Linux-based Edge Firmware OS for Industrial Gateways

The Challenge

Existing gateway firmware was fragmented — one binary per deployment, no shared platform, every protocol bolt-on was a copy-paste regression risk. Each new inverter brand was a two-week regression cycle. OTA stories devolved into 'we ship engineers to site every quarter.' The customer needed a productized firmware OS, not another one-off custom delivery.

The Solution

A productized Linux-based Edge Firmware OS for industrial gateways. Runs on ARM Cortex-A53 reference hardware and on customer-owned third-party SKUs (multi-tenant runtime licensing). Single firmware tree handles 8+ protocols, identifies devices automatically on power-up, and updates via signed A/B OTA with staged rollout.

How We Built It

• 1Yocto-based Linux distribution for ARM Cortex-A53, with locked-down rootfs and signed boot
• 2Protocol Adaptation Layer: Modbus RTU/TCP, IEC 60870-5-104, SunSpec, DLMS/COSEM, DL/T 645/698, M-Bus, CAN BMS / J1939, vendor-specific APIs (Huawei / Sungrow / Growatt / GoodWe) — all normalized to a single internal data model
• 3Automatic device identification: power-on bus scan → vendor + model recognition → auto-load point map. Field techs swap hardware without re-flashing
• 4Signed A/B OTA with cloud-orchestrated staged rollout (5% → 25% → 100%, abort on health-check fail)
• 5Multi-tenant licensing: same firmware authorized to run on customer-owned hardware, not just our reference SKU
• 6Remote O&M plane: cloud-initiated debug session, remote serial console, log retrieval, parameter tuning — no on-site visits
• 7Front-panel LED state machine: 4 LEDs map to License / Heartbeat / OTA / Uplink for field-tech readability

Tech Stack