PREVENT IoT and Communication Theory (UCLan)

IoT and Communication - PREVENT Project

Marios Raspopoulos

Start

Index

Objectives

6. IoT Devices & Components

1. Introduction to IoT

7. Connectivity and IoT Communications

2. History of IoT

8. IoT Data Communication Protocols

3. Definitions

9. IoT Challenges

4. IoT Requirements

10. IoT Applications

5. IoT Architectures

Assessment

Objectives

This chapter aims to present the fundamental principles and architecture of IoT, discuss, examine, and evaluate the key technological components underpinning IoT, learn how to practically Design, Code and Build IoT solutions and review the key technological applications of IoT

01

Introduction to IoT

Sections like this will help you organize

'Anything that can be connected will be connected.'Kevin Ashton, Father of IoT

What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. ("Internet of Things Global Standards Initiative". ITU. Retrieved 26 June 2015.)

What is IoT?

• IoT is a very popular topic of R&D mainly due to the ubiquitous transformation of computing
• Physical devices have become “smart” being able to sense, communicate in a pervasive way and interact with their environment offering useful applications and solutions to the humankind in a range of activities
• e.g. health, transport, agriculture etc.
• The 2005 ITU Internet Report [2] adds a 3rd dimension to the legacy “ANY PLACE” and “ANY TIME” communication; the “ANY THING” communication

02

History of IoT

Kevin Ashton, 1999

History of IoT?

• 1982: a modified Coca-Cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University becomes the first Internet-connected appliance, able to report its inventory and whether newly loaded drinks were cold or not.
• 1991: Mark Weiser's paper on ubiquitous computing, "The Computer of the 21st Century", as well as academic venues such as UbiComp and PerCom produce the contemporary vision of the IoT
• 1993-1997: several companies proposed solutions like Microsoft's at Work or Novell's NEST.

History of IoT?

• 1999: the field gains momentum when Bill Joy envisions device-to-device communication as a part of his "Six Webs" framework, presented at the World Economic Forum at Davos.

• 1999 : the term "Internet of things" was likely coined by Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble, later MIT's Auto-ID Center, though he prefers the phrase "Internet for things".

The Global IoT Market

03

Useful Definitions

Useful Definitions

• Device: In the IoT context, this is a piece of equipment must be able to communicate and could optionally sense, act, capture data, store data or process data. Its only mandatory capability is the communication.
• Thing: An object inside the IoT system which is capable of being identified and integrated into communication system.
• Physical Thing: An object of the physical world which is able of being sensed, actuated and connected is known as a physical thing (e.g. industrial robots, electrical equipment etc.)
• Virtual Thing: An object in the information world capable of being stored, processed and accessed is known as virtual thing. For example, multimedia content, application software etc.

ITU-T Technical Overview of the IoT

• Internet of Things: A global information infrastructure which enables advanced services by interconnecting Things (Physical and/or virtual) based on existing and/or evolving interoperable technologies. The IoT includes functions for identification, data capture, processing, and communication to offer different kinds of applications whilst ensuring security and privacy.

ITU-T Technical Overview of the IoT

• A physical thing can be mapped (or represented) by one or more virtual things in the Information domain.
• Information is being collected by physical devices (or things) in the physical world and is communicated through Communication Networks and the Information domain for further processing.
• Devices may communicate with each other either via the communication network (with or without a gateway) or directly without using the communication network or combinations of these communication links.
• Exchange of information not only happens between physical things in the Physical world but also between virtual things in the Information World.

ITU-T Technical Overview of the IoT

• The communication networks provide capabilities for reliable and efficient data transfer.
• The network infrastructure may be implemented or realized via existing networking technologies (e.g. TCP-IP networks) or evolving networks following the current telecommunication trends.

Fundamental Characteristics of the IoT

• Interconnectivity: Any IoT device can be interconnected with the global Information and Communication Infrastructure.
• Things-related services: The IoT provisions services which concern the connected “things” within their constrains such as privacy protections and semantic consistency between physical things and their associated virtual things.
• Heterogeneity: Heterogeneous IoT devices with different hardware and networking characteristics get connected and interact with other devices or platforms on various types networks.
• Dynamic Changes: While roaming and interacting in an IoT system, devices change their state dynamically.
• For example, sleeping and waking up, get connected or disconnected while changing their location and speed.
• Enormous scale: Usually the number of devices that need to be managed and that of the devices that communicate with each other is significantly larger than the ones that connected to the Internet.
• This practically means that the communication initialized by devices is much higher than the one that is initialized by humans. Even more important is the management and the analysis of the data generated.

04

IoT Requirements

IoT Requirements

• Identification-based connectivity: There needs to be a supporter for the “Things” to be connected to the IoT based on their identifiers (IDs). This includes a unified processing of identifiers which might be heterogeneous.
• Interoperability: Interoperability between heterogeneous and distributed systems needs to be ensured so that a variety of information and services is supported.
• Automatic Networking: The IoT network infrastructure should provide control functions for automatic networking including self-management, self-configuration, self-healing, self-optimization and self-protection, to be able to support and facilitate adaptation in different application domains, different communication environments and larger number and types of devices.
• Autonomic services provisioning: Services need to be provided by automatically capturing, communicating and processing of the data of the “Things” according to the rules configured by the operators and/or configured by the subscribers. This autonomic service provisioning needs to based on data fusion and data mining techniques.

