Internet of Things Patterns
This is an excerpt of the pattern that was first published in [1].

Device Gateway

Icon of the Device Gateway pattern

Different devices support different connunication technologies. To allow all of them to connect to an existing network, add a Device Gateway which translates between the different communication technologies.

Aliases:

Gateway, Field Gateway, Intermediate Gateway, Physical Hub, Protocol Converter

Context:

A number of devices have to be connected to a network. These might include Constrained Devices or Semi-Constrained Devices that are limited in their processing power and do not support the communication methods of the network. Or these might also include Unconstrained Devices from legacy systems that cannot connect to the network due to outdated technology. A backend server reachable over this network is intended to process data from these devices.

Problem:

You want to connect many different devices to an already existing network, but some of them might not support the networks communication technology or protocol.

Forces:

  • Connectivity: Devices have to be connected to a network because you want to access their data and functionality regularly. Doing this manually is not an option.

  • Upgradability: Changing or building up a network so that it supports the communication technology required by the device is often not possible. You might not control the network, or the purpose of the network cannot be realized with the device’s technology, e.g. you need a long range network but the device only supports short range communication.

  • Effort: Adding communication capabilities that are supported by the network to all device types would mean a high investment in time and resources, or might not be possible at all because of technological limitations.

  • Diversity: Other devices with different communication technology might also have to be connected to the same network and will face the same problem.

  • Device Numbers: Your network can only support a certain amount of simultaneous connections. The number of devices you want to connect exceeds this limit. Extending the network is not an option.

Solution:

Connect devices to an intermediary Device Gateway that translates the communication technology supported by the device to communication technology of the network and vice-versa.

Solution sketch of the Factory Bootstrap pattern

Solution Details:

This is an excerpt of a previously published pattern. The full pattern can be found in [1].


Benefits:
Drawbacks:

Variants:

Related Patterns:

Known Uses:

  1. L. Reinfurt, U. Breitenbücher, M. Falkenthal, F. Leymann, and A. Riegg, “Internet of Things Patterns,” in Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (EuroPLoP), ACM, 2016. Available at http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3011789