What is Azure IoT - Part 1

1. Pre-requisite Knowledge –

Before we start with the understanding of Azure IoT (Internet of things), we should know –

• Basic knowledge of cloud computing
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Azure

2. Background –

I would like to explain what is IoT in short before we see the details around Azure IoT -

IoT (Internet of things) is a system built by integrating the digital devices with computer devices/applications/software’s which transfers the data between them to process/analyze/act on the data through the internet. The data/information exchange between the computer device and machines can be unidirectional or bidirectional depending on the business need.

In short, it is web enables system carrying the smart devices with embedded processors and communicate with the hardware to collect/send/act on the data. IoT system builds by merging the multiple technologies, machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Stream Analytics, Reporting tools, etc.

There are several examples of IoT business cases like in manufacturing industry to monitor critical things such as temperature, humidity, air pressure and production machinery operating data, end-to-end component traceability, preventive machine maintenance, and higher product quality – all in real-time.

3. When is Azure IoT?

The Azure Internet of Things (IoT) is a collection of Azure cloud services that connect, monitor and control billions of IoT assets. In simpler terms, an IoT solution is made up of one or more IoT devices and one or more back-end services running in the cloud.

In short, it has three major components – Devices, backend services, and their communication.

1. IoT Devices – These are the hardware device with a circuit board with sensors to connect to the internet. It may have Wi-Fi chips. Azure cloud has a software development kit available for the device as well as services here to help us build the apps quickly.
2. Communication – Hardware device communicates with Azure backend services to transfers/receives the data in unidirectional or bidirectional.
3. Azure Back-end services – Back-end service has major role in IoT applications. It helps us receives the data from devices, process it, store it, creating meaningful insights and to control the state of device and monitor device activities.

In my next article, we will look into architecture of Azure IoT in depth. Stay tuned.

Conclusion - In this article, we have learned an overview of Azure IoT.