IoT Requirements

• Location-based capabilities: Things should be able to track their position to facilitate the provision of services which depend on their location.
• Security: There is an important requirement to integrate different security policy and measures related to the things and their communication in an IoT framework to secure against CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity and Authenticity) for both data and services
• Privacy protection: Data acquired by “Things” may contain private information of their owners and/or their users. Therefore, it is important that privacy protection is supported during transmission, aggregation, storage, mining and processing of this data while not setting a barrier to data source authentication.

IoT Requirements

• High quality and highly secure human body related services: Services which are based on the capturing, communicating, and processing of data related to human behaviour (e.g. exercise, health, location etc.) automatically or through human intervention should be offered while guaranteeing high quality, accuracy and security.
• Plug and Play: It is important for IoT systems to support plug and play capability in order to enable or facilitate on-the-fly generation, composition and acquisition of semantic-based configurations to seamlessly integrate an internetwork of things with the respective applications and efficiently respond to these applications’ requirements.
• Manageability: Applications in an IoT systems usually need to work automatically with out the intervention or participation of people and therefore the whole operation process needs to be manageable by the relevant entities in order to ensure normal network operations.
• Scalability: Any IoT architecture should be highly scalable and be able to support a very large and progressively increasing number of devices that are constantly sending, receiving, and acting on data

05

IoT Architectures

The importance of having a reference architecture

• To ensure connectivity and interoperability it is important that there should exist a reference IoT architecture upon which all IoT applications would be based upon.
• Nevertheless, there is not a consensus on a single IoT architecture, globally agreed.
• Literature mainly reports two architectural models for IoT;
• a 3-layer architecture
• a 5-layer architecture
• some specific purpose architectures.
• In parallel with the research efforts reported in literature the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has started in 2012 an effort to standardize the functional architecture model for IoT.

3-Layer Architecture

• The most basic IoT architecture.
• It was introduced for the first time in 2009
• Consists of
• Perception Layer
• Network Layer
• Application Layer
• Simple and defines the main idea about IoT but it is not sufficient for research and innovation purposes as research focuses on finer and more detailed aspects of IoT.

3-Layer Architecture

• Perception Layer: Provides the mechanisms (sensors) through which the Things perceive their environment.
• It includes sensing devices that measure different parameters or conditions in their surrounding environment (e.g. thermometers, humidity sensors, inertial sensors etc.) and functions to find and identify objects.
• Network Layer: This layer is responsible for the connectivity of Things to other Things, to network devices (e.g. routers, access points etc.), to servers and to the Internet.
• Includes functions to connect, associate, authenticate to the attached node, transmit the collected information, and/or receive actions to be performed by the Thing from the attached network. Network Layer is implemented using the current but also the evolving network and mobile technologies (e.g. IEEE802.11 standards, 4G, 5G, Zigbee, Bluetooth etc.) but also different types of networking and data collection protocols (e.g. TCP/IP, MQTT, etc).
• Application Layer: This layer is responsible for the delivery of the application services to the users/subscribers. It is responsible of utilizing the collected context from the layers below to deliver intelligent applications to the end users (e.g. smart-home, e-health, smart-transport etc.).
• It is the final goal of the IoT system which consolidates the input from the underlying technologies to offer useful and user-friendly applications to the users. It therefore mostly includes intelligent software development functions.

5-Layer Architecture

• The Perception and the Application Layers are the same as in the 3-layer architecture while the Network Layer is renamed to Transport Layer
• Two new layers are added:
• the processing layer
• the business layer

5-Layer Architecture

Additional layers compared to the 3-Layer Architecture

• Business Layer: It is responsible for the management of the whole IoT system, including the business and profit models, the charging, and the privacy of the users. This layer is also concerned with the research and development in the IoT domain.
• Processing Layer: Also known as the middleware layer, the processing layer is responsible for the storage and the analysis of the data collected at the perception layer and communicated over the transport layer. It includes databases, cloud storage and computing capabilities, data analysis modules etc.

Cloud-Based Architectures

Conceptual IoT framework with Cloud Computing at the Centre

• Processing is done centrally at cloud computing servers.
• This is a cloud-centric approach where all the applications are built around using the communication network to convey the data back and forth.
• This kind of approach offers the benefits of flexibility and scalability.
• IoT development can be done using storage tools, data mining and machine learning tools, visualization tools and others that are available on the cloud.

J. Gubbi, R. Buyya, S. Marusic and a. M. Palaniswami, “Internet of Things (IoT): A vision, architectural elements, and future directions,” Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 1645-1660, 2013.

