An IoT platform connects sensors, meters, industrial equipment, communication networks, cloud services, and business applications into one unified system.

A widely adopted IoT architecture consists of four layers:

Perception Layer → Network Layer → Platform Layer → Application Layer

Each layer performs a different role, from collecting field data and transmitting it to the cloud to analyzing the data and turning it into practical monitoring, control, energy management, and operational services.

As a provider of smart energy meters and industrial IoT solutions, Heyuan Intelligence offers products and systems covering multiple parts of this architecture, including smart electricity meters, wireless IoT sensors, LoRa and LoRaWAN communication terminals, industrial gateways, energy management software, electrical safety monitoring, and meter reading and billing systems.

1. Perception Layer: Field Data Acquisition and Device Control

The perception layer is the foundation of an IoT system. It connects the digital platform with physical equipment and the surrounding environment.

Its main functions are to collect operating data, detect environmental conditions, measure energy consumption, and execute control commands.

Typical sensing and metering devices include temperature and humidity sensors, pressure sensors, liquid-level sensors, current sensors, voltage sensors, PM2.5 sensors, RFID devices, cameras, electricity meters, water meters, and gas meters.

Typical control and field devices include PLCs, variable frequency drives, relays, smart switches, remote I/O modules, circuit breakers, 4G DTUs, and field controllers.

Common interfaces at this layer include RS485, RS232, analog input, digital input and output, pulse output, I2C, and Modbus RTU.

Heyuan Solutions at the Perception Layer

Heyuan Intelligence provides several types of field-level devices for energy monitoring and industrial IoT applications.

Its smart metering portfolio includes AC DIN-rail energy meters, AC panel power meters, DC energy meters for photovoltaic and DC systems, multi-circuit energy meters, current transformers, and intelligent measurement and control terminals.

Representative products include the DZS320 three-phase wireless energy meter, DZS900 multi-circuit energy meter, HYFW intelligent measurement and control terminal, DZS300 three-phase energy meter, and DZS100-S single-phase energy meter.

For electrical safety and equipment condition monitoring, Heyuan also provides passive wireless current sensors, wireless temperature sensors, electrical fire monitoring devices, and smart circuit breakers. These devices collect electrical parameters, energy consumption, temperature, current, operating status, and alarm information from field equipment.

Typical applications include electricity monitoring in distribution cabinets, cable temperature monitoring, current monitoring in switchgear, multi-circuit energy metering, photovoltaic energy monitoring, pump room monitoring, and industrial equipment condition monitoring.

2. Network Layer: Data Transmission and Connectivity

The network layer provides the communication channel between field devices and the IoT platform.

It uploads data from sensors, meters, PLCs, and controllers to a local server or cloud platform. It also transmits configuration parameters and control commands from the platform back to field equipment.

Wired communication methods include RS485, Ethernet, industrial Ethernet, optical fiber, and CAN. Short-range wireless methods include LoRa, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Wide-area communication methods include 4G, 5G, LTE Cat.1, NB-IoT, and LoRaWAN.

Industrial gateways play an important role in this layer. They collect data from multiple field devices, convert industrial protocols, aggregate device information, and forward the data to a cloud platform, SCADA system, energy management system, or customer-developed application.

For example, an industrial gateway can convert:

Modbus RTU over RS485 → Modbus TCP over Ethernet

This allows conventional RS485 meters and instruments to connect to modern IP-based monitoring systems.

Heyuan Solutions at the Network Layer

Heyuan provides industrial communication products for both wired and wireless IoT deployments.

Its data transmission portfolio includes LoRa and LoRaWAN communication terminals, RS485-to-LoRa converters, LoRa I/O modules, LoRaWAN gateways, Ethernet gateways, edge computing gateways, and intelligent communication gateways.

Representative products include the HYTR-DE V2.0 Edge Computing Gateway, ASDU-LE1 Intelligent Gateway, ASDU-LE Intelligent Gateway, HY-GW801 LoRaWAN Gateway, and IOT-L2S series LoRa data transmission terminals.

