HPE Aruba Networking IoT Operations

IoT Operations works with HPE Aruba Networking APs running AOS-10.

Classic Central supports transporting IoT Internet of Things. IoT refers to the internetworking of devices that are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity features allowing data exchange over the Internet. data over an enterprise WLAN Wireless Local Area Network. WLAN is a 802.11 standards-based LAN that the users access through a wireless connection.. IoT data from partners who provide access control systems, industrial manufacturing systems, hospital, healthcare management, hospitality, and building management systems is supported. APs receive data from the IoT devices and send the dashboard metadata to Classic Central and the IoT data to external servers through IoT Connectors. The IoT Connector aggregates the device data, performs edge-compute, and runs business logic on the raw data before sending the dashboard metadata and IoT data. Partner-developed applications can be used to send the IoT data to external servers.

Classic Central provides IoT Connector control, management, and dashboard visibility. The dashboard provides a view of the IoT Connectors, IoT devices, and installed applications. An application store that contains the applications from supported partners is integrated with Classic Central.

Classic Central does not store the device data, display the device data, or derive insights from the device data, apart from device data parsed by the Lua/container app.

The following is an illustration of IoT Operations architecture.

Figure 1  IoT Operations Architecture

Terminology

IoT Operations uses the following terminology:

Table 1: IoT Operations Terminology
Term Description

Data Collector

A Data Collector is a platform that processes network data. A Data Collector is available both as a physical appliance or a virtual appliance.

IoT Connector

An IoT Connector is an application that can run on either an AP or the Data Collector platform. In case of a VM-based Collector, the IoT Connector receives IoT data from the APs through a secure tunnel. An IoT connector sends the IoT metadata to Classic Central and the IoT device details to the endpoint of third party partners. For additional information, see IoT Connector

IoT Transport Profile

An IoT transport profile allows an IoT Connector to send the collected IoT data to a partner server.

IoT Radio Profile

An IoT radio profile configures the AP's IoT radio to gather IoT data from the IoT devices.

Apps

Apps are developed by partners and are available on the App Store. Apps are deployed on IoT Connectors and run inside the IoT Connector. For additional information, see IoT App Store

Applications

Applications refers to software designed by partners for use on IoT Connectors. It is installed via the IoT Operations UI in Classic Central.

IoT Devices

IoT devices are client devices using BLE Bluetooth Low Energy. The BLE functionality is offered by Bluetooth® to enable devices to run for long durations with low power consumption., Zigbee, or other protocols to communicate with HPE Aruba Networking APs.

Specifications

IoT Operations supports the following specifications:

Table 2: IoT Operations Specifications
Parameter Mini VM Virtual Machine. A VM is an emulation of a computer system. VMs are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Small VM Medium VM DC-2000

APs

50

250

1000

1000

BLE Devices

2000

5000

20000

20000

Zigbee Devices

200

500

2000

2000

Apps with Container

2

5

10

10

Apps without Container

2

10

20

20

The DC-2000 is a physical appliance.

The IoT Connectors support the following specifications:

Table 3: IoT Connector Specifications
Parameter Mini VM Small VM Medium VM DC-2000

CPU Central Processing Unit. A CPU is an electronic circuitry in a computer for processing instructions. (cores)

4

8

24

24

Memory (GB)

4

16

64

64

Storage (GB)

256

256

480

512

Table 4: AP-Based IoT Connector Specifications
Parameter AP-5XX AP-6XX AP-7XX

Apps with Container

0

1

1

Apps without Container

5

10

10

IoT Connectors are available as AP-based connectors or virtual appliances. Before you can use an IoT Connector, you need to set up appliances. To setup virtual appliances, see Setting Up Virtual Appliances.

Licensing

IoT Operations is available to Classic Central customers using AOS-10, with Foundation and/or Advanced AP licenses. Separate licenses are not required for IoT Operations.

IoT Operations utilizes an IoT Connector to receive IoT data from APs and sends IoT device metadata to Classic Central and IoT data to partner cloud servers. The APs that are assigned to an IoT Connector utilize their IoT radios to act as IoT gateways for myriad IoT devices in the physical environment.

