Let's talk about the development of IOT sweeper.

Consumers usually use the sweeper by remote control through the mobile APP, such as starting cleaning, delineating the cleaning area, setting an appointment cleaning task, and starting charging. The realization of these functions depends on the network access of the sweeper. The industry calls this network the Internet of Things. The current access method actually relies on the existing network infrastructure, such as building various IOT cloud services on the public network to facilitate the interconnection of end users' sweeper equipment and mobile APP.

In order to achieve interoperability, IOT cloud services need to be connected, which includes two development tasks. First, the access development task of the machine side is generally to connect the home router with wireless wifi technology, and then access the IOT cloud service of the public network. The second is to configure the settings of related products in the cloud platform background. Thirdly, the access and development task of mobile APP accesses and updates the data cache uploaded by the machine to the cloud server through the authorized API of the cloud service provider, and then interacts with the user of the sweeper.

Since the sweeper wants to access the IOT cloud service, it must have networking capabilities, such as through the wireless wifi technology mentioned above. So is the sweeper using this wireless wifi technology just like a computer using a network card to surf the Internet? The answer is yes. Sweeper is an embedded device, and the use of wireless wifi technology is generally realized by connecting a wifi module to the motherboard.

Because the usage scenarios of embedded devices vary widely, for example, in addition to accessing specialized IOT cloud services, some solution providers will also provide some specialized built-in services, and then require devices to access other network services (such as allowing devices to play weather forecasts intimately), then they need to be able to access weather forecast services to obtain weather data. Besides this little function, what else are you imagining? Welcome to leave a message! )。

In addition, if the manufacturer is sensitive to the cost of embedded equipment, it is better to save on hardware investment, after all, the function is still based on hardware. In addition to the necessary cloud services (IOT cloud services connected with APP), other functions are not needed. So, can networking hardware make some sacrifices, such as targeting specific IOT cloud services or even accessing only one cloud service provider?

Based on the current use requirements, wifi modules can be divided into ordinary wifi modules and embedded wifi modules.

The common wifi module is characterized by no built-in wifi protocol and driver, and is generally connected with the main control chip of the device through interfaces such as USB or SDIO. The main control chip of the device needs to support the wifi protocol stack and driver, and the performance requirements are relatively high, so the general CPU is usually selected, which makes the business development more flexible and facilitates the expansion of rich application fields. This configuration, your imagination can be big or small, don't live up to it.

The embedded wifi module is characterized by built-in WiFi protocol and driver, and is generally connected with the main control chip of the device through interfaces such as special protocol serial port. The main control chip of the equipment has low performance requirements, so MCU is usually chosen to reduce the cost, but the business scenarios are relatively limited. In this configuration, what services your device can access depends entirely on the configuration of the wifi module provider.

Not all IOT cloud service providers support the above two wifi modules, and only some IOT cloud service providers support them at the same time. Theoretically, all IOT cloud service providers support ordinary wifi module connection, and service providers providing embedded wifi modules, such as graffiti and Huawei HI-LINK, are well known.

To develop the networking task of sweeper equipment, besides hardware investment, we also need to do some things related to the background of cloud platform.

At present, the mainstream IOT cloud service providers in China include graffiti intelligent cloud, Ali Life Internet of Things, Amazon AWS and Huawei HI-LINK. Among them, the lowest entry barrier is graffiti intelligent cloud, because it not only provides cheap cloud services, but also ready-made public * * * apps, so terminal machine operators can avoid developing their own apps if they consider the cost factor. Even if they develop apps for the first time, they can use the SDK (development kit) provided by cloud service providers to quickly launch finished apps.

It should be declared that the specific development process and related terms of each cloud service provider will be different. Please refer to the development documentation guide provided by specific cloud platforms.

The following is a general process:

You can choose the most suitable cloud service provider according to your own needs. If you have a sweeper equipment development team, but you want to save the investment in APP development, then choose graffiti. The reason has already been introduced above. If you don't have a sweeper equipment development team, the development task of the sweeper is handed over to the solution provider. It is recommended to choose Ali Life Internet of Things. Everyone knows the internet gene of this platform, and it will be very convenient to develop and debug (I have been in a solution provider, and it is true. Off topic: Does anyone like to play truth or dare? )。 In addition to development factors, we should also consider cost and price. The general principle of charging is one-time charging according to a single access device.

Yes, there are many platforms to choose from. Please help yourself.

Log in to the IOT cloud service platform website and register a theme account in the name of the company. If you need to authorize the authority of this account to the developer or solution provider, you can check whether the platform supports the authority authorization of product development.

All platforms provide templates for creating products. Select a template that is similar to or matches the scavenger business type. This step will automatically generate a product_id, which will be mentioned later.

The configuration function of IOT cloud platform is realized through the physical model list. For intuitive explanation, here is an example of a sweeper model of graffiti platform for everyone to see:

It can be seen that it is necessary to establish a DP point (corresponding to a function) first, then name the function point, and use the corresponding function identifier to define the readable data transmission type (for the cloud), the data type of the current function, and the specific enumeration value or numerical range.

When the sweeper is connected to the network, it needs liscense provided by the voucher cloud platform to successfully use the information interaction service of the platform. You can use your account to log in to the platform to buy the corresponding number of equipment's Li license, and then burn the Li license into the machine during production. After the user takes the sweeper home, before using the APP to successfully control the machine, he needs to trigger the sweeper to enter the distribution mode according to the instruction manual, and then bind the machine to the cloud platform according to the distribution process of the APP. Whether the machine can be successfully bound, first, the sweeper needs to obtain the wifi name and password of the home router from the APP through the AP hotspot mode of Bluetooth or wifi, and then send the liscense stored in the machine to the cloud platform for verification and authorization through the home network.

In the development stage, the general platform will provide a certain amount of free liscense for debugging equipment, which needs to be applied on the platform. This liscense is also called triple on some platforms, and generally includes the product_id representing the product, the UUID or MAC representing the unique identification code of the device, and the key value author_key representing the authorization of the device. Product_id was generated when the product was created in the previous section, and the last two pieces of information can only be seen after the purchase of Li license is successful.

Some cloud platforms provide detailed debugging functions for developers to debug equipment function points, such as online status of equipment and real-time viewing of data logs sent and received by the platform.

After the preparation of the product is completed, the product needs to be released in the cloud, so that the devices under the product can be provided with data processing services by the cloud platform.

After the product goes on the market, it is very likely that the machine firmware in the hands of customers needs to be updated. For example, a large number of customers find that the machine is working abnormally. Therefore, it is necessary to remotely update the firmware of the device through cloud services. The upgrade button is generally preset on the APP page. When the user clicks the upgrade button, the cloud platform will send the firmware upgrade package uploaded to the background in advance to the machine, and the machine will automatically perform all subsequent operations after receiving the complete upgrade package. This process is OTA (over the air update).

Some products offer multilingual functions. As long as the user clicks to switch the corresponding language pack on the APP page, the cloud platform will download the corresponding language pack uploaded to the background in advance to the machine, and the machine will automatically perform all subsequent operations after receiving the complete language pack.

Ok, that's all for the introduction. See you next time.