General and safety information
Introduction
Overview
The Libelium Cloud Bridge service enables to any sensor node to push data directly and in a secured way to the main cloud services.
The Libelium Cloud Bridge is a service for connecting sensor nodes with many cloud services available for data analysis and graphical representation. Data goes through the Libelium Cloud Bridge service to the final cloud service. The Libelium Cloud Bridge service has a buffer of limited size that is cleared as far as data is sent to the final cloud service. The Libelium Cloud Bridge service does not store any data.
The cloud service connectors currently available in the Libelium Cloud Bridge service are:
Alibaba Cloud
AWS IoT
Cumulocity
IBM Cloud
Microsoft Azure Event Hubs
Microsoft Azure IoT Hubs
MQTT
SAP Hana
Telefonica IoT Cloud
The Libelium Cloud Bridge service has three functionalities:
Configure your cloud connectors
Manage your devices
Configure your gateways
A license is required to access any of the Libelium Cloud Bridge service functionalities . These functionalities are oriented to send data from your sensor node or Meshlium gateway to any cloud service available.
Data Flow
Sensor nodes are the source: data that will be sent from these sensor devices to the cloud services. Cloud services may implement dashboards and data analytics applications that need to be fed with data from the sensor nodes. The Libelium Cloud Bridge service will easily connect the sensor nodes with the cloud services (AWS IoT, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, ....) as shown in the next diagram.
Direct HTTPS Connections
Sensor nodes using NB-IoT / Cat-M, 4G and WiFi communication protocols can send data directly to the Libelium Cloud Bridge service.
Libelium Cloud Bridge service is listening to HTTPS requests to receive data from sensor nodes. Valid requests must comply with the following requirements:
The sensor node has been registered in the Libelium Cloud (Services Cloud Manager) user account
A valid authentication API Key has been associated with the sensor node
Integrity of the Libelium Cloud Bridge service encryption layer is respected
Using the Programming Cloud Service for programming the sensor nodes will transparently include a valid API Key and the encryption layer functions. Programming the sensor nodes using the Waspmote IDE will require the user to include the valid API Key and use encryption functions in the source code. A detailed description of both processes is given in the section "Programming sensor nodes to use Libelium Cloud Bridge service" of this guide.
Meshlium IoT Gateway
Sensor nodes using link level RF communication protocols like (802.15.4, RF-868, RF-900) must be properly configured for sending data to the Meshlium gateway.
Sensor nodes using NB-IoT, 4G and WiFi communication protocols may be configured to send data to a Meshlium gateway too (as an alternative to the direct HTTPS connection to the Bridge, as explained in the section above).
The Meshlium gateway must be previously registered in the Libelium Cloud user account using the activation code provided by Libelium.
Meshlium must be also configured in the section "Cloud Connectors" of the Manager System (Libelium Cloud Bridge service connector) with the same user account used to register the Meshlium gateway in the Services Cloud Manager.
LPWAN Callbacks
Sensor nodes using Sigfox and LoRaWAN communication protocols need to send data directly to the base stations. Callback functions of the LPWAN backend systems are used to redirect data from the base stations to the Libelium Cloud Bridge service. The Libelium Cloud Bridge service provides data security and user privacy implementing a security layer for the incoming data from the LPWAN backend systems to the cloud services.
The Libelium Cloud Bridge service is listening to HTTPS requests to receive data from LPWAN base stations. Valid requests must comply with the following requirements:
The sensor node has been registered in the Libelium Cloud user account
A valid authentication API Key has been associated with the sensor node
Integrity of the "tiny frame" is respected
All LPWAN backend servers perform these steps in a different way:
Create a device (optional)
Create a frame type
Create a frame structure (like JSON)
Create a callback URL to redirect data (this URL is provided by Libelium in this case)
The Libelium Cloud Bridge service is compatible out-of-the-box with Sigfox, Loriot and Actility; this is accomplished by the user, configuring the callback function of each platform so that it points to the Libelium Cloud Bridge service.
The Libelium Cloud Bridge service provides the specific configuration parameters required for each LPWAN backend server, publishing to all the chosen final cloud services the data received from any LPWAN backend server. So Bridge behaves like a data hub and provides high scalability and makes data available as received.