Fog-Based Architectures

Smart Gateway with Fog Computing/Smart Network

• The sensors as well as the network gateways do part of the processing and the analysis of the data.
• The capabilities of the cloud computing are extended to the edge of the network which due to the localization of the data the latency is significantly reduced allowing the fast delivery of real-time data and the provision of low-latency and delay-sensitive applications (e.g. real time streaming, e-health applications etc.).
• As some pre-processing is done at the sensors or the smart gateways before reaching the central cloud there might be interoperability and transcoding problems to solve.

M. a. H. E.-N. Aazam, “Fog Computing and Smart Gateway Based Communication for Cloud of Things,” in International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud, Barcelona, 2014.

Fog-Based Architectures

• The Physical Layer includes all the physical and virtual Things as well as the physical and virtual networks that interconnect them.
• The Monitoring Layer is responsible for the monitoring of the activities of the nodes and networks in the physical layer.
• The Pre-processing layer is responsible of the tasks related to data management such as analysis of the collected data, data filtering, reconstruction and trimming in order to generate more meaningful and useful data for further processing (typical example is the analysis of inertial data from accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscope in order to extract navigation information like direction of movement, speed, orientation, acceleration etc.)
• The Temporary Storage Layer temporarily stores the data generated by the Pre-Processing Layer on the Fog resources. This data is kept on the Fogs only until is uploaded on the cloud and then it is deleted.
• Security layer: Since the there might be generation of private and sensitive data at the underlying layers (e.g. in healthcare, location, military IoTs) there should be functionality to provision security. This is the role of the security layer which includes encryption/decryption, privacy, authentication and integrity measures.
• The Transport Layer is responsible for the uploading of the pre-processed and secured data to the cloud.

06

IoT Devices and Components

IoT Devices and Components

Introduction

• An IoT system typically includes a large (and in some cases enormous) number of heterogenous devices with different capabilities and it becomes challenging how all these devices interoperate.
• Devices are categorized as data-carrying, data-capturing, sensing and actuating.
• Data-capturing and data-carrying are responsible for the reading and/or writing of information from or to the physical things (e.g. temperature sensors, IR sensors, barcode readers etc.).
• A general device on the other hand, has embedded processing and communication capabilities (e.g. a micro-controller) to perform more sophisticated functions or facilitate the development of stand-alone IoT systems without the need of connecting to the Wide Area network.
• Based on this categorizations, one can classify devices based on their processing power and their connectivity capabilities

Types of Devices

• Data-Carrying Device: A device which is directly attached to a physical thing to indirectly connect it the communication network.
• Data-Capturing Device: A device with reading/writing functionalities capable of interacting with the physical things either directly via data carriers attached to the physical thing or indirectly via a data-carrying device.
• Sensing and Actuating Device: A device capable of detecting and measuring data within its environment and digitize it. Inversely, it can convert electronic signals from the communication network into actions/operations.
• Typically, this kind of devices communicate with each other either wirelessly or through wires on a local network and use gateways to connect between different networks.

IoT Devices Classification

Based on Processing Power

• Devices with no processing capability: In the context of IoT these are considered as passive devices, usually low-cost with no microcontrollers (e.g. RFID).
• Devices with low processing capabilities: Their processing capabilities are limited to the reading and writing data from or to sensors and actuators and sending this data to IoT applications, but they are not able to make decisions or run complex algorithm. They are typically low cost and usually embed a very low-power and low-cost microcontroller. (e.g. a smart light or a door sensor.)
• Devices with high procession capabilities: They have enough processing power to enable them making decisions and running complex algorithms. They are typically high cost as they employ a powerful microcontroller. (e.g. a smart cooling system, or a smart thermostat)

IoT Devices Classification

Based on Connectivity

• Devices with low connectivity: This kind of devices do not connect directly to the communication network to transfer the data but instead they rely on additional elements (e.g. gateway) to perform communications tasks (e.g. protocol translation or internet connectivity).
• Devices with High connectivity: They have the hardware and ability to directly connect to the network to transfer the data.

IoT Devices Classification

Based on ITU-T

• The ITU-T Recommendation Y.4460 defines the architecture models devices with different capabilities. Specifically, it proposes models for devices with:
• Low Processing and Low Connectivity (LPLC)
• Low Processing and High Connectivity (LPHC)
• High Processing and High Connectivity (HPHC)

The Main Components of an IoT System

• Sensors/Actuators and Embedded Technology
• Connectivity
• Data Management and IoT Analytics
• IoT Cloud
• User Interface

Sensors/Actuators and Embedded Technology

• Considered the front-end of any IoT application or system.
• Sensors facilitate the concept of context awareness so that knowledge about the environment is collected and uploaded for further processing to the attached communication network.
• Actuators, receive instructions from the communication network and perform actions onto the environment they reside.

Sensors

General

• A sensor is a device that is used to measure a physical quantity by converting it into a signal that can be read by the system.
• In IoT physical quantities from the environment (e.g. temperature, humidity, inertia etc.) are measured then they are converted into electronic signals which are then digitized to be sent to the communication network.
• Sensors typically include transducers which, by definition can convert on form of energy to another.
• Based on the application there are many possible sensors that can be used in an IoT system (temperature sensors, RFID, light sensors, electromagnetic sensors etc.).

