Bachelor's Thesis

Mini-gateway založená na technologii ESP32

Author of thesis: Bc. Ondřej Kozel

Acad. year: 2025/2026

Abstract:

The aim of this thesis was to design and implement a gateway based on the ESP32 microcontroller for the company Logimic, enabling the interconnection of heterogeneous IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and actuators with the company's cloud platform. The proposed software solution is conceived as a universal framework capable of integrating drivers specific to various sensors and actuators. The theoretical part of the thesis provides an analysis of the Internet of Things, edge-based architectures, and technologies used in IoT, including the ESP32 platform. The solution was implemented in C++ with an emphasis on the efficient utilization of system resources and task parallelization using the FreeRTOS real-time operating system. The thesis also includes validation of the system through a Proof of Concept simulating operation in an industrial environment, along with a limit analysis of the gateway, focusing on RAM utilization and stability when handling a high number of connected devices.

Keywords:

Internet of Things, IoT gateway, ESP32, edge computing, AWS IoT, cloud provisioning, MQTT, HTTPS, C++, FreeRTOS, Wokwi

Date of defence

19.06.2026

Result of the defence

Defended (thesis was successfully defended)

znamkaAznamka

Grading

Process of defence

Student nejprve prezentoval výsledky, kterých dosáhl v rámci své práce. Komise se poté seznámila s hodnocením vedoucího a posudkem oponenta práce. Student následně odpověděl na otázky oponenta a na další otázky přítomných. Komise se na základě posudku oponenta, hodnocení vedoucího, přednesené prezentace a odpovědí studenta na položené otázky rozhodla práci hodnotit stupněm A.

Topics for thesis defence

The claim certificate and private key are embedded into the firmware binary. What security risks does this approach entail, and how could they be mitigated on the ESP32 platform?
Messages pending in the publishQueue are lost upon restart, and a restart occurs precisely during a prolonged connection outage — that is, at the moment when data is most likely accumulating. How would you address this problem on the ESP32 platform, taking into account the limitations of NVS (write endurance, namespace limit)?
Která z navržených metod zabezpečení byste zvolil?
Můžete vaše řešení porovnat se state-of-the-art?

Language of thesis

English

Faculty

Fakulta informačních technologií

Department

Department of Information Systems

Study programme

Information Technology (BIT)

Composition of Committee

doc. Ing. Vítězslav Beran, Ph.D. (předseda)
doc. Ing. Tomáš Martínek, Ph.D. (místopředseda)
Ing. Radek Hranický, Ph.D. (člen)
Ing. Petr Veigend, Ph.D. (člen)
Ing. Filip Orság, Ph.D. (člen)

Supervisor’s report
Ing. Jiří Hynek, Ph.D.

Student ke své práci přistupoval svědomitě a vytvořil použitelné řešení, které výrazně snižuje hardwarové náklady u instalací menšího rozsahu a bude využité firmou Logimic. Navrhuji hodnocení stupněm A.

Evaluation criteria	Verbal classification
Information about assignment	Zadání vzniklo ve spolupráci s firmou Logimic. Cílem bylo navrhnout a implementovat nízkonákladovou IoT gateway na mikrokontroléru ESP32-S3, která slouží jako most mezi heterogenními senzory a aktuátory a cloudovou platformou ACADA. Student navrhl software jako modulární framework umožňující integraci nových typů zařízení bez zásahu do jádra systému a provedl praktickou validaci formou proof of concept v průmyslovém prostředí. Student se musel seznámit s architekturami IoT a Edge computingu, platformou ESP32 a programováním v jazyce C++ s využitím frameworků Arduino a ESP-IDF s operačním systémem reálného času FreeRTOS. Součástí řešení je i cloudová konektivita prostřednictvím protokolů MQTT a HTTPS s AWS IoT Core. Zadání hodnotím jako obtížnější a považuji ho za splněné.
Work with literature	Student prostudoval doporučenou literaturu a aktivně si vyhledával další zdroje týkající se zejména oblasti IoT, Edge computingu a platformy ESP32.
Activity during solution, consultations, communication	Student komunikoval během celého akademického roku. Konzultace probíhaly online s vedoucím práce i s konzultantem z firmy Logimic Ing. Františkem Mikulů. Student řádně plnil zadané úkoly a práce postupovala dobrým tempem.
Activity during completion	Student absolvoval v průběhu řešení zahraniční pobyt, v důsledku čehož byly některé části technické zprávy dokončovány na poslední chvíli.
Publication activity, awards	Výstupy práce a získané poznatky budou využity ve firmě Logimic.

Points proposed by supervisor: 90

Grade proposed by supervisor: A

Reviewer’s report
Ing. Ondřej Šulc

I consider the thesis to be very well executed. The student fulfilled all points of the assignment and demonstrated the ability to work on a complex technical problem.

Evaluation criteria	Verbal classification	Points
The difficulty of the assignment	Evaluation level: moderately difficult assignment The student was tasked with analysing the requirements of the company Logimic for an IoT gateway, with particular regard to integration with the company's ACADA platform, and — based on a study of the ESP32 platform and edge computing — to design, implement and test a software library enabling the use of these boards as an IoT gateway.
Presentation level of the technical report	The thesis is logically organised and the chapters follow naturally from one another. The requirements identified in the analysis are consistently referenced throughout the design and implementation using the identifiers FR-XX / IR-XX / NFR-XX, making the thesis highly transparent and traceable. The schemas are consistent with the text and well annotated. The testing section is methodologically thorough. It includes unit tests for individual components, integration tests using a mock of the ACADA system, and RAM performance tests of the ESP32 board running the developed library. The student also developed a simulator of a real end device from a Logimic project on a second ESP32 board, in order to verify the functionality of the gateway bridge.	90
Formal preparation of a technical report	The thesis is written in English; the student stated in the declaration that the AI tool Gemini was used for language revision. The language is clear and consistent, with very few typographical errors.	90
Realisation output	The student implemented a library for developing edge software for ESP32 boards and ensured its integration with the PlatformIO toolchain. The library provides MQTT communication with AWS IoT Core over TLS, device provisioning via AWS IoT Fleet Provisioning, persistent storage of configuration in NVS, dynamic device registration through the Poller and Command interfaces, and an autonomous connection recovery mechanism. The design contains minor shortcomings — see the questions for defence below.	85
Usability of results	The implemented library is ready for deployment in Logimic's projects.
The extent to which the requirements of the assignment have been met	Evaluation level: assignment fulfilled All points of the assignment have been fulfilled.
Extent of the technical report	Evaluation level: is within the usual extent At 57 standard pages, the thesis falls within the usual range.
Work with literature	The thesis draws on relevant sources appropriate to the topic. Sources are well cited throughout the text.	90

Topics for thesis defence:

The claim certificate and private key are embedded into the firmware binary. What security risks does this approach entail, and how could they be mitigated on the ESP32 platform?
Messages pending in the publishQueue are lost upon restart, and a restart occurs precisely during a prolonged connection outage — that is, at the moment when data is most likely accumulating. How would you address this problem on the ESP32 platform, taking into account the limitations of NVS (write endurance, namespace limit)?

Points proposed by reviewer: 90

Grade proposed by reviewer: A

Responsibility: Mgr. et Mgr. Hana Odstrčilová

VUT

Faculties and university institutes

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Mini-gateway založená na technologii ESP32