These products can connect energy meters, sensors, PLCs, and other industrial devices through RS485, Ethernet, LoRa, LoRaWAN, 4G, and other communication methods.

For retrofit projects where new communication cables are difficult or expensive to install, LoRa-based wireless transmission can connect distributed RS485 devices without requiring extensive rewiring.

A typical Heyuan wireless monitoring architecture may use:

Energy Meter or Sensor → LoRa Terminal → LoRa Wireless Network → Master Terminal or Gateway → Monitoring Platform

3. Platform Layer: Device, Data, Alarm, and System Management

The platform layer is the core of an IoT architecture. It connects devices, manages communication, stores data, processes events, generates alarms, and provides services to upper-level applications.

A complete platform layer normally includes edge computing and cloud or local platform services.

3.1 Edge Computing

Edge gateways process data close to field equipment before transmitting it to the cloud.

Typical edge functions include local data caching, protocol conversion, data filtering, data preprocessing, offline storage, interrupted-transmission recovery, local alarm handling, device linkage, and local control.

Edge computing reduces communication traffic and cloud processing pressure. It also improves response speed and allows important monitoring and control functions to continue operating during temporary network interruptions.

Heyuan’s edge computing and intelligent gateways can be used to collect data from meters, sensors, and industrial equipment and forward it to local servers, cloud platforms, SCADA systems, or energy management systems.

3.2 Device Access and Communication

The device access module establishes communication between field devices and the platform.

Common industrial and IoT protocols include Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, MQTT, TCP/IP, HTTP, and OPC UA.

Its main functions include device authentication, protocol parsing, communication status management, message receiving, data transmission, remote parameter configuration, and command delivery.

Through gateways and communication terminals, traditional industrial equipment can be integrated into a centralized IoT monitoring system without replacing the original field devices.

3.3 Device Management

The device management module provides centralized management of connected devices.

Typical functions include device registration, device identification, online and offline monitoring, remote parameter configuration, device grouping, project management, user authorization, permission management, firmware management, and device lifecycle management.

Devices can be organized according to customer, project, building, production line, region, distribution cabinet, or equipment type.

3.4 Data Services

The data service module stores, processes, and analyzes field data.

Time-series databases store historical data such as voltage, current, power, power factor, frequency, energy consumption, temperature, pressure, liquid level, and equipment status.

Real-time databases display the latest operating data according to the configured collection and communication cycle.

Other common data services include data cleaning, validation, aggregation, statistical analysis, historical queries, trend analysis, data export, report generation, and comparative analysis.

3.5 Rule Engine and Alarm Management

The rule engine analyzes incoming device data according to predefined conditions.

Typical rules include overtemperature, overvoltage, undervoltage, overcurrent, overload, leakage current, abnormal energy consumption, pressure limit, liquid-level limit, communication failure, and device offline alarms.

When a condition is triggered, the platform can display an alarm, send a notification, activate a sound and light alarm, generate a work order, issue a maintenance task, or send a remote control command.

For example, when cable temperature or circuit current exceeds a preset threshold, the platform can generate an alarm and initiate a predefined electrical safety response.

3.6 Heyuan Hi-IOT Energy Management Software

Heyuan’s Hi-IOT Energy Management Software collects and manages real-time consumption data for electricity, water, gas, heating, and other energy types.

Its main functions include system-wide energy overviews, real-time metering, historical trend analysis, energy consumption comparison, daily and monthly reports, year-on-year and period-on-period analysis, energy threshold warnings, and subarea energy management.

The software can display real-time electrical parameters such as voltage, current, power, frequency, and energy consumption. It can also analyze energy use by region, department, building, equipment group, energy category, or reporting period.

Hi-IOT supports API-based integration with other systems and can be deployed as part of a cloud-based or on-premise energy management solution.

4. Application Layer: Industry Applications and User Services

The application layer transforms collected data into practical operational and business functions.