Sensors

Classification Criteria

• Power supply requirements: Passive Sensors or self-generating, directly generate an electrical signal in response to an external stimulus without the need for an external power supply (e.g. thermocouple or piezoelectric sensors). Active sensors require external power supply or an excitation signal for their operation and in this case the output signal power comes from the power supply (e.g. Infrared or Sonar sensors).
• Nature of the Output signal: Sensors can be either analogue or digital. Analogue sensors generate signals that are continuous in both their magnitude and temporal or spatial content (e.g. temperature, displacement, light etc.) Digital sensors are ones that generate signals that are discrete in time and amplitude (e.g. shaft encoders, switches etc).
• Operational Mode: Deflection mode sensors generate a response that is a deflection or a deviation from the initial condition of the instrument and this deflection is proportional to the measurand of interest (e.g. pressure sensor). A Null mode sensor exerts an influence on the measured system so as to oppose the effect of the measurand. The influence and measurand are balanced (typically through feedback) until they are equal but opposite in value, yielding a null measurement. Null mode sensors can produce very accurate measurements but are not as fast as deflection instruments. (e.g. Wheatstone bridge sensors).
• Measurand: Sensors depending on the quantity they measure (e.g. Mechanical, thermal, magnetic, radiant, etc.)
• Physical Measurement Variable: Depending on whether the sensors rely on the variation of resistance, capacitance or inductances they can be classified as resistive, capacitive or inductive.

Sensors

Selection Criteria

• According to the application as well as accuracy and precision requirements, sensors should be selected while considering the following aspects:
• Accuracy of the input Readings
• Reliability and Repeatability of input
• The conditions of the environment the sensors will be placed in
• Cost and power consumption

Actuators

General

• Actuators are devices that can take an effect on the environment they belong by converting electrical signals into different actions or in different forms of energy.
• Examples include lights, displays, motors, robotic arms, heating/cooling elements etc. Motion-based actuators are typically categorized into electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic actuators.
• Electrical actuators convert the electric signals into some form of rotation (e.g. motor) or motion, hydraulic ones facilitate mechanical motion using fluids whereas pneumatic actuators use the pressure of compressed air.
• In the typical example of a smart home automation system we can find actuators that lock/unlock doors, switch on/off the lights, heat up to increase the temperature, etc.

Microcontrollers and Embedded Systems

What is a microprocessecor/microcontroller

• A sensor is a device that turns the received physical conditions or states into signals (analogue or digital)
• An actuator is the device that turns the digital signals into some sort of physical effect,
• The microprocessor is considered to be the computing systems which sits in the middle and processes and/or generates the digital signals.
• A microcontroller has a central processing unit (CPU), a fixed amount of memory (RAM and ROM) as well as other input/output ports and peripherals all embedded onto a single chip.

Microcontroller Characteristics

Choosing a microcontroller

• “one-size-fits-all” approach cannot be adopted. Various characteristics need to be taken into consideration when choosing the microcontroller:
• Bits: Microcontrollers come with different capabilities with regards to the number of bits they can support. This affects their processing speed. Typical sizes are 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit.
• Memory: Random Access Memory (RAM) is a fast-access memory that does not keep the data when there is no power on the device. Microcontrollers are embedded with this kind of memory in order to quickly perform various actions. They come in different sizes but increasing the size of the memory although it improves the processing capability it increases the cost.
• Flash or the ROM: It is the microcontrollers memory which retains the data stored in it when power is off. It is not as big as the RAM but it is required in order to support offline storage.
• General-Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins: These are the points of connection for the sensors and the actuators. The number of pins can vary from a few tens up to hundreds, depending on the size and cost of the microcontroller.
• Connectivity: The ability of the microcontroller to establish connections to the network or the Internet. This can be done via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wired Ethernet or any other communication technology.
• Power consumption: This is an important aspect as it will define how many active sensors and actuators the microcontroller will be able to power up and control especially when the microcontroller is powered but from alternative sources (e.g. solar). It is important IoT devices to be energy efficient so that they can perform tasks for a long time without the need of regularly powering them up.
• Development Tools and Community: It very useful for microcontrollers to come with development tools and the related documentation to facilitate their integration onto IoT solution. Having a community or forums working on different types of microcontroller makes the integrators/developers job much easier in finding information related to their development.
• Some popular IoT Microcontrollers are Arduino, ARM, Raspberry Pi and many others.

