Overview The IoT Thing is a virtual representation of a physical device or logical entity (for instance: an application). Following Thing properties describe an IoT Thing: Thing Name Thing Type Thing Attributes Thing Groups Billing Group AWS IoT Thing properties Thing Attributes Thing Attributes are key-value pairs that record information about the Thing (for instance: the hardware version or vendor). We can create an IoT Thing and define Thing Attributes using the AWS SDK for Python (Boto3).

Overview Security of Internet of Things is stretched from on-premise devices all the way to cloud services. It is a difficult and complex topic. I gathered some crucial materials to help you navigate in this space. AWS documents Securing Internet of Things (IoT) with AWS On 20th of December 2021, AWS published an updated version of Securing IoT with AWS whitepaper. It is a complete overview of AWS security services designed to protect IoT deployments; a must-read for everyone interested in building IoT solutions on AWS.

Design during Development - is that always a bad approach? typically that is the case The best practice is to Design before starting the Development. This approach provides multiple benefits: it is easier to update the design (for example, a UML diagram) than modify the software/hardware prototype; good design helps to manage the complexity (for example, by creating abstraction layers) and hide the logic of internal modules; during the design stage, we can identify future issues (for example, inadequate data structures) and fix them without modifying the already developed solution.

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: