IoT update management

Deep dive into Kamea IoT update management capabilities.

Kamea offers a feature that makes updating your devices simple and flexible – whether it’s a firmware update, an application update, or something else entirely. Kamea works with update packages, regardless of format, and deliver them to your devices.

Why IoT update management matters

Keep devices secure: Outdated firmware is an open door for vulnerabilities. Regular updates close those gaps and keep your devices protected.
Ensure robustness: Updates aren’t just about fixes, they bring optimizations that keep machines running smoothly and help avoid costly downtime.
Deploy new features: Firmware updates enable advanced capabilities, so your devices stay competitive and ready for what’s next.
Stay compliant without effort: In regulated industries, approved versions are a must. Updates make it easy to meet standards and maintain compliance.
Ensure consistency across your fleet: Centralized update management ensures every device runs the right version, reducing errors and simplifying maintenance.

Defining and managing firmware update packages

For each device type, you can define firmware types. These could be application-level, OS-level, or completely custom. For example, you might create a firmware type called Custom Application. Each firmware type can have multiple firmware versions, and each device type can support multiple firmware types.

When we say “firmware” in Kamea, think broadly: it’s not limited to MCU-level firmware. It can be any file (a configuration file, an application package, or else).

On each tenant, you can define firmware linked to a firmware type. Each firmware entry includes:

A name
A version
A file (either uploaded to Kamea or referenced externally)

You have two options:

Upload the file directly to Kamea – the platform hosts it and makes it available.
Provide an external reference – point to an artifact repository (Artifactory, NPM, APT, container registry, etc.). This is common in secure enterprise environments where clients prefer to keep files in their own artifact management systems.

This flexibility ensures Kamea doesn’t impose restrictions on how updates are stored or delivered.

Applying the update

In Kamea, updates are applied through unitary or mass configurations (via campaigns).

Updates and configurations have been designed to work together as part of a unified system. For instance, the concept of manual batches can be used to perform canary testing, among other things.

For each firmware type, the platform uses three configuration properties:

URL – where to find the file
Version – which version to apply
Token – credentials for secure access

When you select a firmware in Kamea interface, the device management platform automatically sets these configurations and sends them to the device. If you’re using a custom app instead of Kamea’s UI, you simply create these three configurations via the API.

From there, the device decides when to apply the update. Kamea doesn’t force IoT updates, it notifies the device that a new version is available. The device applies it based on its own logic:

Some devices update immediately.
Others download the update and wait for operator approval.
Others apply IoT updates overnight when the machine is idle.

The goal is flexibility. Kamea provides the mechanism; you control the timing.

IoT update management is a core aspect of Kamea capabilities. We deliver a fully integrated update system that scales, from single devices to massive fleets, while giving you complete control over how and when updates happen.