07

Connectivity and IoT Communications

Connectivity

One of the foundations for IoT

• There is an overwhelming number of options for IoT connectivity
• Requirements:
• Wireless (simpler installation, reconfigurability, mobility, etc.)
• Trade-off
• Power consumption
• Range
• Bandwidth
• QoS requirements

Connectivity

Challenges

• Connectivity is a key ingredient of an IoT System
• Remember that the only mandatory capability of an IoT Device is communication. Any device attached to an IoT platform should be able to send or receive data from the attached network.
• There are various challenges that need to be considered and dealing with IoT communication:
• Identification and Addressing: As there might be a very large number of IoT devices attached to the communication network there should exist efficient mechanisms and protocols to identify these devices through unique addresses. Due to running out of addresses in the IPv4 protocol, IPv6 becomes a necessity in IoT.
• Low Power Communication: IoT devices are typically low power devices with many power restrictions. Therefore, it needs to be ensured that the communication technology does not consume much of the available power on these devices.
• Efficient Routing protocols with low memory requirements
• High-Speed Communication. Data rate and throughput as well as latency become very important parameters in IoT communications as the volume of data might be significantly high and the delivery times might need to be very low.
• Mobility. A key aspect of modern IoT Systems as many of the devices need to move around (e.g. smart transport).

Connectivity

Networks, Mobile Technologies and Protocols

• In IoT, connection to the Internet is typically and usually achieved using the Internet Protocol (IP) despite the fact the IP protocol stack is power- and memory-demanding for the connected devices.
• For this reason, it is also possible for devices to connect to the local network using non-IP technologies like RFID, Bluetooth, NFC, etc. however these technologies are limited in range.
• These low-range technologies are used for personal area networking (PAN) and are quite popular in IoT applications such as wearables.
• For Local Area Networking (LAN) IP-compatible technologies should be used however the IP-protocol needs to be modified to support low power communications.
• One of these protocols is 6LoWPAN which incorporates IPv6 with lower power requirements. Other networking technologies that can be used in IoT include IEEE802.15.4, RFID, LTE, 5G, 802.11 standards, Z-wave etc.

Bluetooth

• Bluetooth is a specification for the use of low-power radio communications to link phones, computers and other network devices over short distances without wires.
• Universal radio interface for ad-hoc wireless connectivity
• Interconnecting computer and peripherals, handheld devices, PDAs, cell phones – replacement of IrDA
• Embedded in other devices – low cost (< 1 $ )
• Short range (10 m), low power consumption, license-free, 2.4 GHz ISM
• Voice and data transmission

Bluetooth Characteristics

• Universal short-range wireless capability
• Uses 2.4-GHz band
• Available globally for unlicensed users
• Devices within 10 m can share up to 2.1 Mbps or 24 Mbps of capacity
• Supports open-ended list of applications
• Data, audio, graphics, video
• Started as IEEE 802.15.1
• New standards come from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG)
• Industry consortium
• Bluetooth 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0

Bluetooth Devices

Bluetooth Typical Examples

Finding and Alerting Devices

Bluetooth

Piconets and Scatternets

• Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology designed to connect devices of different functions when they are at a short distance from each other.
• A Bluetooth LAN is an ad hoc network.
• The devices, sometimes called gadgets, find each other and make a network called a piconet.
• It uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum to avoid interference and enhance security (FHSS)
• Bluetooth defines two types of networks:
• piconet and
• scatternet.

Bluetooth

Piconets

• A piconet can have up to eight stations, one of which is called the primary; the rest are called secondaries.
• All the secondary stations synchronize their clocks and hopping sequence with the primary.
• Note that a piconet can have only one primary station.
• The communication between the primary and secondary stations can be one-to-one or one-to-many

Bluetooth

Scatternet

• A secondary station in one piconet can be the primary in another piconet.
• This station can receive messages from the primary in the first piconet (as a secondary) and, acting as a primary, deliver them to secondaries in the second piconet.
• A station can be a member of two piconets.

Bluetooth Smart

Optimized for low power consumption

• Short packets reduce TX peak current
• Short packets reduce RX time
• Less RF channels to improve discovery and connection time
• Simple state machine
• Designed for the transmission of small pieces of data (1 Mbps, but not optimized for data transmission)

Bluetooth Smart

Technical details

Bluetooth Mesh

Design

• The mesh network operation is designed to:
• enable messages to be sent from one element to one or more elements (many-to-many (m:m) device communications);
• allow messages to be relayed via other nodes to extend the range of communication;
• secure messages against known security attacks, including eavesdropping attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, replay attacks, trash-can attacks, brute-force key attacks, …;

• work on existing devices in the market today;
• deliver messages in a timely manner;
• continue to work when one or more devices are moved or stop operating; and
• have built-in forward compatibility to support future versions of the Mesh Profile specification.

