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Relay Applications

Why and when are Relay applications needed​

A Relay application is a custom application that runs the SDK Relay function. It runs on a separate device and is in charge of forwarding the trace data received from one or multiple Sternum-instrumented devices to the Sternum Platform.
Relay applications are required when the Sternum-instrumented devices cannot directly communicate with the Sternum Platform.

Examples of Relay applications:

  • Personal glucose monitor connected via Bluetooth to a glucose monitoring application running on a smartphone:


    The device sends trace data to the mobile application via BLE, which forwards the data to the Sternum Platform. The Relay function is embedded in the Android or iOS application.


  • General case of sensors or other equipment connected to an IOT or edge gateway:


    The device sends trace data to the IOT/edge gateway, which forwards the data to the Sternum Platform. The Relay function can be implemented in an existing or a new application.


Relay Application Components​

The general components of a Relay application are:

  • Communication with the Sternum-instrumented devices
    This is generally via a non-TCP/IP protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, serial or proprietary.
  • Collection of Sternum data
    Sternum data is extracted from the data received from the device (which may also include non-Sternum data).
  • Transmission of Sternum data
    The SDK is used to automatically and reliably send the Sternum data to the Sternum Platform.
note

A relay application may also use the SDK API to generate traces itself. This may be useful for example to monitor the relay application itself or the device it runs on.

Data flow​

Traces generated by the SDK on the Sternum-instrumented device are encoded, cached and sent securely as an opaque payload when the device connects to the relay application. The relay application receives the opaque payload and passes it to the Relay function of the SDK, which itself manages its transfer to the Sternum Platform.
The data communication is one-way from the Relay to the Sternum Platform.