

"AnyBridge has standardized its IoT device technology with frameworks that create IoT devices rapidly, flexibly, and budget-friendly."
AnyBridge Tech Background
The AnyBridge IoT Device Framework is the result of many years of innovation in the field of Internet of Things, and covers the device lifecycle from design to production, including everything that it entails. Without going into much detail, it encompasses the following high-level elements:
AnyBridge IoT Device Servers
For different IoT connectivity types (e.g. mobile data, LoRaWAN), we offer different IoT Device Servers, which always consist of five elements:
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Communication Front-end: each network connectivity type requires its own device-server interaction mechanism, which is implemented by the communication front-end.
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Device Server Engine: data that is exchanged between the IoT devices and the server, will be stored in or retrieved from the device database. This information transfer is handled by the Device Server Engine.
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Device Database: generally, all data related to the IoT devices and their operation is stored in the device database. The Device Server Engine takes care of keeping the information in the devices in sync with the database.
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Application Programming Interface: external applications (e.g. a webportal or business application software) can access the device database through a well-defined
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Data Forwarding Services: IoT devices generate information that is stored as stored as a set of datarecords in the tables of the Device Database. New data records can automatically be exported to other systems by the Data Forwarding Services.
The AnyBridge Device Server sits at the heart of the IoT device solution: it links IoT devices to the applications that generate the business value.
AnyBridge IoT Device Embedded Software Application Framework
Conceptually, most IoT Devices share many common functionalities: they all take measurements, store (log) measured data, perform control functions, and require device management in one way or the other. AnyBridge has built a framework for the embedded software (sometimes referred to as firmware) that can accomodate and implement these IoT device functions and tailor them to the specific needs of the application.
The AnyBridge IoT Device Embedded Software Application Framework (ESAF, for short) creates the embedded software with five components:
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IoT Device ESAF Engine: as the 'master of ceremonies within an IoT device, it controls all the measurement, control, communication and device management processes.
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IoT Device Signal Chains: the IoT Device Signal Chains represent the connection with the physical world that the IoT device interacts with, either to measure or control values.
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IoT Device Manager: the IoT Device Manager handles all configuration and embedded software updates that are needed to keep the IoT device running as it should.
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IoT Device Communication Handler: the device-server communication, and local communication (e.g. through the USB interface of the IoT device), are the responsibility of the IoT Device Communication Handler.
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IoT Device Application Object: there may always be some application functionality that cannot be implemented with the ESAF components, such as complex filtering algorithms. The Application Object is provided for implementation of such functions.
The AnyBridge IoT Device ESAF, with its modular structure, provides a proven solid foundation for the IoT Device embedded software.
IoT Device Building Blocks
The IoT Device Building Blocks are the core of the AnyBridge value proposition for companies who need IoT devices for creating new business models. By assembling the IoT device from a collection of re-usable building blocks, rather than starting development from scratch, much time and money is saved.
The IoT Device Building Blocks provide a clear strategy for:
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IoT Device development: as by mixing and matching IoT Device Building Blocks, a first version of the IoT device is built that is exactly the same as every subsequently manufactured device. Still, the IoT Device Building Blocks offer just as much flexibility to test and validate ideas as you would in a prototyping phase with e.g. Arduino or RaspberryPi hardware.
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IoT Device pricing: the bill-of-materials and manufacturing cost for an IoT device that is built with AnyBridge IoT Device Building Blocks is already known before your IoT project starts: it is a simple addition of the costprice of each building block and the assembly cost. There is no risk of miscalculation, which makes your business case reliable..
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IoT Device manufacturing: the IoT Device Building Blocks are designed with manufacturing in mind, and production can be scaled from a series of a single unit to tens or hundreds of thousands of IoT devices. Without having to invest in product-specific manufacturing tooling, a tailor-made IoT device can be built in scalable production quantities.
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IoT Device quality assurance: each IoT Device Building Block comes with integrated test capabilities inside. The test access interfaces have been standardized for each piecs of hardware, which makes it possible to submit each IoT device to a thorough quality check before it is shipped to customers.
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IoT Device supply chain management: by definition, AnyBridge builds IoT devices with the re-usable building blocks. Our production planning can therefore be done by forecasting the numbers for each IoT Device Building Block, making supply chain management extremely straightforward. Also, keeping a stock spare IoT devices will rarely be required: if need be, we can ship replacement IoT devices the same day.
With the design information of the IoT Device Building Blocks, custom-built hardware can also be developed, either as stand-alone product or as IP that is integrated in your own product. These so-called OEM solutions can make sense in very space- or cost-constrained applications. Should you be interested in our OEM solutions offering, please contact us.
There is much more that can be said about the AnyBridge technology. If you're interested to learn more, we suggest that you sign up for our IoT Device Builder Masterclass.