The ability to make over-the-air (OTA) changes to many devices is important especially for operators of large-scale IoT deployments where updating devices manually would be a nearly impossible task.
Many times, device makers use a combination of homegrown processes and tools to deliver the remote updates to field devices. A key challenge with homegrown processes and tools is the lack of visibility into the devices connectivity information, such as whether the device is on or off the network, or whether the device is situated near congested cellular towers, etc. Below are a few undesired outcomes resulting from the lack of connectivity information:
- High delivery failure rates, thereby significantly increasing the time and complexity for OTA campaigns.
- Multiple delivery failures (for the same device) require complicated retry handling mechanisms that increase operational cost and time to completion.
- Increase in data transport costs because of multiple delivery retries.
To resolve these challenges, the Aeris Intelligent IoT Network provides well-documented REST-based APIs that can be integrated into customer OTA management workflows (i.e., existing processes or tools). Aeris Connectivity-Aware OTA APIs provide relevant connectivity information, including if the device is in an active data session or if the device is attached to the cellular network or which cell tower the device is attached to.
Armed with cell tower information for devices, customers can group the devices to minimize the impact of network congestion on remote update campaigns. Furthermore, knowing if the device is in an active data session or if the device is registered to the network is critical, as it allows customers to send remote updates with the highest possibility of successful downloads and, hence, minimizing the number of retries. This, in turn, keeps cellular data costs in check.
The Aeris OTA solution lowers operational complexity and the associated operational costs for OTA management. It does so by streamlining OTA device targeting and reducing the number of retries. All of these play a big role in completion time for large-scale OTA updates. And to simplify the process even further, Aeris solution engineering teams always are available to help during the on-boarding process.
In sum, all these actions allow customers to schedule and execute remote update campaigns in an operationally efficient and cost-effective manner, with maximum predictability for time to completion.
To learn more about Connectivity-Aware OTA, security, and scaling, sign up for our next webinar, Top 3 Best Practices for a Secured IoT Solution at Global Scale, on June 4, 2019 (11a.m. EST and 4p.m. in the UK).
