Cloud connectivity using services like the Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure Clouds is highly valued in a range of Internet of things (IoT) applications, including industrial and building automation, smart medicine and transportation, consumer appliances, and smart cities. In these applications, Cloud connectivity is an indispensable support feature but not the device’s primary function. Cloud storage of the zettabytes of data produced by many IoT networks and Cloud- enabled remote access to IoT devices are increasingly important (Figure 1). Maintaining privacy, obtaining the needed security certifications, ensuring interoperability, and managing communication latencies are important aspects of developing effective Cloud connectivity solutions. Each of these challenges can be dealt with, but they can also divert time and resources away from development
of the primary device functionality.
Instead of developing Cloud connectivity from the ground up, designers can turn to Cloud connectivity development kits to speed up the process. These kits are available for microcontroller unit (MCU)-based designs and field programmable gate array (FPGA)- based designs and support all the elements needed for quickly connecting IoT devices to the Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure Clouds. This article reviews the building blocks and architectures for Cloud connectivity, looks at event-driven Cloud architectures for gathering and managing data from large- scale sensor networks, and reviews the International Standards Organisation/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/ IEC) 27017 and 27018 guidelines for Cloud security. It then presents Cloud connectivity development
Figure 1: Multiple types of IoT networks require access to the Cloud for remote access and data storage. Image source: AWS
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