Recently I purchased a TP-Link HS100 smart plug which I configured using an app and all is working well. Now I am trying to understand the underlying software and hardware architecture for such implementation. Based on simple google searches following is my understanding.
The headless smart plug makes a peer to peer connection to a device such as a mobile phone or computer. Using a device with a UI, network configurations are entered into the IOT device. The IOT device then connects to access point to make some type of authentication with a cloud service, and establishes a connection. The mobile app communicates the commands the cloud service which relays the command to the smart plug. This is pretty straight forward.
I like to understand a little bit deeper in both software and hardware architecture for this type of design. It is fair say that there is some type of wifi device like CC3100 or similar. There is some type of microcontroller like an ARM Cortex. It could be an integrated wifi controller such as a CC3200.
What is the underlying software and hardware architecture to implement similar microcontroller based design to setup and establish a secure communication link? What type of minimum security needs to implement to secure the device? I am hoping someone in this forum has experience in such an adaptation (2.4 GHz) and is willing to share their experience.