WPAN - Zigbee

Intro

• ZigBee is a Wireless communication standard designed by the ZigBee Alliance.
• Designed for:
• simple implementation
• low power consumption
• Target applications:
• Those that require secure communications, low data transmission rates and that maximize battery lifetime
• Designed for industrial as well as for residential applications
• Sensors and control devices
• ZigBee is defined from a protocol stack that allows a simple and efficient communication among different devices.
• Low Layers: PHY and MAC, are defined by IEEE 802.15.4, (Low Rate – WPAN) standard.
• High Layers: NWK and APS, are defined by ZigBee Alliance.
• Network layer (NWK) manages routing tasks and the maintenance of network nodes
• Application Support Sublayer (APS) establishes an interface between network layer and ZigBee Device Objects (defined by the standard or the manufactures)

WPAN - Zigbee

Applications

• Especially suitable for situations where power consumption and / or implementation costs are critical
• It is designed to be useful in a wide variety of applications:
• Industrial control and monitoring
• Hosting embedded sensors
• Collecting medical data
• Public safety
• Sensing and location determination at disaster sites

WPAN - Zigbee

Applications

• Home automation and networking
• Network interconnection
• Peripherals connection (transmission rate 115 kbps, latency 15 ms)
• Wireless mice, keyboard, joysticks, PDAS, games
• Control of consumer electronics (10 kbps, 100 ms)
• Radio, televisions, CDs, VCRs, DVDs and so on
• Truly universal remote control to remote control all of them
• Home automation (10 kbps, 100 ms)
• heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)
• security
• lighting
• control of objects such as curtains, windows, doors, and locks
• Health monitoring (10 kbps, 100 ms)
• medical monitoring of the elderly people living alone
• Interactive toys and games (115 kbps, 15 ms)

• Precision agriculture
• sensing of soil moisture, pesticide, herbicide, or pH levels
• sensing of soil humidity (drip systems, using just the amount of water required to keep plants green)
• Fleet control
• Automotive sensing
• Tire pressure monitoring
• Oil levels
• Mileage
• Smart badges and tags
• Smoke or intruder detection

WPAN - Zigbee

Mesh Arrangements

WLAN - WIFI

Intro

• Along with cellular technology, Wi-Fi is the best-known connectivity protocol and is present in almost every home in the world.
• First instance: Delivering connectivity "on the road" in airports, hotels, Internet cafes, and shopping malls
• The goal was to provide web browsing, email and, for business users, access to the office network through Virtual Private Network (VPN) applications.
• Later, wireless LAN moved firmly into the home and office environment
• Now, available in many devices: computers, printers, games consoles, media servers, scanners
• from devices as small as a smartphone or as large as a screen in an auditorium
• Wi-Fi can be used to easily link together IoT devices, as well as connecting them to wireless access points that in turn connect to cloud-base systems

Wi-Fi

IEEE 802.11 Standard

WLAN - WIFI

802.11 - Architecture of an infrastructure network

• Station (STA)
• terminal with access mechanisms to the wireless medium and radio contact to the access point
• Basic Service Set (BSS)
• group of stations using the same radio frequency
• Access Point
• station integrated into the wireless LAN and the distribution system
• Portal
• bridge to other (wired) networks
• Distribution System
• interconnection network to form one logical network (EES: Extended Service Set) based on several BSS

WLAN - WIFI

The Basic Service Set (BSS)

• The AP functions as a bridge and a relay point.
• In a BSS, client stations do not communicate directly with one another. Rather, if one station in the BSS wants to communicate with another station in the same BSS, the MAC frame is first sent from the originating station to the AP, and then from the AP to the destination station.
• Similarly, a MAC frame from a station in the BSS to a remote station is sent from the local station to the AP and then relayed by the AP over the DS on its way to the destination station.
• The BSS generally corresponds to what is referred to as a cell in the literature.
• The DS can be a switch, a wired network, or a wireless network.

WLAN - WIFI

The Extended Service Set (ESS)

• An extended service set (ESS) consists of two or more basic service sets interconnected by a distribution system.
• Typically, the distribution system is a wired backbone LAN but can be any communications network.
• The extended service set appears as a single logical LAN to the logical link control (LLC) level.

WLAN - WIFI

Types of Wi-Fi Networks

• Infrastructure Networks
• Ad-Hoc Networks

Go

Go

WLAN - WIFI

Infrastructure Network

• Connections between wireless devices made via an Access Point which also allows devices to link to a wired network

Infrastructure Networks

Access Points

• What is the difference between a Wireless Router and an Access Point ?
• Wireless Routers include an AP, Switch and Broadband router.
• An Access Point is a radio transmitter/receiver that is most widely used to bridge wireless and a wired (ethernet) network. An access point only provides an interface/portal for wireless clients to connect to your existing LAN.
• A Router has additional functions: It allows multiple clients to connect to the Internet by serving internal IP addresses, has NAT capabilities, often a built-in switch as well. It 'routes' traffic between two different networks, usually the Internet on the WAN side, and your local area network on the LAN side.

WLAN - WIFI

Ad-hoc Network

• A decentralized type of wireless network.
• Ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points
• Temporary connections between devices – no link to a wired network
• Uses include data transfer between smart phone and laptop, gaming etc.

