Scalability and flexibility for IoT architectures - article unveils the benefits of design patterns

The complexity of IoT systems can be managed through design patterns. A recent article shows how architectural solutions support scalability and facilitate system expansion in complex IoT environments.

Software architectures for IoT systems often become complex because they involve a wide range of sensors and measurement devices, cloud services and other software components. This complexity is particularly important when there is a need to use a wide range of devices and services from different vendors and not rely on a single platform from a single service provider. In such cases, the communication between components requires middleware that allows data to be transferred from the measurement device to a persistent database in real time.

Typically, devices are added to IoT systems during their life cycle. These extensions may use different communication protocols or data representation formats, which in turn will require changes to the middleware.

Clarity, scalability and security through design patterns

A recent paper presents solutions to design IoT architectures for scalability and extensibility. The designpatterns provide proven design solutions to organise software code in a way that minimises dependencies between different components, making it easier to extend the system, streamline maintenance and make the code more understandable. By targeting changes during the system lifecycle to clearly defined parts of the code, the potential for random errors is also reduced.

Practical experience of managing complex sensor data

The development work behind this publication is part of the Smart and Sustainable Housing joint project with the Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius, the Federation of Education in Central Ostrobothnia and Centria University of Applied Sciences. The project has built a data platform based on the principles provided by the design patterns. The solution is being used to process the measurement data during the construction of the pilot house, and the system has already been extended several times as different sensors have been added to the system as construction progresses and measurement needs change. The architecture of the design patterns has greatly simplified the modifications. In practice, adding a new type of sensor has meant adding one new component to the code base without having to make extensive changes to the existing implementation.

The goal is to build a data platform that is general-purpose enough to allow easy integration of sensor networks as needed. For example, local industry makes extensive use of IoT technologies, and data collected by businesses could be collected, stored and analysed in the project using such a service. If part of the data is in the public domain, the platform could be used to collect a database of measurements to share information between different actors or, for example, for use in student projects.

Original publication from:

Harjumaa, L., Kivelä, I., Jyrkkä, P., & Hakala, I. (2025). Making Use of Design Patterns in IoT Middleware Implementation. In A. Emrouznejad, P. Hung, & A. Jacobsson (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Internet of Things, Big Data and Security (pp. 254-262). SCITEPRESS Science And Technology Publications. IoTBDS. DOI: 10.5220/0013278000003944

The article is available in the JYX journal database