HPE Aruba Networking uses the license tier of APs assigned to your IoT Connector to determine the user experience. Currently, that user experience is differentiated in the IoT Operations Application Store. You will either have access to all apps in the IoT Operations Application Store or some of the apps in the IoT Operations Application Store. Regardless of license tier, the supported scale and base functionality of IoT Operations are the same. In the future, HPE Aruba Networking may add new capabilities to IoT Operations which may extend across apps or even be offered independently of the apps themselves. The user experience is currently determined in IoT Operations as:

  • When all APs assigned to an IoT Connector have an Advanced AP license, you have access to all apps in the IoT Operations Application Store.
  • When at least one AP assigned to an IoT Connector has a Foundation AP license, you have access to a subset of apps in the IoT Operations Application Store. The apps that are available are shown in full color, while the apps that are unavailable are shaded gray.

Filters can be used in the IoT Operations App Store user interface to further refine your app search.

AP-based IoT Connector

The AOS-10 APs enable IoT functionality via the IoT connector application that runs on the HPE Aruba Networking data collector appliance. For small and medium business networks that have simple IoT application requirements or for large networks that have a small number of APs distributed across multiple sites, the HPE Aruba Networking APs can be converted into IoT Connectors. The AP-based IoT Connectors support IoT connector applications like basic BLE data filtering and forwarding and USB Universal Serial Bus. USB is a connection standard that offers a common interface for communication between the external devices and a computer. USB is the most common port used in the client devices. -serial data forwarding on the AP.

AP-based IoT Connectors allow certain container-based applications to be installed on supported AP models. Some applications may behave differently when deployed on AP connectors. For any questions or compatibility concerns, consult the app developers.

For more information, see the following topics:

IoT Operations App Matrix

IoT Operations supports the following apps:

Table 5: IoT Operations App Matrix
IoT Operations App Supported on VM-based IoT Connector Minimum AOS-10 version for VM-based IoT Connector Supported on AP-based IoT Connector Minimum AOS-10 version for AP-based IoT Connector License Type

Assa Abloy

Yes

AOS-10.3.1.4

Yes

Future*

Foundation

AOS-8 Emulator

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.1.0

AOS-10.8.0 supports USB

Foundation

Aruba Devices

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Eddystone Devices

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

iBecons

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

EnOcean BLE

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Minew Devices

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Blyott Devices

Yes

AOS-10.3.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.1.0

Foundation

Dormakaba

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

Future*

Foundation

EnOcean USB

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.1.0

Foundation

Hanshow

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

SoluM

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Amberbox Gunshot Detection

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Securitas BLE

Yes

AOS-10.4.0.1

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

TraknProtect Sensors

Yes

AOS-10.4.0.2

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Onity IoT

Yes

AOS-10.5.0.0

Future

NA

Foundation

Meridian

Yes

AOS-10.5.1.0

Yes

AOS-10.7.1.0

Foundation

Hypros Location and IoT

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.1.0

Foundation

IoT Transport for Azure

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Future

NA

Foundation

VusionGroup

Yes

AOS-10.7.0.1

Yes

AOS-10.7.0.1

Foundation

OpenLocate BLE Beacons

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Foundation

Sonitor ONE AP-LiNK

Yes

AOS-10.6.x

Future

N/A

Foundation

TapMyLife Devices

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

Chorus

Future

N/A

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

Aguardio

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.5.x

Foundation

AiRISTA BLE Devices

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

InteropaBLE Identifier

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

BluVib

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

HibouAir

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

Espruino

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

Pole Star

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

Centrak BLE

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

DirAct

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

EnOcean SmartStudio

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.8.0.0

Foundation

Pharox

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

Evresys

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

ELA Innovation

Yes

AOS-10.4.x

Yes

AOS-10.7.x

Foundation

* ZigBee support for AP-based IoT Connectors is available starting with AOS 10.8.0.0. This includes both the AP infrastructure and the IoT Operations ZigBee APIs Application Programming Interface. Refers to a set of functions, procedures, protocols, and tools that enable users to build application software.. However, integrations with Dormakaba and ASSA ABLOY are currently not supported on AP-based IoT Connectors due to known limitations with their respective servers.