SignalR overview
Azure SignalR Service simplifies the process of adding real-time web functionality to applications over HTTP. This real-time functionality allows the service to push content updates to connected clients, such as a single-page web or mobile application. As a result, clients are updated without the need to poll the server or submit new HTTP requests for updates. Any scenario that requires pushing data from server to client in real time can use Azure SignalR Service. Traditional real-time features that often require polling from a server can also use Azure SignalR Service.
The Azure SignalR Service can be easily integrated with other Azure services, opening up other possible scenarios. For example, Azure Functions can use the REST API to push notifications into the Azure SignalR Service, which then pushes data to connected clients in real time. Used together with IoT Hub, the Azure SignalR Service can enable real-time sensor data to be transmitted to connected clients to support real time monitoring scenarios.
Real-time scenarios often come with high-frequency data flows and large quantities of concurrent connections between the client and server. They require non-trivial infrastructure setup to get the functionality up and running at scale. Doing this at scale is extremely difficult and usually requires application-specific logic at various network layers. The Azure SignalR Service handles those issues so you can focus on the application logic that delivers real-time connected experiences. You can scale real-time functionality dynamically while paying only for what you use. The service also inherits SignalR’s capabilities for persistent connections over various transports.
The Azure SignalR Service has been used in a wide variety of industries, for any application type that requires real-time content updates. Here are some example scenarios that are good to use Azure SignalR Service:
- High frequency data updates: Gaming, voting, polling, auction
- Dashboards and monitoring: Company dashboard, financial market data, instant sales update, multi-player game leader board, and IoT monitoring
- Chat: Live chat room, chat bot, on-line customer support, real-time shopping assistant, messenger, in-game chat, and so on
- Real-time location on map: Logistic tracking, delivery status tracking, transportation status updates, GPS apps
- Real time targeted ads: Personalized real-time push ads and offers, interactive ads
- Collaborative apps: Co-authoring, whiteboard apps and team meeting software
- Push notifications: Social network, email, game, travel alert
- Real-time broadcasting: Live audio/video broadcasting, live captioning, translating, events/news broadcasting
- IoT and connected devices: Real-time IoT metrics, remote control, real-time status, and location tracking
- Automation: Real-time trigger from upstream events
For your wind-turbine use case, the communication layer between the ADT wind turbine data and your mixed reality device uses the Azure SignalR service and a SignalR client embedded in the mixed-reality app.