WLAN - WIFI

WLAN Requirements

WLAN - WIFI

802.11 settings

• SSID – (Service Set Identifier) Network Name
• Ad-Hoc or Infrastructure
• Security
• WEP, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WPA Enterprise or WPA2-Enterprise
• Channel – radio frequency
• BSSID: The MAC address of the Accept point

WiFi Mesh

Mesh Network

• PROS
• Reduced dependence on wired networks
• Reduced installation time
• Easily expandable
• CONS
• Might reduce performance
• Somewhat difficult to maintain
• Electrical power dependency

Source: www.shadowandy.net

Wi-Fi Hallow

Designed for IoT

• Specifically designed for IoT
• Based on the IEEE 802.11ah standard
• Offers the range, data rates, penetration, and low power consumption profiles expected in IoT settings
• Use cases:
• Industrial automation
• Logistics and Transportation
• Agriculture
• Home and building automation
• Smart cities

Source: Wi-Fi Alliancewww.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-halow

Wi-Fi Hallow

Attributes

Wi-Fi Hallow

TWT AND RAW

• Target Wake Time (TWT)
• Client devices that expect to sleep for long time periods can negotiate a TWT contract with the AP.
• The AP stores any traffic destined for the client until the agreed upon wake time is reached.
• When the client device wakes at the prescribed time, it listens for its beacon and engages the AP to receive and transmit any data required before returning to its sleep state.
• The interval between wake times, negotiated by the client and AP, can vary from especially short (microseconds) to very long (years).
• Restricted Access Window (RAW)
• For systems with predictable activity periods, an AP can grant a subset of clients with RAW privileges to transfer their data, while others can be forced to sleep, buffer non-urgent data, or both.
• The client devices save power and leave more network capacity available for other time-critical traffic.
• By combining TWT and RAW functions, a network designer can minimize channel contention and save power throughout the system.

IEEE 802.11ax

Wi-Fi 6

• IEEE 802.11ax, labelled Wi-Fi 6 by Wi-Fi Alliance
• It can be thought of High Efficiency Wireless
• The key enhancements are not throughput-based but about efficiency-based and support for multiple user transmissions.
• Also supports OFDMA (Like LTE), TWT power saving, 2.4GHz and 5GHz support, BSS colouring, 1024QAM etc.
• 802.11ax is an evolution of 802.11ac designed to support Ultra-High-Density (UHD) environments with many users with three or four 802.11 clients, all consuming network resources concurrently
• This makes it ideal for the IoT
• First 2 drafts of the standard were rejected.
• 3rd version agreed on 01/07/18
• Approval by IEEE in late 2019

IEEE 802.11ax

Key Enhancements

• 2.4GHz and 5GHz operation
• OFDMA
• BSS Colouring
• Target Wake Time
• 1024 QAM

LoRA (Long Range) WAN

• LoRa stands for Long Range
• A physical layer technology which is created by a private company called Semtech,
• In this respect, Semtech keeps the ownership of the physical layer and allows third parties to deploy networks using the LoRaWAN standard.
• LoRa uses its own spread spectrum modulation scheme (LoRa Spread Spectrum) implemented in ISM bands: 868 (Europe), 915 (USA) and 433 MHz (Asia).
• It is designed for long range communications (up to 22 Km in rural areas or 2 to 5 Km in urban environments).
• One of the requirements is also the low power consumption, so it keeps low data rates (0.3 to 50 kbps for uplink) and only replies to previous transmissions in downlink (the sending node remains listening for a while before going to sleep).
• It is considered an excellent choice for low power long range IoT communication.

LoRA

Typical Applications

• Smart Agriculture:
• Soil moisture and temperature monitoring, crop health tracking.
• Smart Cities:
• Environmental monitoring, waste management, and smart parking solutions.
• Industrial IoT:
• Equipment monitoring, predictive maintenance, and asset tracking.

Source: https://www.mokosmart.com/lora-technology/

LoRA

Advantages

• Scalability:
• Easily scalable for handling various devices in different applications.
• Low Cost:
• Cost-effective for deploying large-scale IoT networks.
• Enhanced Coverage:
• Improved coverage in challenging environments such as urban areas or rural landscapes.

Other Connectivity Options

• SigFox
• is another Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology thtat is very similar to LoRAWan.
• The difference is that Sigfox opens its physical layer to third-party manufacturers and controls the network to offer the connectivity service while Semtech keeps ownership of the physical layer and allows third parties to deploy networks using the LoRaWAN standard.
• NB-IoT:
• Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) is an open 3GPP standard based on LTE defined in the 3GPP Release 13 in June 2016.
• It allows a flexible and quick deployment because it is compatible with existing network infrastructure by using a small portion of the available spectrum in LTE.
• Most eNB (LTE base stations) can be upgraded to support NB-IoT.
• While Sigfox and LorWAN are typically operated by individuals and private companies, NB-IoT needs to be operated and managed by a licensed telecom operator as it operates on top of LTE.
• NB-IoT takes advantage of modern cellular communication technologies by adding a narrowband signal that can be used to communicate low-powered devices and low complexity devices.
• It offers increased system capacity, spectrum efficiency, and power usage. However, it may hinder data transmission speeds, hinder over-the-air updates, and have limited global support

