Communication Behavior - sedioben/IoTproject GitHub Wiki

Overview

Gateways

Not every device in our setup is Internet-capable. Gateways are necessary for:

  • The Amazon Echo -> The router is the gateway to the Internet.
  • The Nuki lock and the Nuki bridge -> The router is the gateway to the Internet.

Devices are organizing their connection to the Internet:

  • Smartphone and smartwatch are connected through Bluetooth.
  • Smartphones and the Internet are connected through cellular.
  • Our servers and the Internet are connected through WAN / LAN.
  • The food delivery company and the Internet are connected through WAN / LAN.
  • The customer's router and the Internet are connected through WAN / LAN.
  • The deliverer's smartphone and the Internet are connected through cellular.
  • The deliverer's smartphone and the NFC tag are connected through NFC.
  • Nuki lock and the smartphone are connected through Bluetooth.
  • Nuki lock and the Nuki bridge are connected through Bluetooth (Ad hoc).
  • Amazon Echo and the router are connected through WLAN/LAN.

Messaging

When it comes to messaging, we often have both in our set up - push and pull.

Overview of all the push connections:

  • The smartwatch and the smartphone are sending the activity data and health data from the customer to our servers (push).
  • Our servers proactively send the individual meal proposals to the customer's devices (push).
  • When the order is processed, we send the request with all the details to the food delivery company (push).
  • The Nuki bridge initiates the command to the lock to open or close the door (push).
  • The Amazon Echo sends the entered voice command from the deliverer to process the commands (push).

Overview of all the pull connections:

  • The server pulls the current activity data and health data from the customer (pull).
  • The server pulls the geolocation of the customer to calculate the arrival time (pull).
  • The server pulls the location of the delivery guy bringing the food (pull).
  • The deliverer's smartphone is pulling the authentication token from the NFC tag in front of the door (pull).
  • The Nuki bridge is pulling the current lock status from the Nuki lock.

Data Transport

When looking at the data transport, we see that we have the following kinds of transport:

  • Streaming

    • The data exchange between the smartwatch and the smartphone is constant and always present.

  • Bulk

    • The server and the smart devices of the customer exchange much data in defined intervals.
    • The communication between the Amazon Echo and the Internet or its servers are also bulk although they happen in undefined intervals, a larger amount of data is exchanged.
    • Communication between the delivery company and our servers.

  • Sporadic

    • The communication between the NFC tag and the deliverer's smartphone
    • The communication between the Nuki bridge and the Nuki lock
    • The communication between the Nuki bridge and the Internet

Network Organisation and Structure

In our IoT set up, we have the following network organizations and structures:

  • The smartphone and the smartwatch are connected via Bluetooth in a point to point connection.
  • The smartphone and the Internet are connected through cellular which is also organized in a star topology.
  • The Internet any our backend service are connected through Wide Area Network / LAN which is also organized in a star topology.
  • The Internet and the food delivery are connected through Wide Area Network / LAN which is also organized in a star topology.
  • The food delivery driver with the Internet is connected through cellular which is also organized in a star topology.
  • Nuki lock with the Nuki bridge is organized in a Bluetooth star topology (ad-hoc). Because more than just one Nuki lock can be connected to the same bridge.
  • Nuki bridge with the router is connected through ethernet/wifi which is also organized in a point to point connection.
  • Amazon Echo with the router is connected through ethernet which is organized in a point to point connection.
  • The router with the Internet is connected through Wide Area Network / LAN which is organized in a star topology.

Operation Mode

The only two operation modes which are not 'infrastructure', are the operation modes between the Nuki door lock and the Nuki bridge, the Nuki door lock and the Smartphone and the Smartwatch with the Smartphone. The operation mode is ad-hoc. This is because the devices are connected directly to each other and in this connection setup an access point is not required. The only situation when the Nuki lock and bridge connection operates in an infrastructure mode is when the door lock is controlled over a Smartphone but through the bridge. Then the router takes the role of the access point and connects those two devices with each other.