Introduction to Device Management

The Internet of Things (IoT) and the LoRa®-based devices and LoRaWAN® networks that enable it promise that billions of sensors will change the way that we interact with the world. These sensors will provide extensive monitoring possibilities that were unimaginable only a few years ago. Data analysts in a variety of industries are ecstatic about the possibilities of exabytes of data for everything from agriculture, industrial control, health care and metering, not to mention a host of other applications. Given the excitement about the data analysis possibilities, it is easy to overlook the operational system needed to support collecting all this data. Data collection is more than just data transmission and storage. It is a full system of parts that needs to be monitored and maintained. Each device in the system must be provisioned, monitored, serviced, and decommissioned at the end of its life. Throughout its life cycle, a device must be monitored for its primary data source and overall health. This is necessary to achieve complete system stability and performance.