DRC Compact: the space- and costefficient Industrial IoT Gateway

Date : 3. May 2023

The DH electronics IoT Gateway DRC Compact was developed to connect sensors, IoT modules and smart devices to the cloud using a device that is as compact and cost-efficient as possible. It is the small version of the established IoT gateway DRC02 and is therefore also attractive for smaller applications. The IoT Gateway DRC Compact allows data filtering, visualization and the evaluation of complex analyses. In addition, thanks to the IoT Gateway DRC Compact, users gain transparency over their machine and process data. Real-time monitoring of process data, such as temperature, pressure, vibration, power consumption, oil quality, tilt angle, rotation speed or other parameters, ensures consistently high product quality. The rule-based evaluation of specific information enables predictive and plannable maintenance of your equipment and a significant increase in machine availability. The monitoring of energy-related data enables the shutdown of plant components and thus the optimization of the energy balance. Furthermore, the IoT Gateway DRC Compact offers a good way for a company to protect its IoT ecosystem. Features such as tamper detection, encryption, crypto engins and others can help protect individual devices from attack.

Highlights
The special feature of the IoT Gateway DRC Compact is that it combines robustness, simple assembly, the possibility of industrial application and a particularly compact size with a favorable price. Until now, customers had to consider whether an IoT gateway was even worthwhile for them in the context of the cost/benefit calculation. The IoT Gateway DRC Compact is the answer to this question. The IoT Gateway DRC Compact is based on the established STM32MP1 and thus has the same performance as a larger and significantly more expensive IoT gateway. DH electronics also offers a long-term availability of 10+ years, as well as easy maintenance thanks to Mainline Linux.

Roadmap
Since the DRC Compact's big brother, the IoT Gateway DRC02, has already been established for some time, the decision to put the IoT Gateway DRC Compact into production was an easy one. The goal was to produce an equally robust design with easy assembly that could also be used in smaller applications due to its compactness. Since the scalability and modularity of the IOT Gateway DRC02 is not necessary for all customer applications and DH electronics also wanted to provide a high quality Iot Gateway to customers who do not need these features, they took the release of the DHCOR STM32MP1 as an opportunity to develop a compact Iot Gateway which is industrial standard in form factor and equipped with the competitive CPU from STMicroelectronics. To save costs and space, the CPU module was soldered instead of plugged in and further expansion interfaces for additional interfaces were omitted. During the development of the DRC Compact, special attention was paid to ensuring that the customer has to make as few compromises as possible and thus receives a very high-quality product at an attractive price. The next step is the use at the customer's site to get direct user feedback. On this basis, further technical adjustments are made and continuous optimization is ensured. Due to the long-term availability of 10+ years and the easy software maintenance by Mainline Linux, the IoT Gateway DRC Compact is well prepared for the future.