From c830e5540bb388b529a5e0293060a8034bc020f2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Tobias Kaupat Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2024 09:57:00 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Platform FAQ --- docs/platform/faq.md | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 44 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/platform/faq.md diff --git a/docs/platform/faq.md b/docs/platform/faq.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a0e7e043 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/platform/faq.md @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ +--- +title: FAQ +--- + +# FAQ - Lobaro Platform + +## Why is the Lobaro Platform mandatory for our NB-IoT Sensors & Gateways? + +This question sometimes arises from integrators who run their own type of IoT platform tailored to a particular use-case +and don't want an intermediate between their system and the IoT hardware to integrate. In contrast to this our platform +is primary considered as a head end system for device management of Lobaro and 3rd party sensors and gateways. It's +meant as secure, stable +and scalable abstraction layer to the actual hardware complexity and gives the following benefits to the integrator or +end-user: + +* **Encrypted data transfers using UDP and NB-IoT**, client and server certificate-based, using DTLS, while still being + able to use battery life friendly UDP transfers with little overhead. +* Administration of client and server certificates. +* **Remote configuration** of sensors via simple APIs (Web UI, REST). +* Support for **Firmware Updates** Over The Air (FOTA). +* **Scalability**, even with thousands of devices. +* **Intermediate storage** for sensor data before further processing in the downstream application. +* **Data insight and export** independent of downstream application via CSV export or REST API. +* **Integration with LoRaWAN Network Servers** like ChirpStack, TTN / TTI, Lotiot, and many more ... +* **Unified API for downstream applications** across different connectivity technologies on the device side (e.g. + NB-IoT, + LoRaWAN, wireless MBUS, LAN). +* Quickly bring IoT applications to market by focusing on the use case and the actual data without having to deal with + hardware and firmware implementation details or properly secured data transfers from the sensor to the cloud. +* **Low hardware requirements** for the server of the Lobaro Platform. Small setups can run on the same server next to + the + use-case specific platform or even an Raspberry PI for embedded use-cases. Bigger setups can be auto scaled in cloud + environments. +* Internal APIs between hardware and Lobaro Platform can be changed, e.g. for firmware extensions, without compromising + a **stable API to the downstream system** and thus increasing the stability of the end application. + +As one might see, all these functionality require a high level of knowledge about the hardware and how it internally +works. **Lobaro can only provide support and guarantees that all features of our NB-IoT products are available and +function as expected if the Lobaro Platform is also used as a counterpart.** + +If using the Lobaro IoT platform is absolutely not an option many of our NB-IoT products can also be configured to use +LoRaWAN uplinks which shifts the dependence to the used LoRaWAN network server beside the well-known challenges of +LoRaWAN networks compared to cellular IoT. We also work on Direct MQTT support for some of our devices to allow direct +integrations with a custom broker. \ No newline at end of file