually want to do is to let the device use a communication method to "communicate." So how do we abstract a device for analysis and processing?

First, it is attribute reporting. Through relevant protocol analysis and attribute reporting, based on model management, the attributes of the device will be divided into attributes, commands, events and transparent message modes, and these can be described in the form of schema; and in the upper application, we Related processing will also be carried out in accordance with this model.

Next, we will introduce in detail the various capabilities of device access services.

1. Product model (Profile): unified data & communication model

How does the above-mentioned unified data model form? Here introduces a "codec plug-in" concept. The specific method is as follows:

• define product: There are two ways to define:

Method 1: The device manufacturer edits the profile online through SP Portal;

Method 2: The equipment manufacturer obtains the sample profile provided by the platform, modifies it according to its own business, and generates the profile required by its own business;

• Quickly generate plugin

Plug-in generation: The platform provides the developer Portal, through which the developer Portal can quickly generate the plugin based on the profile defined by itself;

Plug-in deployment: support one-click quick deployment for completed plug-ins;

• value

value of 160c2dfc98b057 for upper-layer applications: reduces the complexity of device management by upper-layer applications, and forms a unified profile through data from different manufacturers on the platform scale, and upper-layer applications do not need to perceive the differences between different devices;

value to equipment manufacturers: does not need to modify the equipment code, adapts to the demands of different enterprises through plug-ins, and reduces the maintenance complexity of equipment manufacturers.

2. Rule engine: data flow & equipment linkage

Let's get to know another powerful feature of device access: the rule engine. Through the rule engine, we can upload the reported data to related services (such as data analysis services, etc.), triggering multi-device collaboration (reminders, alarm notifications, status reports, etc.).

3. Build edge-cloud collaboration, ubiquitous access, and trusted intelligent IoT edge services:

IoT edge, that is, in addition to providing cloud capabilities, a large number of capabilities will be built through the edge, including pan access capabilities, local autonomy, industry applications, and so on. In particular, it is necessary to introduce that the pan access capability can satisfy some private protocol access in addition to some relatively standard protocol access. On the edge, the aforementioned industry plug-in capabilities will also be integrated. Through the ability of this third-party industry plug-in, you can access a variety of devices.

4. Rule-based equipment linkage, edge-cloud collaboration to realize multi-scenario business customization

The device linkage on the edge side can be coordinated with the IoTDA access service in the cloud.

5. Provide local autonomy when the network is abnormal to ensure business continuity

The ability of local autonomy is well understood. Generally speaking, when the network is abnormal, the edge site is close to the device. When you are close to the device, you can provide services for the connected devices according to your own management capabilities. That is to say, when the network edge site and the cloud network have abnormal conditions, you can use local autonomous management to ensure business continuity.

Fourth, HUAWEI CLOUD IoT device access service quick access & demonstration
Next, combine the equipment of a production line to actually demonstrate how the equipment is connected to the IoT platform. The materials we need to prepare are:

• Edge Gateway (Atlas500)
• Edge gateway integrates standard MODBUS protocol
• PLC (laser engraving machine, including device gateway MODBUS Sever and collector) is connected to the edge gateway
• Edge gateway integrated private device access protocol (integrated container/process service for corresponding protocol analysis)
• PLC (placement machine) uses private TCP protocol to intervene in the edge gateway
  

specific process:

1. Enter the IoTDA service: https://www.huaweicloud.com/product/iothub.html, click "Use Now"

2. Enter the device access service page and create a product:

Through the product page of the console, you can define each product in advance from each dimension such as attributes, services, set commands, events, etc. The following briefly introduces the more important product models:

• IoT edge: edge_node, create products and define related product models. The attributes of each model correspond to the type of service, such as edge_access, which is responsible for MODBUS device access
  
• Laser engraving machine: LaserMarkingModbus. The model is relatively simple. Report the engraving speed, current, LED light, etc. through the laser engraving machine.
  
• The device gateway of the laser engraving machine: modbus_server. Mainly used to set related parameters for docking with MODBUS equipment, such as connection type, authentication, IP address, port, and so on.
  
• Mounter: Mounter1. It is more complicated. In addition to basic information, such as product version, product name, processing program name, etc., it also includes all parameters related to the placement process, such as processing results, equipment status, compressed air flow, etc.
  

3. Enter "Device":

HDC2021 Training in "Equipment" is the equipment needed for this experiment

In the concept of "equipment", "equipment" is hierarchical. The product of HDC2021 Training is the "edge_node" we previously defined. At the same time, it has two sub-equipments: training_server (laser engraving machine) and MountDevice0425 (patch) machine).

4. Register sub-device: Register Modbus sub-device under HDC2021_Training/training_server

• Choose a product:
  
• Perform data collection configuration
  
• Add sub-devices and click "OK":
  
• carry out
  

The above is a simple demonstration of device access. In addition to the gateway access, the Huawei Cloud IoT platform can also adopt a direct connection (MQTT) method. There are no special requirements for hardware. You can go and experience it yourself if you have time.

V. Summary of Huawei Cloud IoT device access services

Looking back at the question we asked at the beginning, after this stage of explanation, we can make this answer:

Question 1: Internet of Things slowly penetrates into thousands of industries, and its rapid development has become inevitable, but are there any challenges in the development process?

Answer: said three challenges before: let "things" speak, let "things" speak the same thing, and let "things" speak valuable words. That is, to make the equipment digital, networked, and standardized, and at the same time need to have data analysis capabilities, so that the value of data can be maximized.

Question 2: At present, many IoT devices in the smart manufacturing industry rely on edge gateways, that is, the edge gateway is used to access the Internet of things, so why use an edge gateway? What are the benefits of edge gateways?

Answer: The edge gateway is very beneficial to the reliability and security of the network. At the same time, it can also enhance the local closed loop of multiple local devices. It also has this obvious benefit.

Through the above explanations and experiments, we can see that the Huawei Cloud IoT device access service provides a large number of devices to connect to the cloud, device and cloud two-way message communication, batch device management, remote control and monitoring, OTA upgrades, device linkage rules and other capabilities. It can also flexibly stream device data to other Huawei Cloud services, helping IoT industry users to quickly complete device networking and industry application integration.

Let's experience it together~

This article is compiled from [Huawei Cloud Community Content Co-Creator Hot Recruitment] The fourth bullet: Cultivate May, keep walking! View event details: https://bbs.huaweicloud.com/blogs/266530

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