Flexible IO radio gateway for IoT applications

Nov. 5, 2018 - PRLog -- The new ORIO-G30218 radio gateway is a flexible and affordable solution for the transferral of serial data and switch signals via various near-field and mobile telecommunications protocols. With this, the gateway is, in particular suitable for IoT applications, intelligent building technology or Smart Home systems if a large number of sensor data and status signals are to be recorded, registered and processed.

The Internet of Things (IoT) necessitates the recording of numerous measurement values, data and signals and feeding them into the network for automated processes. Here, radio data communication is often more practical than direct wiring. Depending on the situation, various radio protocols are applied, respectively focussing on the bandwidth, speed, energy-saving or cost efficiency. With its new radio gateway ORIO-G30218, Acceed offers a flexible and attractive solution for this large number of protocols.

The ORIO-G30218 is an IO gateway with respectively 4 digital inputs and outputs and 2 serial interfaces. Respectively 2 of the digital inputs work with and without an external power supply. The serial interfaces work with baud rates of up to 921.6 K. The Modbus, MQTT (protocol specifically for machine-to-machine application cases) and CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol, also referred to as "HTTP for IoT") are supported. The extensive temperature range for operation from -40 to +75 °C also allows the installation of the gateway in weather-protected casing, switch cabinets, cable ducts or channels. Configuration and firmware updates are made via a micro USB connection on the front side.

The gateway offers a large number of radio protocols, optionally for energy-saving or the fast transfer of serial data and switch signals in radio networks in the local area or LTE mobile communications network. The protocols NB-IoT (narrow band-IoT), CAT M1 and CAT 1 (LTE), ZigBee and LoRa (Low Power Wireless Network protocol) are integrated.

NB‑IoT, also known as LTE Cat NB1, is a particularly energy-saving technology with which devices in mobile communications networks can reliably transfer low data quantities more simply and efficiently. Here, the large reach in buildings is advantageous if several IoT components have to intercommunicate safely.

IoT and M2M devices can work with LTE Cat M1 if medium data rates (375 kbit/s upload and download) suffice. The long battery life and greater reaches as opposed to 2G, 3G or LTE Cat 1. are advantageous.

Also, the LoRa technology is optimised for energy efficiency. Here, it achieves high reaches for uplink communication, in other words transmission from the IoT device to the network. LoRa uses the European frequency bands and is suitable for low data quantities and larger distances of approx. 3 to 12 km.

With speeds of 10 Mbit/s in downlink and 5 Mbit/s in uplink, LTE Cat 1 is suitable for more functional M2M and IoT applications, also video streaming and voice over LTE. The areas of use in addition to recording measurement include remote diagnosis with video transfer or transport and logistics applications.

The ZigBee standard is designed for applications which work with a low data rate and minimised electricity consumption. These include, for example, the areas of house automation, sensor networks and light controllers. ZigBee's reach focus is in the near field up to 100 metres.

With its large number of supported radio protocols, the radio gateway ORIO-G30218 provides high flexibility for numerous cases of application in the Internet of Things. Once configured for a system, further projects can be added to a project fast, respectively with the fitting radio connection.

In addition to technical information on all aspects of industrial communication technology, the German distributor Acceed GmbH (http://www.acceed.net) provides fast access to a wide-ranging portfolio of specialist products from this area on its website. Acceed has specialised in industrial communication and automation for several decades, acts worldwide and is also able to supply large quantities from its own warehouses at favourable terms as quickly as possible.