IoT Transport Profiles

IoT transport profiles define how BLE gateways forward beacon telemetry to the NISC ingestion pipeline. Each gateway type has its own configuration approach.

Aruba APs

Aruba access points use IoT transport profiles configured in Aruba Central.

Profile Configuration

In Aruba Central:

1. Navigate to IoT > Transport Profiles
2. Create a profile with:
   • Transport type: WebSocket (WSS)
   • Server URL: Your data collector endpoint
   • Port: 443
   • Authentication: Token-based
3. Assign the profile to your AP group

Data Collector

The data collector receives WebSocket connections from APs and forwards telemetry to Azure Event Hub:

• Protocol: WSS (WebSocket Secure)
• Data format: Aruba IoT JSON telemetry
• Forwarding: Azure Event Hub via the barnowl ingestion service

WARNING

IoT Ops connector profiles in Aruba Central override CLI-configured transport profiles. If telemetry stops flowing after Central changes, check for conflicting connector profiles.

SSL/TLS Requirements

Aruba APs validate the data collector's TLS certificate. If using Let's Encrypt:

• Upload the CA certificate to the data collector configuration in Central
• The AP must trust the full certificate chain

MikroTik

MikroTik routers use their built-in BLE scanning interface.

Configuration

1. Enable the BLE scanner interface in RouterOS
2. Configure MQTT or WSS forwarding to your ingestion endpoint
3. Set the scan interval and filter parameters

TIP

MikroTik devices may report RSSI values with a ?? suffix in some firmware versions. The ingestion pipeline handles this automatically.

Telemetry Flow

BLE Beacon → Gateway (AP/MikroTik)
  → Data Collector (WSS)
    → Azure Event Hub
      → Event Hub Trigger (iotHub.js)
        → PostgreSQL (positions table)

Each step adds processing:

• Gateway: Captures RSSI, MAC, timestamp
• Data Collector: Aggregates and batches
• Event Hub Trigger: Parses payload, resolves device identity, writes position