The user's data integrity is kept with API Key tokens used for authentication. These user credentials may be revoked anytime and regenerated again; as a result of renovating credentials, all new frames will be rejected by the Bridge until the user updates the authentication API Key in each sensor node.
Sigfox
Sigfox backend server may be configured to redirect the data received from the base stations to the Libelium Cloud Bridge service. A new callback server in the Sigfox panel must be created using the URL: https://hw.libelium.com/hw/sigfox.
Click on "Callbacks" in the left menu and then create a new callback: click the "New" button in the window loaded.
Fill in the displayed form following the indications shown in the next image.
The text in the field "URL pattern" must be the Libelium Cloud Bridge URL for Sigfox with extra parameters displayed in the form to send as much information as possible to the service. Example of the text to write in the URL "pattern" field with the extra parameters: https://hw.libelium.com/hw/sigfox/id=device&time=time&duplicate=duplicate&snr=snr&station=station&data=data&avgSnr=avgSnr&lat=lat&lng=lng&rssi=rssi&seqNumber=seqNumber&ack=true
The list of all available callbacks will be shown saving the form.
Enable this entry with a downlink and the Libelium Cloud Bridge service will receive the information.
Activate the "Downlink" column. Click on the bullet in this column, leaving the bullet coloured. - Downlink active - Downlink inactive
Enable the callback. Click on the check icon in the "Enable" column of the callback created and leave the check with a green colour. - Callback enabled - Callback disabled
In the section “Sending Data Frames” “Receiving Data” of this guide we describe in detail the steps of the configuration of the callback in the Sigfox backend server.
Loriot
Configuring the Libelium Cloud Bridge service as a callback server in the Loriot panel may be done using the URL: https://hw.libelium.com/hw/loriot in the "Data output" option of the “Network application” menu available for the devices.
Click on "Edit output" to display all the information available about the selected output option. Click on the "Change" button in the detailed window to change the data output and select "HTTP Push" among the multiple choices from the list.
Once selected the new output, a new section "Change output type" will be shown below, with a text field labelled as "Target URL for POSTs". Write in the text field the URL of the Libelium Cloud Bridge service callback for this service: https://hw.libelium.com/hw/loriot.
In the section “Sending Data Frames” “Receiving Data” of this guide we describe in detail the steps of the configuration of the callback in the Loriot backend server.
Actility
Configuring the Libelium Cloud Bridge service as a callback server in the Actility panel is done using the Application Server feature. Create a new HTTP Application Server adding a new Destination in the "Route" field with this URL: https://hw.libelium.com/hw/actility.
A "Route" section will be created above with a form, just click the "Add" button to proceed.
Write the URL https://hw.libelium.com/hw/actility of the Libelium Cloud Bridge service callback for the Actility service in the new pop-up. Click the "Add" button to save the information.
Navigate back to the application server form and click on "Save" to create the application server. Then, configure a new AS routing profile in the "Device Manager" clicking on "AS routing profiles" on the left sidebar menu.
An "Add button" is shown in the first section. Below, in the second section, a list with all existing AS routing profiles will be displayed. Click on the "Add" button of "New AS routing profile" to create a new AS routing profile.
A name must be typed in the new window displayed. Click the "Create" button to continue the process.
In the new window, mark the check "Is default" and click the "Add" button in the "Add a route" section.
A new pop-up will appear with two parameters to be completed:
"Type" field: It is the kind of the application for our destination. "Local application server" must be selected.
"Destination" field: All the application servers created are loaded in the drop-down, so the application server previously created must be selected.
MultiTech LoRaWAN Base Station
Data frames are the new way to communicate between data hubs and sensors. The Libelium Cloud Bridge service provides a new method to receive data directly from the MultiTech base stations and synchronize all the values received with the cloud services configured. Many base stations may be configured to send data to the same user account of the Libelium Cloud Bridge service.
MultiTech base stations may be configured to send data frames to the Libelium Cloud Bridge service installing a lightweight application.
A link is created between the MultiTech Base Station and the Libelium Cloud Bridge service with periodic calls to the endpoint https://hw.libelium.com/hw/lw_multitech. It is recommended scheduling the application properly to avoid sending a large number or frames.
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