What this book covers
Chapter 1, Introduction to the IoT – The Big Picture, gives an introduction to IoT and answers – in detail – three common questions about IoT (What? Why? How?).
Chapter 2, The "I" in IoT – IoT Connectivity, covers IoT connectivity in detail to help you understand and select the best IoT connectivity option for an IoT solution.
Chapter 3, The "T" in IoT – Devices and Edge, covers the hardware and software (Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)) aspects of IoT devices (microcontrollers) and IoT Edge devices.
Chapter 4, Diving Deep into the IoT Backend (The IoT Cloud), covers the IoT backend layer or the IoT cloud that is considered the backbone of any large-scale IoT solution. This chapter covers only the infrastructure part of the IoT backend layer by explaining the different options (that is, public versus private cloud, containers versus VMs, and so on) that can be used for hosting the IoT backend layer.
Chapter 5, Exploring IoT Platforms, covers the second part of the IoT backend layer, which is the software part. The chapter explains what is meant by an IoT platform, how to select the best IoT platform for an IoT solution, whether to build or buy an IoT platform, and the typical software components that should be provided by the IoT backend layer.
Chapter 6, Understanding IoT Device Management, covers the IoT device management capability in detail. The chapter explains the different IoT device management protocols commonly and widely used in the IoT domain, how to select an IoT device management solution, the typical features of IoT device management solutions, and how those features work and serve some business requirements of the IoT solution.
Chapter 7, In the End, It Is All about Data, Isn't It?, covers IoT data analytics in detail and how to design and build an IoT data analytics solution to gain the most desirable and valuable business insights out of the collected IoT data and other data from other data sources.
Chapter 8, IoT Application Architecture Paradigms, focuses on explaining new and modern application architecture paradigms such as cloud-native design concepts and the famous Twelve-Factor App methodology, microservice architecture, API gateways, service meshes, and other applications and architecture paradigms that can help you design and build (or customize) a robust IoT backend layer for a large-scale IoT solution.
Chapter 9, Operational Excellence Pillars for Production-Grade IoT Solutions, covers the pillars of IoT solution operational excellence. It covers pillars and aspects such as security, high availability, resiliency, monitoring, automation, and DevOps.
Chapter 10, Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts, summarizes what has been explained in the book by walking through an IoT industrial solution reference architecture and explaining its layers in detail. It also covers the future of IoT and the emerging cutting-edge technologies that will shape that future.