The IoT Terminal adds connectivity to existing infrastructure. The IoT terminal is an IoT device to connect the sensing network layer and the transmission network layer to implement the acquisition data and send data to the network layer.
This allows remote control and maintenance of existing systems. It is responsible for data acquisition, initial processing, encryption, transmission, and other functions. Furthermore, it enables new applications by adding local wireless communication with the user.
Basic principle and role of the IoT terminal
IoT terminal Principle
The IoT terminal is basically consisting of three parts of the peripheral perception (sensing) interface, a central processing module, and an external communication interface, and is connected to the sensing device through the peripheral informal interface.
Such as RFID card readers, infrared sensors, environment sensors, etc., the data of these sensing devices is read and processed through the central processing module, and the external communication interface is passed according to the network protocol.
As GPRS modules, Ethernet interfaces, Wi-Fi, etc. are sent to the Ethernet’s designated central processing platform.
IoT terminal Role:
The IoT terminal belongs to the intermediate device of the sensing network layer and the transmission network layer. It is also a critical device of the Internet of Things, through its conversion and acquisition, in order to collect and process various external perceived data, and use data through a variety of networks Interface mode is transmitted to the Internet.
If there is no existence, the sensing data will not be delivered to the specified location, and the “things” network will not exist.
IoT terminal classification
From industry application
It mainly includes industrial equipment detection terminals, facilities agricultural testing terminals, logistics RFID identification terminals, power system detection terminals, security video monitoring terminals, etc., the next few common industries introduce the main features of the terminal.
Industrial equipment test terminal
This type of terminal is mainly mounted on large-scale equipment of the factory or large motion mechanism for industrial enterprises, to collect displacement sensors, position sensors (GPS), vibration sensors, liquid level sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, and other data.
The summary and processing of data from the central processing platform via the terminal’s wired network or wireless network interface are sent to the central processing platform, and the timely tracking of factory equipment is prompt tracking and the purpose of the large machinery is to achieve safe production.
Anti-electromagnetic interference and patriotism are the focus of this type of terminal.
Facilities Agriculture Detection Terminal
The terminal is generally placed in a greenhouse in the facility agriculture, mainly capturing air temperature humidity sensors, soil temperature sensors, soil moisture sensors, light sensors, gas content sensors.
Packing, compressing, and encrypting the summary and processing of data to the central processing platform after encrypted data.
This system can promptly discover environmental factors that are not conducive to crop growth in agricultural production and notify the user to correct these factors for the first time, increase crop yield, and reduce the probability of pests and diseases.
The terminal’s anti-corrosion, the moisture-proof design will be the focus of such terminals.
Logistics RFID identification terminal
This type of equipment is fixed, car-mounted, and hand-held, fixedly mounted in the warehouse door or other cargo channel, and the car is mounted in the logistics transport vehicle, and the handheld is handled by the user.
Fixed typically only recognition functions, used to track the storage and outlet, in-vehicle and handheld typically have GPS positioning function and basic RFID tag scan function, to identify the status, location, performance of the goods, etc., The basic information and cargo basic information are transferred to the central processing platform through wired or wireless networks.
Through the cargo status identification of the terminal, the logistics management is very smooth and convenient, which greatly improves the efficiency of logistics.
From the usage
It mainly includes the following three: fixed terminals, mobile terminals, and handheld terminals.
Fixed terminal
Applying in a fixed occasion, it is fixed, which has a reliable external power supply and a reliable wired data link to detect various fixed equipment, instruments, or environments. As mentioned earlier, the terminals used by industrial equipment belong to this kind.
Mobile terminal
The application is moved between the terminal with the detected device, which is often motion, so there is no too reliable external power source, and it is necessary to transmit data through the wireless data link, mainly detected as an image, location, sports equipment, and some physical conditions, etc.
This type of terminal generally has a good seismic, anti-electromagnetic interference ability, in addition to the processing power of the power supply, and some have a backup power source. Some car instruments, car video surveillance, truck/passenger car GPS positioning, etc. use such terminals.
Handheld Terminal
The terminal is based on the mobile terminal, which is transformed and upgraded. He is generally compact, light, and the user can carry it with you, with a backup battery, which can generally be powered up for more than 8 hours.
There is an interface that can be connected to an external sensing device, and the acquisition data can generally be transmitted in time by wireless, or connecting wired transmission after accumulating a certain degree.
Most of this type of terminal is used in the fields of logistics RFID identification, factory parameter table inspection, crop pest examination.
