An Efficient Low-Cost Notification System Using AWS IoT

Notification services are widely used nowadays in many scenarios. For instance, they are useful if a patient needs care or an IT incident needs support. There lacks of a simple, affordable and efficient notification system that can deliver important messages across various channels to a certain number of people. Therefore, we developed a serverless 1-click notification system using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT platform. The system allows a user to notify the designated personnel(s) with a simple click using configurable IoT buttons via Wi-Fi. An AWS cloud server receives the request sent by the buttons, processes the request and sends the notification such as emails, text messages or phone calls to the designated service members based on the preprogramed procedures and database. The system is user friendly and easy to implement since no hardware installation is required. The serverless system and the pay-as-you-go policy make the system very cost effective. The system is reliable as it is supported by the AWS. In this article we will describe a few key cloud functions and services that we adopted in the notification system and discuss two potential use cases in classroom technical support and home-based long-term care settings. We validated the system functionality at Texas Christian University's patient care simulation center.