An investment in “IoT building blocks” to enable companies to accelerate their projects without having to start from scratch and thus saving time and investment, promoting open-source software, and reducing reliance on the Cloud, were all topics of conversation in an interview with Daan Pape, Founder of DPTechnics.
Moving from the Cloud to the Edge
DPTechnics was founded in 2017 after Pape’s studies at Ghent University, in Belgium. “At the time we were seeing mainly MCU-based designs or small, Linux-based designs,” explained Pape. “The idea was always the same: you have a device that captures data and controls something in the real world, like e.g. valves or pumps.”
Pape determined that the architecture being used was that of the aforementioned devices using the Cloud for functionality. “With Edge devices becoming more and more powerful, he was convinced that there should be an alternative in which all software and all functionality runs on the device and have the Cloud as an option, or in other words, as an additional feature.
A major issue Pape observed with full stack Edge devices that use a HTML interface was that port forwarding was mostly inevitable in order to control the device remotely or receive its notifications. Devices were being port forwarded and firewall settings were being altered in order to connect to the Internet. All of this opened the door wide to potential risks and attacks.
“By connecting a device to the Internet in this way, it can easily be detected and attacked by anyone, resulting in a high risk of possible abusive use,” said Pape.
As a result, DPTechnics created the BlueCherry platform and the BlueCherry-client (BC-client). Once installed on a device, the BC-client enables the device to connect to the BlueCherry platform in a secure encrypted manner. From that point on the device’s HTML interface can be reached from anywhere without the need for port forwarding or firewall settings, even from behind carrier grade NAT.
Hardware building blocks
DPTechnics recently developed a new hardware building block “Walter”, a cellular, GPS and Wi-Fi/BLE IoT modem module. The driving factor behind developing and creating ‘Walter’ came from the company’s expertise in creating custom designs for companies.
It soon became clear to Pape that, especially for projects in which only limited or medium production quantities are intended or possible, the development and production costs undermine the economic feasibility if a company has to start building from scratch.
“The hardware or software building blocks that we develop ourselves and make available to our customers help them not only to make them economically viable but also to speed up their IoT projects.”
The growth in cellular IoT was also part of the decision, in particular NB-IoT and LTE-M, anticipating that the need for cellular modules would grow in tandem.
“When you look at typical cellular module makers, they are focusing on modules that you need to hard solder on a PCB,” explained Pape, “You also need to add RF traces, do your own antenna design and the power supply. You have quite a lot of engineering work to do.”
This engineering can translate to more expense, but also increased time to market when commercialising a product. Creating a module such as Walter allows companies to speed up the process.
Pape also cited the company Pycom shutting down as being part of the decision to create Walter – Pycom previously offered a cellular module which had all the required components on the board, that DPTechnics itself used when creating designs for customers.
“At the time, we had done several designs for customers using this board,” he said. “When we were looking at the market for an alternative, we couldn’t find one, and that’s how Walter was born.”
Because of the experience of struggling to find an alternative, the focus has been to create a pin and software compatible board to support people in the same situation.
Open-source software
“Our mission with this module is to give the choice to the developer on which platform or stack that they’re going to use,” said Pape. “We set out to develop libraries for Arduino, ESP-IDF, Micropython, Zephyr and we are working together with the team from Toitlang, from Denmark.”
Currently building partnerships with Golioth, Datacake and Blynk also supports this mission. “It’s about going completely open source with the software, because in an IoT design that’s really important,” added Pape. “You’re not deploying a design for two to three years, but at least for 10 years in an IoT product.”
“The nice thing about IoT is that there is a growing market and a place for everyone,” Pape continued. “Walter is not only for us, it’s out there for any developer in the world.”
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