From the use of extension
It mainly includes two types of single-function terminals and general intelligent terminals.
Single function terminal
IoT terminals are generally less external interface, simple design, only partially extension of a single application or single application, in addition to such applications, unable to apply in other occasions without hardware modification.
Currently, there are many such terminals in the market, such as the image transmission service terminal of automobile monitoring, the terminal, the RFID terminal for the logistics, the function of these terminals, only in specific occasions, cannot function with application changes And expansion, etc.
Due to the single function, the cost of this type of terminal is low, and it is also preferred.
General intelligent terminal
This type of terminal is much more, complicated, considering the versatility of the industry, and is complex, and can meet the applications of two or more occasions. It can modify the application parameters, or meet different application requirements by setting parameters, or disassembly of hardware modules.
This type of module generally covers most of the needs of the interface, and has a network connection, a wireless plurality of interface methods, and extensions such as Bluetooth, WiFi, ZigBee, etc., and even reserved a certain output interface for foundation networks, the control of “object” in the application.
This type of terminal is difficult to develop, high cost, unmissified, and there are very few markets.
From the transmission way
It mainly includes a data transmission terminal and a non-data transmission terminal.
Data Transmission Terminal
This type of terminal creates a data transfer path between the input port and the application software, enabling the data through the input port of the module, and the output of the software is not moved, and the manifestation is equivalent to a transparent channel, so the data is called data transmission terminal. Currently, this type of terminal is widely adopted on the Internet of the Things integration project.
The advantage is that it is easy to construct an Internet of Things system that is in line with the application. The disadvantage is that the function is single. When some multiplexes or multiple types of data are transmitted, it is necessary to use the multiple acquisition modules to perform the data consolidation of the data.
Otherwise, each of the data transparent terminals need to be transmitted, which increases the cost of use and the complexity of the system. Most of the general terminals on the market are data-transparent terminals.
Non-data transmission terminal
This type of terminal generally combines the acquisition data of the external multi-interface through the processor within the terminal and therefore has multiple simultaneous transmission advantages while reducing the number of terminals.
The disadvantage is that the application can only be selected according to the external interface of the terminal. The common feature of such terminals, the general intelligent terminal mentioned above belongs to such terminals.
The data transfer application protocol is integrated within the terminal. As a multi-function application, it is often necessary to provide a secondary development interface. There are fewer terminals on the market.
IoT terminal equipment software system architecture
The Common System IoT Terminal Framework has mainly existed two types: with RTOS (handling complex business scenes, scenes in the scene by multiple transactions in parallel coordination) and without RTOS (usually processed business scenarios)
Without RTOS Equipment IoT Terminal System Frame:
With RTOS Equipment IoT Terminal System Frame:
What is the RTOS?
Real-time multi-task operating system, with it, you can run multiple tasks in parallel in the terminal device. Each task is responsible for a transaction. It is improved by parallelization, and the real-time and efficiency of response are improved.
RTOS Real-Time Operating Terms Generally included important components as follows: Task Scheduling, Synchronization, Communication, Memory Allocation, Interrupt Management, Time Management, Device Drivers, and Task Scheduling Components:
In an embedded operating system, the task is the minimum run unit on the CPU. Usually a slightly complex point IoT APP is completed by multiple tasks. For example, some tasks are responsible for handling user event inputs and UI displays, some tasks are responsible for handling data communication, and some tasks are responsible for business logic processing.
Since there are multiple tasks in a system running, and the CPU resource is indeed single, this causes only one task to run on the CPU. Therefore, it is possible to run opportunities on the CPU for each task, and the task scheduling concept is involved. The task scheduling needs to be in accordance with certain rules, which is usually in accordance with which rules come.
There are three ways to schedule our common scheduling: priority scheduling, which is based on the time slime adjustment, one is to combine the priority and time slice together.
Taking the priority scheduling example, when defining tasks, assign a priority to each task, high priority tasks are prioritized when running. Until there is no high-priority task, low-priority tasks will be run. If the low-priority task gets the CPU resource, what is this if there is a high-priority task?
Two processing methods: Continue to run, seize the size.
High priority seizes the CPU resource into the operating state.
As can be seen above, the type and function of the Internet of Things terminal devices are a thousand different, and the performance of the terminal device is inconsistent in different scenarios.
The hardware of the IoT terminal equipment and the fragmentation of software also hinder the development of the Internet of Things itself.
