Harnessing Communication Heterogeneity: Architectural Design, Analytical Modeling, and Performance Evaluation of an IoT Multi-Interface Gateway

Given the massive deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) applications over the last decade, the need for gateways able to efficiently route information flows across multiple heterogeneous networks has emerged, bringing new challenges. Therefore, the design and implementation of IoT gateways is crucial. In this article, with reference to the architecture of a prototypical multi-interface gateway (MIG) (based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices), we evaluate its performance: 1) analytically, through an innovative Markov chain-based model; 2) by simulation, with a Python simulator; and 3) experimentally, through the (starting) COTS device-based prototype. In detail, the MIG is equipped with heterogeneous wireless communication interfaces (namely, LoRaWAN, BLE, cellular 4G Cat. 4, and IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz) and is applicable to multiple IoT scenarios. The obtained simulation and experimental results show the validity of the proposed analytical model. Further improvements of the proposed framework are eventually discussed.