The Internet of Things (IoT) concept emerged about 30 years ago and is now making headlines worldwide. Over the last decade, the IoT has become a global phenomenon. In 2022, it surrounds us from the time we wake up to the moment we fall asleep. Countless devices, gadgets, machines, buildings, and more are connected to the Internet.

According to recent IoT Analytics research, there are more than 14 billion interconnected devices in the world, and this figure is growing daily. The world of technology is developing at an enormous speed.

To help our clients get a competitive edge and keep up with these rapid changes, the CHI Software team figured out how to greatly simplify IoT development and reduce the product's time to market.

Any technician knows that beneath the most brilliant innovative idea, there is a simple workflow. With this thought in mind, we`ve created the Prebuilt IoT Platform to focus on what matters most. Let us take a look at the details!

What Do I Mean by A Typical IoT Project Architecture?

Our IoT expertise has spanned across a variety of domains since 2013. Each product we have built has a unique set of goals and features, but the core idea remains unchanged. The basic IoT architecture can be simplified into three basic steps:

• Collecting data. We need to collect data from sensors and send it to the Cloud.
• Processing data. We receive data along with information about where it comes from and store or forward this data further for analysis.
• Analyzing data. We process data with some data analysis tools to gather useful information (for statistical analysis, machine learning purposes, or a simple piece of code) and make some decisions based on it.

This may seem like a simple task at first glance. But, there are several nuances.

What Are the Common Development Tasks on the IoT Project?

When we start decomposing the basic architecture, it becomes way more complex. Here is just a small portion of what we should consider and finalize.

1. Our solution must support multiple devices and store different types of data.
2. We also have to create custom rules to process data and take care of solution security and device communications.
3. We need to consider network connection options for our devices to communicate with the cloud or each other.
4. We also set up several ways for data analysis (collected in real-time and over some period of time).
5. Our solution must generate reports and actions based on the data received from devices and send notifications.

At this stage, there is more we have to provide:

• Users should somehow interact with devices, control them remotely, check their status, connect with mobile service providers, and monitor payments;
• We should be able to update devices (we don't want to create a solution that can't be updated in the future).

With all mentioned above, we also need to figure out how to set up necessary integrations. Collecting and processing data is good, but without data export, the system can be too complicated to use, if not useless.

Hence, a typical IoT platform collecting and processing data from several devices becomes huge and complex. And even if we use cloud providers to cover some services, it can be challenging to set it up and maintain. Let us take a look at some real-life IoT projects.

Examples of Real-Life IoT Projects We Worked On

Based on these working principles, the CHI Software team has already created solutions for automotive, smart home, agriculture, and other industries:

– Smart home app for air conditioning, enabling remote temperature adjustment;

– Auto insurance solution to monitor and prevent fast deterioration of car parts;

– Mobile app to automate the work of greenhouse premises.

These projects seem completely different. But that's only the first impression. Me, along with other CHI Software developers, noticed similar workflow patterns on many IoT projects, so finally, we came up with an idea of a prebuilt system for IoT solutions.

The Prebuilt IoT Platform: Goals and Features

The created platform covers all side services and system parts of the IoT solution, which allows focusing on custom features only, such as devices and sensors, ways to process data, and custom client integrations.

We aimed to create IoT products focusing mostly on individual business needs, not on the typical development tasks. So, our team covers the following:

1. Device-based firmware, including networking, configurations, OTA updates, provisioning, and the option to add custom logic;
2. User, project, and device management;
3. Data storage and collection: sensors data, device telemetry, custom-generated data;
4. Device development. We have a set of supported low-power devices, and we can develop an IoT device for you based on our experience and reference boards or according to your individual requirements;
5. Security and networking;
6. API integrations & Data Export API.

To get the work done, we only need a defined product idea, specified requirements, and desired deadlines. It takes minimum effort from our clients and significantly simplifies the working process from the project start to the final release.

In a Nutshell

Our prebuilt IoT solution is an easy way to start an IoT business in any industry.  It helps create a truly unique product with a focus on your project idea, cut development costs and related risks, and deliver a quality IoT product three times faster.