Efficient Model-Driven Prototyping for Edge Analytics

Software development cycles in the context of Internet of Things (IoT) applications require the orchestration of different technological layers, and involve complex technical challenges. The engineering team needs to become experts in these technologies and time delays are inherent due to the cross-integration process because they face steep learning curves in several technologies, which leads to cost issues, and often to a resulting product that is prone to bugs. We propose a more straightforward approach to the construction of high-quality IoT applications by adopting model-driven technologies (DIME and Pyrus), that may be used jointly or in isolation. The presented use case connects various technologies: the application interacts through the EdgeX middleware platform with several sensors and data analytics pipelines. This web-based control application collects, processes and displays key information about the state of the edge data capture and computing that enables quick strategic decision-making. In the presented case study of a Stable Storage Facility (SSF), we use DIME to design the application for IoT connectivity and the edge aspects, MongoDB for storage and Pyrus to implement no-code data analytics in Python. We have integrated nine independent technologies in two distinct Low-code development environments with the production of seven processes and pipelines, and the definition of 25 SIBs in nine distinct DSLs. The presented case study is benchmarked with the platform to showcase the role of code generation and the reusability of components across applications. We demonstrate that the approach embraces a high level of reusability and facilitates domain engineers to create IoT applications in a low-code fashion.