YWireless-RX65N Smart Home Gateway - Getting Started Guide
Before we can even begin to discuss the protocol and message type that is sent to AWS
IoT, we first need to “get in the front door”. All connections to AWS IoT require a mutually
authenticated TLS connection. This is different than a normal TLS/SSL connection you
would have on a web page where you see an icon similar to this
A normal web page SSL connection is one-way where the server you’re connecting to
presents you with a certificate that has been signed by a Certificate Authority. Your
browser has a list of acceptable Certificate Authorities and checks the certificate
presented by the server against this list. If it matches the browser decides this is a
trustworthy connection and accepts the certificate.
A mutually authenticated TLS connection takes the above a step further. In our
connection with AWS IoT, we will be presented with a certificate from AWS so we can
decide if we want to trust AWS similar to your browser received a certificate from a
server. But our IoT device also has to present AWS IoT with a certificate so AWS IoT can
decide if they want to trust this device. The certificate is also used as a sort of
username/password for access control.
1-2-2. Protocol
AWS IoT messages are sent primarily via the message protocol Message Queue
Telemetry Transport (MQTT). This guide will not get into the details on the MQTT
protocol, but more information on the protocol can be found at http://www.mqtt.org.
The MQTT protocol sits right above TCP, is extremely lightweight and is ideal for small
While it will not be covered in this guide, data can also be sent to AWS IoT via
Websockets and HTTP. Both of those protocols are much heavier than MQTT and not
practical for an embedded device.
At this point we have enough background information to get started.
