ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector

The ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector enables communication between devices that communicate with an Azure IoT Hub and with the Azure IoT Edge service. The IoT Edge is an IoT Service that three components, IoT Edge modules, the IoT Edge runtime, and the IoT Edge cloud interface. For details, refer to the Microsoft Azure IoT Edge documentation.

Integration of Azure IoT Devices and Azure IoT Edge Devices

The Microsoft Azure IoT Hub offering provides the following basic functions needed for IoT devices:

• Reliable, bi-directional communication between edge devices and back-end applications.

• Secure device communication, using per-device security credentials and access control.

• Azure IoT Edge Device and Azure IoT Edge Device Module SDKs for Java, C, .NET (C#), and Javascript (Node.js). The SDKs support sending messages to and receiving messages from, back-end applications.

• Azure IoT Service SDKs that allow applications to manage device identities in the Azure IoT Hub and send messages to edge devices. The Service SDKs are available for Java, .NET (C#), Javascript (Node.js), and HTTP REST (only to manage device identity).

Azure IoT does not offer a persistent state for edge devices. The back-end application is responsible for managing the state of an edge device.

ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector Integration

The ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector integrates edge devices that are running applications developed using a Microsoft Azure IoT SDK with the ThingWorx Platform. The following diagram illustrates the integration. In particular, it shows how data flows in from one or more Azure IoT Edge devices, through Microsoft Azure IoT Hub to the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector. The Azure IoT Hub Connector translates messages from Azure IoT devices to messages that the ThingWorx Platform can understand. The Connector then forwards the messages to the ThingWorx Platform. Notice that, except for the edge devices, the components of this integration can exist in the Azure Cloud:

Flow of data from Azure devices through Azure to a ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector and then to the ThingWorx Platform

As the figure shows, messages flow from the edge devices to the Azure IoT Hub, then to the ThingWorx Azure IoT Hub Connector and the Azure Storage. From the Azure Storage, messages can be sent to the Connector. All messages sent to the Connector are forwarded to a ThingWorx Platform.