System installation architecture

In the following are described the possible installation architecture layouts of a MeshCube system.

Software components

The generic software components of a MeshCube system are:

  1. Gateways - gateways are devices that gather data coming from Wirepas Mesh devices and forward them to the MeshCube software for the elaboration.
    The data are sent to the MeshCube through the MQTT Mesh Broker.
  2. MeshCube software - is the main system component. The software gathers data coming from all the devices in the Mesh network and elaborates them, to provide the user with relevant information, such as tags current location, alarms generated by the devices and others.
    MeshCube software receives data from the Mesh Broker and sends the elaborated data to an API interface, that can be an MQTT Interface broker (optionally configurable) or the HTTP interface.
  3. MQTT Mesh Broker - is an MQTT Broker that is responsible of the communication between Wirepas Mesh Gateways and the MeshCube Software. This communication may be bi-directional: the broker can forward data coming from the gateways or forward the requests sent by the software to the gateways (or devices below).
    The MQTT Mesh Broker can be installed on the same machine together with the MeshCube software or on a different machine, but its presence in the system is mandatory for the correct functioning of the whole system.
  4. MQTT Interface Broker - the MQTT Interface Broker is used to manage data exchange between the MeshCube software and a user interface, that can be the MeshCube web interface or a third party application interface.
    The Interface Broker and the Mesh Broker can be the same MQTT Broker or can be two different brokers.
    The interface broker is not a mandatory component of the system, since the MeshCube software can be queried also using HTTP(s) API calls to build the user interface.
  5. End-user application software - is the user application, that can be the MeshCube web client, or a plugin module inside MeshCube (for custom data processing and transfer towards an external application) or an external application. The end user application requires data from MeshCube software, via MQTT Interface broker or via HTTP API calls.

Typical installation architectures

In the following are presented 2 generic installation architectures.

Unique MQTT Broker

In the most simple installation architecture, the MQTT Broker is used both as Mesh and Interface Broker.
Based on project requirements, the MQTT broker can be installed:

  • on the same machine on which the MeshCube software is installed
  • externally

Architecture 1

Separate MQTT Brokers

It is possible to have two different MQTT instances: one for Mesh and one for Interface broker.
Both Brokers may be installed:

  • on the same machine on which the MeshCube software is installed
  • externally

The two brokers are independent from each other, thus the installation layout combinations (same machine / external) do not influence the system functioning.

Architecture 2