The Orion Context Broker is one of the core elements of the FIWARE component landscape. Based on the Orion Context Broker, application developers are able to process context information more easily without having to worry about the different aspects of lower-level technologies. To simplify these processes, we have introduced the OMA NGSI API protocol, which is central to the FIWARE ecosystem. Countless FIWARE components use this new standard to exchange information. However, other protocols are also used to link customary IoT components, such as temperature probes or air humidity sensors, which are not compatible with the OMA NGSI API standard.
The IDAS back-end device management software acts like a translator between these different communication protocols. It is installed on the servers of the IoT back-end and communicates with the sensors via the MQTT protocol, for instance, to then store the information in the Orion Context Broker using the OMA NGSI API protocol. In large networks, this process may result in a wide range of different constellations, which can be linked far more easily thanks to the standardised process provided by the IDAS back-end device management software.
The application developer is now able to simply access this information via the uniform OSMNGSI API standard, without having to worry about the different formats and protocols of the incoming and outgoing sensor signals. This simplifies and accelerates the development process of independent IoT applications.
Using the IDAS back-end device management software means there is no need to use external, potentially expensive IoT back-end providers anymore.