Help Center/ IoT Device Access/ Developer Guide/ Development on the Device Side/ Device Access
Updated on 2025-07-29 GMT+08:00
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Device Access

Process

You can use various protocols to access Huawei Cloud IoTDA, including:

  • Common native protocols: MQTT(S), HTTPS, and LwM2M/CoAP(S)
  • Standard protocols for access through gateways or IoT Edge: Modbus, OPC UA, OPC DA, ONVIF, GB28181, and LoRa
  • Common protocols in some industries: JT808 (vehicle terminal communication protocol), SL651 (hydrological monitoring data communication protocol), and HJ212 (environmental protection industry data transmission standard protocol)
  • TCP proprietary protocols and third-party protocols

For more protocols, see Device Access Protocols.

Figure 1 Device access development process

TLS

IoTDA supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) for encrypted communication and secure client connections. When TLS is utilized, clients can transmit the Server Name Indication (SNI) and access domain name during connection establishment with the device, which is essential for features like custom domain names, device self-registration, and custom authentication.

Table 1 TLS types supported by common protocols

Protocol

Operations Supported

Supported TLS Version

Port

MQTT

Publish/Subscribe

Not applicable

1883

MQTTS

Publish/Subscribe

1.1, 1.2, and 1.3

8883

MQTT over WebSocket (WSS)

Publish/Subscribe

TLS 1.2

443

HTTPS

Publish

TLS 1.2

443

CoAP

Report and deliver

Not applicable

5683

CoAPS

Report and deliver

DTLS 1.2

5684

Access via Device-side SDKs

IoTDA offers device SDKs for seamless integration with Huawei Cloud, supporting functions like file uploading/downloading, automatic reconnection, OTA upgrades, data reporting, and time synchronization. The SDKs are available in C, C#, Java, Android, Go, Python, and ArkTS for HarmonyOS development. For details, see Device SDKs.

Access via Native Protocols

Devices can connect to IoTDA using native protocols such as MQTT(S), HTTPS, CoAP(S), or LwM2M. When a device employs the binary format, its data must be converted between binary and JSON formats using the codec deployed on the platform for communication with IoTDA.

Table 2 Native protocols

Protocol

Operations Supported

Transport Layer

Power Consumption

Applicable Network

Feature

Common Usage Scenario

MQTT(S)

Upstream and downstream

TCP

Low

Unstable/High-latency

Lightweight and low power consumption; publish/subscribe model for one-to-many communication; persistent sessions

Recommended industry protocol for persistent connection scenarios. It can be used in IoT systems that require bidirectional communication, device control, or high scalability, such as smart city, Internet of Vehicles (IoV), energy, electric power, and Industry 4.0 solution.

HTTPS

Upstream only

TCP

High

Stable and high-bandwidth

Various data formats available; one-way communication for client-intiated requests; stateless with independent requests

Scenarios where data is integrated with existing web services (such as apps and web pages) or requires high readability.

CoAP(S)/LwM2M

Upstream and downstream

UDP

Very low

Extremely low bandwidth/High packet loss rate

Designed for restricted devices; lightweight and multicast; low costs; binary format (CBOR)

This technology is commonly employed on low-power devices with limited resources, such as water meters and electricity meters, as well as on devices with extremely restricted resources like battery-powered sensors or those operating solely on UDP networks.

Access via Huawei-certified Modules

Huawei-certified modules are integrated with the IoT Device SDK Tiny and have passed Huawei certification tests. They comply with Huawei AT command specifications. You can send and receive data with a few clicks using AT commands, greatly reducing device interconnection workload and device commissioning period.