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Over-the-Air (OTA) Updates

The Golioth Over-the-Air (OTA) firmware update service enables quick, secure deployment of firmware packages to IoT devices throughout the world. The Golioth API enables easy management of firmware releases, including multi-part binary bundles, enabling updates for devices as diverse as smart speakers, digital signage, machine learning enabled sensor systems, multiple processor embedded devices, and more.

Our OTA feature is highly flexible, allowing to not just update your main firmware, but sub components like the Cellular Modem firmware, update an on device Machine Learning model or even sending custom binaries required for your application as part of a release.

Artifacts and Releases can be accessed from Golioth Web Console, the Golioth REST API, or by using the goliothctl dfu subcommand.

Details for OTA manifest, path, and status

For more information on how the Golioth server and IoT devices communicate with each other about Over-the-Air updates, see the OTA section of our CoAP reference:

Concepts​

Artifacts​

An artifact is a binary image that can be pushed to your embedded device. This may take the form of the base level firmware (to be used with a bootloader), a binary blob for an external processor, a firmware image for the modem onboard (such as the nRF91), or a required content element for the running application, such as an image or sound file. Individual binaries (artifacts) are versioned and tracked before being added to a release.

Releases​

A release is a collection of artifacts to be delivered to the target embedded device. In the simplest example, a release will only contain a single artifact, the firmware image to reprogram the main processor on board. Once you mark a release as active, any eligible embedded devices will attempt to download and install that firmware update. Groups of devices may be targeted using Blueprints and Tags. Release rollout and rollback can be controlled from the Golioth Console, the REST API, or via command line tools.

Blueprints​

A Blueprint is a way to indicate a unique hardware version for devices in your fleet. Blueprints help to segment which devices should be notified of a particular release. For instance, the release may support a different processor or different peripheral hardware for any given variation of fleet device.

Tags​

One or more tags may be optionally applied to each device in your fleet. Tags help to associate groups of devices when rolling out firmware updates. Designating a subgroup of test devices, associating all devices in one building or on each floor, and grouping devices by application are all good examples of how tags may be used.

Use Cases​

Here are some ideas on what can be created using our OTA Service.

  • Push new feature your devices in the field.
    • Your product can be constantly evolving, so you can be constantly pushing new firmware securely to your fleet.
  • Fix critical issues in your fleet of devices
    • Security patches, critical bug fixes, etc.
  • Edge computing scenarios
    • A critical part of an edge computing scenario, is improving you Machine Learning model and updating devices with that latest optimized model.
    • Push timeseries data to LightDB Stream, improve your ML model and upload it as an Artifact on our platform that can be part of a subsequent OTA Release.
  • Digital billboard
    • Any kind of file can be uploaded as an Artifact and added as part of a subsequent OTA Release, so you can push digital assets like images and videos to your devices.