Do you know why a Gatway in Smart Home?

Have you ever seen: "This product needs to be used with a gateway" when you are buying smart home equipment? So I have questions, I want to buy a socket/light to use, why buy a gateway?

In fact, the gateway is really very important, you will understand after listening to my analysis.

In the simplest terms, a gateway, as the name suggests, is a device that can connect to the Internet. Smart home devices generally need to be connected to a smart platform, relying on the platform to realize automation, APP remote control, and mutual linkage between devices. But zigbee, like bluetooth, is a local area network communication technology and cannot be directly connected to the Internet, so a gateway is needed to help them connect to the intelligent platform.

As shown in the figure above, the zigbee gateway contains both the zigbee module and the wifi module. Right, it is responsible for adding the zigbee device. Right, it is responsible for connecting the intelligent platform, and indirectly connecting the zigbee device to the intelligent platform.

It can be understood that in a smart home, the gateway is a brain, and each sub-device is the limbs and the five senses.

Some smart sub-devices themselves have wifi modules. These devices can be directly connected to the platform without going through the gateway. However, the cost of wifi devices is generally higher and the price is higher. Moreover, the wifi module consumes more power. Devices such as wireless sensors that are powered by batteries are not suitable for wifi modules, which are generally zigbee.