Capstone & Resources · Study deck
IoT Glossary: Terms From S Through V
A design review now covers sensors, security, storage, and wireless links.
Test Tessa is your guide for this deck.
After studying this chapter
Learning objectives
You will be able to:
- Explain: In simple terms: Computing without managing servers - write code that runs when needed without worrying about servers, scaling, or paying for idle time, like renting a taxi versus owning a car.
- Explain: In simple terms: A digital key card - proves who you are and what you're allowed to do, like a badge that gets you through certain doors for a limited time.
- Explain: In simple terms: Packing for shipment - converting complex data into a flat format that can be sent over a network or saved to disk, then unpacking it at the destination.
Major section
S
In simple terms: Hub-and-spoke design - every device connects to one central point, like streets radiating from a town center.
- Definition: The process of converting continuous signals into discrete values at regular intervals, with sampling rate determining how often measurements are taken.
- In simple terms: A data template - specifies what fields data should have and what types they should be, like a form that defines required fields and their formats.
- Simple, but the center becomes a critical dependency.
Major section
S (continued)
Definition: A proprietary LPWAN technology using ultra-narrowband modulation for very low-power, low-throughput IoT communication, associated with operated network services where coverage is available.
- Definition: A device that detects and measures physical properties (temperature, light, motion, pressure) and converts them into electrical signals that can be processed by electronic systems.
- In simple terms: Packing for shipment - converting complex data into a flat format that can be sent over a network or saved to disk, then unpacking it at the destination.
- In simple terms: A managed low-data IoT network - like a phone-network model for simple sensors, intended for devices that send very small payloads infrequently.
Major section
S (continued)
In simple terms: Computing without managing servers - write code that runs when needed without worrying about servers, scaling, or paying for idle time, like renting a taxi versus owning a car.
- Definition: A synchronous serial communication interface using four wires (clock, data in, data out, select) for high-speed communication between a microcontroller and peripheral devices.
- In simple terms: Fast wired communication - uses more wires than I2C but is faster, good for sensors and displays that need to transfer lots of data quickly.
- Definition: A client in publish-subscribe messaging that registers interest in specific topics and receives messages published to those topics, without direct connection to publishers.
Major section
T
Definition: The actual rate at which data is successfully transferred over a network connection, typically lower than bandwidth due to protocol overhead, errors, and congestion.
- In simple terms: Real-world speed - while bandwidth is the maximum theoretical capacity, throughput is how fast data actually moves in practice, accounting for all the overhead and delays.
- In simple terms: Data ordered by time - measurements collected over time, like temperature readings every minute, stored in time order so you can see trends and patterns.
- Definition: An open-source time series database built on PostgreSQL, combining full SQL support with time series optimizations for IoT, monitoring, and analytics workloads.
Major section
T (continued)
In simple terms: SQL-friendly time series database - handles sensor data efficiently while letting you use familiar SQL queries and benefiting from PostgreSQL's ecosystem.
- In simple terms: A date-time stamp - marks when something happened, like the postmark on a letter, essential for knowing when sensor readings were taken.
- In simple terms: A digital key card - proves who you are and what you're allowed to do, like a badge that gets you through certain doors for a limited time.
- Definition: A named channel or subject in publish-subscribe messaging systems that publishers send messages to and subscribers receive messages from, enabling message routing.
Deck summary
Key takeaways
In simple terms: Hub-and-spoke design - every device connects to one central point, like streets radiating from a town center.
- Definition: A proprietary LPWAN technology using ultra-narrowband modulation for very low-power, low-throughput IoT communication, associated with operated network services where coverage is available.
- In simple terms: Computing without managing servers - write code that runs when needed without worrying about servers, scaling, or paying for idle time, like renting a taxi versus owning a car.
- Definition: The actual rate at which data is successfully transferred over a network connection, typically lower than bandwidth due to protocol overhead, errors, and congestion.
Retrieval practice
Recall check
Test Tessa says: answer from memory, then check your reasoning.
Q1A smart building deploys 500 sensors that each report temperature, humidity, and CO2 readings every 30 seconds. The operations team needs to query average values over 24-hour windows and detect anomalies. Which database technology is the best fit?
Show answer
Answer: A At 500 sensors x 3 metrics x 2/min = 3,000 writes/minute, a TSDB is a strong fit because it supports time-window functions, downsampling, retention policies, and compression for sequential numeric data.
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Answers
Answer key.
- A · At 500 sensors x 3 metrics x 2/min = 3,000 writes/minute, a TSDB is a strong fit because it supports time-window functions, downsampling, retention policies, and compression for sequential numeric data.