It provides monitoring, visualization, alarm management, remote control, reporting, energy analysis, maintenance management, and decision-support services for end users.

Common user interfaces include PC-based web platforms, mobile applications, real-time dashboards, SCADA interfaces, GIS maps, graphical configuration screens, and digital twin systems.

Users can view device status, monitor real-time data, analyze historical trends, receive alarms, generate reports, and remotely manage equipment.

Energy Management

Energy management applications monitor electricity, water, gas, heating, and other energy consumption.

They help users compare energy use between buildings, departments, production lines, equipment groups, and time periods. This provides a quantitative basis for identifying waste, controlling costs, improving energy efficiency, and evaluating energy-saving measures.

Heyuan provides energy management software together with smart meters, current transformers, communication terminals, and industrial gateways, enabling a complete solution from field data acquisition to platform analysis.

Meter Reading and Billing

An IoT-based meter reading and billing system remotely collects meter data and centralizes consumption and billing management.

Typical functions include automatic meter reading, electricity cost analysis, regional consumption rankings, revenue and expenditure statistics, demand forecasting, loss analysis, abnormal usage detection, and report export.

Heyuan’s meter reading and billing solution combines IoT communication, centralized data storage, and analytical functions to reduce manual meter-reading workloads and improve billing and energy-management efficiency.

Electrical Safety Monitoring

Electrical safety applications monitor current, voltage, temperature, leakage current, overload conditions, equipment status, and communication status.

When abnormal conditions occur, the system can generate alarms, notify maintenance personnel, record events, and initiate linkage control.

Heyuan’s electrical safety portfolio includes wireless temperature sensors, passive wireless current sensors, smart circuit breakers, and electrical fire monitoring solutions.

Other Industrial IoT Applications

The same four-layer architecture can also be applied to smart water management, agricultural monitoring, construction-site monitoring, factory equipment monitoring, pump-station communication, smart buildings, photovoltaic systems, substations, and industrial remote operation and maintenance.

How the Complete IoT Architecture Works

A complete IoT workflow can be summarized as follows:

Meters and sensors collect field data → Communication terminals and gateways transmit the data → The platform stores and analyzes the data → Applications display results and generate alarms → Control commands are sent back to field devices

This creates a closed-loop operating process:

Data Collection → Data Transmission → Data Processing → Business Application → Remote Control

For example, in a Heyuan energy monitoring solution, a smart energy meter measures voltage, current, power, and energy consumption. An RS485, LoRa, 4G, or Ethernet communication device transmits the data to a gateway or platform. Hi-IOT then displays real-time data, stores historical records, generates reports, and triggers alarms when abnormal conditions occur.

About Heyuan Intelligence

Founded in 1999, Heyuan Intelligence has developed from an electrical monitoring equipment manufacturer into a provider of integrated electrical automation, smart energy metering, industrial communication, energy management, and electrical safety solutions.

Its product portfolio covers smart electricity meters, current transformers, wireless IoT sensors, LoRa and LoRaWAN terminals, industrial gateways, edge computing devices, energy management software, meter reading and billing systems, and electrical safety monitoring solutions.

Heyuan focuses on improving power distribution management, electrical safety, industrial energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability through intelligent hardware, communication technologies, and software platforms.

Conclusion

The four-layer IoT architecture provides a clear and scalable framework for industrial digitalization.

The perception layer collects data and controls equipment. The network layer connects distributed field devices. The platform layer manages devices, data, alarms, rules, and system integration. The application layer converts data into operational and business value.

By combining smart meters, sensors, communication terminals, industrial gateways, edge computing, and Hi-IOT Energy Management Software, Heyuan Intelligence can support an end-to-end architecture from field data acquisition to centralized monitoring and energy analysis.

A well-designed IoT platform does more than connect equipment. It transforms real-time field data into actionable information that helps organizations improve electrical safety, reduce energy costs, optimize maintenance, and make more informed operational decisions.