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The chaos of diverse physical systems can be transformed into an orderly and uniform set of software interfaces that bridge to high-speed networks. Internet-based applications benefit from access to real-world status and control information that has, until recently, been locked away in isolated devices. That's led to a significant increase in embedded devices within these applications.
But to reap the real-world benefits, designers must overcome the incredible amount of diversity in how these systems are accessed and how they behave. One solution is to create an embedded device gateway that sits between the software application and the devices. This gateway can transform a set of diverse physical systems into a uniform set of software interfaces. It creates an embedded architecture that gives networking capability to the smallest embedded microcontrollers.
Gateways that give access to embedded devices should provide a controlled environment to these devices. The problems encountered in creating this environment resemble those that crop up with any distributed system—but also include resource-related restrictions. This article discusses the general architectural components of an embedded device gateway and introduces the major design challenges. By addressing the points presented here, a robust system can be built that extends the reach of client software into the real world.
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