IoT, or Internet of Things, is a promising technology that gets talked about a lot these days, but in reality, what you can achieve using available IoT technology is far less than that which is available.
There is a huge gap between what is available in IoT and what is achievable, let me explain this in simple words:
You have all sort of gadgets and toys in the market with IoT capability, but there are issues when you try to use them together and achieve something for a special purpose. Here are some potential challenges:
- Devices are not compatible with each other
- Functions provided through a device are limited to that specific device and cannot be ported or modified for other applications
- Apps or IoT access dashboards are only working for specific information and the way they are designed for, so no flexibility or adaptability
- Clouds and their associated programming have a very special task and need highly skilled programmers
- Gateways and hardware associated with IoT are expensive and the cost may not be justified for a lot of applications
Therefore, for an individual such a hobbyist or an engineer whose major is not Electronic Engineering or cloud programming or for a technology enthusiast, it’s almost impossible to effectively and efficiently implement an IoT application.
I hit the above explained dilemma when I started my first IoT project back in 2018, considering I have an engineering company with many engineers and programmers with years of experience in the field of programming and electronic engineering. We spent quite a lot of time and money to reach to an acceptable and reliable solution in IoT.
The solution we developed was not even extremely complicated and wide in application, but still took us a lot of energy to get there. Having this experience, I began to wonder: why does everyone need to take the same path for achieving an IoT application?
The question above did not have a readily available answer until iotLINKS was created back in early 2021.
iotLINKS is a platform that offers IoT solutions with the lowest cost possible without any need for knowing programming or any knowledge in Electronic Engineering.
Let us make a platform that helps everyone implement an IoT application with minimal effort and investment.
This may seem ambitious, but we already reached the point that we can offer our Gateway Alfa for only $20, and you can implement your IoT application using our platform and Gateway Alfa in less than 20 minutes.
iotLINKS not only supports Gateway Alfa, which is a WIFI Gateway, but is also promising in other types of Gateways, such as LTE and Satellite-based.
The idea is to have the Gateway’s ports be accessible from the web so you can take control over them through our web dashboard.
Gateway Alfa, for example, comes with the below ports:
- Internal Temperature Sensor
- ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter) port
- Relay Contacts (Normally Open and Normally Closed contacts)
- PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) Output
- Serial Port for expansion to other sensors and actuators
On the dashboard side, there are features under rules that the user can define and implement control over the internet’ for example, rules such as:
If (ADC value > 3.5V) then open the Relay contact
Or
If (Temperature < 15 degree C) then close the Relay contact
This nice feature allows the user to implement functions that are not achievable in any other easy way.
A user can have multiple Gateways; therefore, these function rulings can be done with multiple Gateways, providing a lot of flexibilities.
The possibilities are limitless!
Author: Mazi Hosseini CEO
Arshon Technology Inc. and founder of iotLINKS
