A few weeks ago we were at Embedded World 2026 showing off a new demo that highlights the capabilities of Golioth Connectivity and also hints at a future where we are using Canonical tooling alongside existing capabilities.
We showcased a Bluetooth node running a gesture detection program developed by EdgeImpulse on an nRF52840. The results of the detection are sent to the internet using Pouch, the Golioth innovation that encapsulates data to make it easy to transit to the cloud. This includes encrypting the resulting packet and adding headers that make that transit easier.
The Bluetooth Gateway reference implementation that we normally showcase on a microcontroller-based gateway running Zephyr was ported to run as a Snap on Ubuntu. In this demo we showcased it on an iQ9, a very powerful edge computer that was also running an entirely different demo (showcasing how the Gateway can be added to just about anything). That was a lot of different words, so let’s break things down.
Edge Inferencing on a Bluetooth node
Edge Inference and gesture recognition is a standard demo from our friends at Edge Impulse. We were able to create tailored models using the accelerometer on the Tikk (the LIS2DH12) talking to the attached nRF52840. We hit the button, detect motion, and then the TinyML model spits out the likelihood that the motion is one of 4 options (Idle, Snake, Updown, Wave). We display the output on the attached LED matrix of the Tikk board.
Now what? Well, the model has weights/probabilities of the different results, but those are just numbers. We can send those up to the Cloud in order to see them and then possibly take action as a result. We use the Stream API that is part of the Pouch SDK, since this is time series data.
Sending data to the Cloud
Golioth Connectivity allows Bluetooth devices to send data up to the cloud using Pouch, which encrypts data and makes it easy to transit through a gateway connected to the Golioth cloud. Our standard Bluetooth Gateway reference implementation makes it easy to utilize off-the-shelf embedded development kits into a gateway. We have shown these in other demos running on the Thingy 91:X and the FRDM-RW612.
The above are embedded solutions running on microcontrollers with limited memory. Golioth has created a software gateway written in Go for some internal testing. Our FAE Marko turned that into a Snap to run on a larger computing device. Snaps are a packaging method for applications, popular throughout the Linux world. This was a great opportunity to show Golioth software running on Ubuntu, including running on partner hardware from Qualcomm.
The iQ9 development board shown in the video above is running the Bluetooth Gateway reference implementation, but installed with a simple snap command. The gateway software is not the only thing running on the device, it is actually running a heavy duty local model that took in audio, processed the text-to-speech, and responded via audio. The gateway implementation is just another system process running in an isolated Snap.
The Bluetooth device presents a certificate, sends time-series data up to the cloud (end-to-end encrypted), and that data is routed through a simple Pipeline into LightDB Stream. We show the resulting data in the Golioth Console, but it just as easily could be piped out to a range of other systems on the Internet.
End-to-end Demos with Golioth, Canonical, and Qualcomm
This showcases how Golioth infrastructure and Canonical Linux capabilities enables a range of new applications and deployment options. The hardware shows how commercial systems like the iQ9 and embedded hardware like the nRF52840 can work to build low power systems that can do big things. If you have an application that would benefit from Edge Inference of data sent up to the cloud over a low power Bluetooth connection, let us know over on our forum!
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