The IoT terminal operating system can solve the above-mentioned problems, but it can not only re-standardize the network terminal equipment but also provide a unified development environment for the rapid development of the Internet of Things.
The reasons for the IoT terminal operating system are as follows.
First, the IoT terminal operating system solves the problem of fragmentation of the Internet of Things terminal equipment. The IoT terminal equipment is a variety of, if there is a good IoT terminal operating system to support these devices, the various Internet applications have the stage of playing their own capabilities, and the problem of fragmentation of the Internet of Things terminals is also available.
Second, the IoT terminal operating system can cultivate a proprietary icon technology ecological chain. A good Internet of Things terminal operating system can improve the development speed of the Internet of Things and develop healthy technical ecological chains. It can isolate soft / hardware systems, accelerate the development speed of Internet applications, and improve the practicality of Internet applications.
The ability of the IoT terminal operating system
From the actual application of the Internet of Things, the IoT terminal operating system needs to have the following capabilities.
Hardware control capabilities
An important ability of the IoT terminal device is to perceive and control objects, which is completed by different hardware devices. Due to the diversity in the industry and the field, the Internet of Things hardware may be varied, then the abstraction and control of hardware are particularly important.
The IoT terminal operating system provides a rich API to control hardware or peripherals, which can provide the underlying control of hardware, or provide control of high-level application properties.
In general, the IoT terminal operating system is capable of providing a rich hardware device driver, while providing a rich hardware control API.
Software remote control capabilities
The number of IoT terminal devices is very large and often deployed under harsh conditions. That is, many terminal devices are usually unmanned and operated. At this time, the ability of the IoT terminal device is very important.
The IoT terminal operating system provides support for the remote control capability of the software and is also a feature of the IoT terminal operating system.
Remote control capabilities can be understood from two aspects, the application of remote upgrades and highly open system control capabilities.
The remote upgrade of the application requires the operating system to separate the operating environment and application of the application, and the system control capability is highly open referring to the IoT terminal operating system to provide a sufficiently rich control interface for the application.
Rich network capabilities
The IoT terminal equipment has the ability to exchange information with other Internet terminals, and therefore, the Internet of Things operating systems should provide rich network interface capabilities and support numerous network protocols.
At the same time, the network protocol of the IoT terminal operating system should be streamlined, because streamlined network protocols are conducive to equipment, application rapid development, and deployment, and solve problems inconsistent with Internet terminal equipment capabilities.
Calculating capacity
Computing power is the basic capabilities of the IoT terminal operating system, the accuracy of data and the accuracy of the calculation results are the protection of the value of the Internet of Things data.
The IoT terminal operating system needs to provide a wealth of computational models, which is convenient for developers to develop and provides a computational model plug-in to support third-party technical models.
System size scalable ability
A significant difference between the IoT terminal equipment and the computer, and the mobile terminal is that the external terminal device appearance and dimensions are not fixed. The appearance and size are not fixed, there will be a variety of requirements for the size of the operating system, from the 100 K level to the M level.
The requirements for the IoT terminal operating system are small kernels, and the function can be cropped.
The kernel is small, which not only means the operating system kernel portion but also requires the minimum function set of the operating system to be small; functionally cropping, requiring the Internet terminal operating system to provide a rich selection of can able functional modules.
Support cloud technology capabilities
Cloud Technology and the Internet of Things are a pair of natural partners. Therefore, we must consider the relationship between the Internet terminal operating system design, enhance the ability of Internet access terminal equipment to support cloud technology.
Briefly, in order to cooperate with cloud technology in the Internet of Things industry, the IoT terminal operating system should have perfect data processing capabilities.
Systematic self-growth ability
A preferred system is a general operating system + industry operating system (universal operating system refers to the impact of the information of the Internet of Things terminal operating system pays attention to the improvement of the information technology in the Internet of Things industry;
Industry operating system refers to the industry operating system standards for different industries, the industry operating system provider, and the reasons are as follows.
First, the network terminal equipment diversity requires the operating system thereof.
Second, the application field of the Internet of Things is a division industry, the different terminal operating systems are designed for different industry characteristics.
Third, since the development of the entire computer technology, the concept of open source is increasingly accepted, and the opening source will make more people and institutions participate in the cultivation of the ecological chain very helpful.
Besides the What is An IoT Terminal article, you may also be interested in the below articles.
Internal Antenna VS. External Antenna
LTE Vs. 5G: Is 5G Better Than LTE?