Other Connectivity Options

• Cellular
• LoRAWan and Sigfox provide WAN connectivity within a long but limited range but it is only with Cellular systems that global connectivity can be supported.
• IoT systems have started being deployed since the beginning of 4G but it is the introduction of 5G that really made cellular one of the most important connectivity technologies for IoT, not to mention the potential that 6G is creating.
• Wired-IoT:
• wired connectivity remains a reliable choice when mobility is not a requirement and there is the infrastructure to support it. Wired connectivity can be supported either by using twisted pair cables (e.g. CAT-5, CAT-6 or CAT-7), optical fibres or even coaxial cables.
• In fact, wired connectivity might be the preferred option when reliability and security are aspects that need to be considered seriously given there is infrastructure support.
• Other options include Z-Wave, Satellite, ANT+

08

IoT Data Communication Protocols

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

Introduction

• REST connectivity over the Internet is used as the communication architecture for the IoT devices.
• Typically, the IoT devices are resource constrained, and they may be subject to data loss or a high memory requirement
• HTTP can be used.
• Alternatively, a few protocols that are effective are
• MQTT,
• CoAP,
• XMPP,
• WebSocket, and
• AMQP.

REST, or REpresentational State Transfer, is an architectural style for providing standards between computer systems on the web, making it easier for systems to communicate with each other.

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

HTTP

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol represents a possible alternative to support IoT services and maintain compatibility with the World Wide Web.
• HTTP is based on a client-server paradigm, where the client requests data from the server through a TCP connection.
• HTTP messages are text-based
• Both HTTP headers as well as the transported format (typically html text or binary data converted to text format) can be compressed.

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

MQTT

• MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is an open ISO standard (ISO/IEC 20922)
• It offers a lightweight, publish-subscribe network protocol that transports messages between devices
• The protocol usually runs over TCP/IP
• The MQTT protocol defines two types of network entities: a message broker and a number of clients:
• An MQTT broker is a server that receives all messages from the clients and then routes the messages to the appropriate destination clients.
• An MQTT client is any device that runs an MQTT library and connects to an MQTT broker over a network

MQTT Example

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

CoAP

• Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a specialized Internet Application Protocol for constrained devices, as defined in RFC 7252.
• It enables those constrained devices called "nodes" to communicate with the wider Internet using similar protocols.
• CoAP is also being used via other mechanisms, such as SMS on mobile communication networks.
• CoAP is a service layer protocol that is intended for use in resource-constrained internet devices, such as wireless sensor network nodes.
• It is designed to easily translate to HTTP for simplified integration with the web, while also meeting specialized requirements such as multicast support, very low overhead, and simplicity.
• CoAP can run on most devices that support UDP.

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

WebSocket

• WebSocket is an IETF communications protocol, providing full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection (RFC 6455).
• WebSocket is distinct from HTTP. Both protocols are located at layer 7 in the OSI model and depend on TCP at layer 4.
• RFC 6455 states that WebSocket "is designed to work over HTTP ports 443 and 80 as well as to support HTTP proxies and intermediaries," thus making it compatible with the HTTP protocol.
• To achieve compatibility, the WebSocket handshake uses the HTTP Upgrade header to change from the HTTP protocol to the WebSocket protocol.

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

AMPQ

• The Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) is an open standard application layer protocol for message-oriented middleware.
• The defining features of AMQP are message orientation, queuing, routing (including point-to-point and publish-and-subscribe), reliability and security.
• AMQP is a wire-level protocol. A wire-level protocol is a description of the format of the data that is sent across the network as a stream of bytes.

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

Summary-Comparison

Data Communication Protocols for IoT

Summary-Comparison

09

IoT Challenges

IoT Challenges

Security

• IoT devices are typically operated on low-power, low-processing capability electronics which does not allow for security mechanisms to be efficiently implemented on them. Given the significant increase in firmware vulnerabilities, IoT devices usually make the perfect back door to enter a secure network.
• Solution: Implement encryption, authentication, access controls, and regular updates. Use intrusion detection and anomaly detection for early identification of security threats.

IoT Challenges

Scalability

• Many contemporary IoT Applications and Systems include very large numbers of connected devices. As these networks grow, device management and coordination become increasingly challenging, as in many cases the rapid growth of connected nodes or the increased number of data flow might require substantial infrastructure changes.
• Solution: One solution could be to use scalable architectures like edge computing, and distributed processing, and employ load balancing for the efficient handling of numerous devices.

IoT Challenges

Network Congestion

• This is also related to the scalability problem mentioned above since the increased number of connected devices might cause traffic/congestion in the network which will degrade the quality of service given the increase in the packet loss, the associated delays and other issues.
• Solution: Possible solutions include the optimization of communication protocols, the use data compression and prioritization of critical data

IoT Challenges

Device Management

• Managing numerous IoT devices becomes large especially if they are heterogeneous, and come with many complicated features, authentication mechanisms, update requirements etc.
• Solution: Employ device management platforms for automated tasks like updates and monitoring. Implement standardized protocols such as MQTT and CoAP.

IoT Challenges

Interoperability

• Typically, in large IoT systems, the various components (sensors, actuators, microcontrollers etc) might come from different vendor and given the not so standardized IoT framework they may create interoperability issues.. Adjustments may be needed when adding new hardware and software to maintain functionality and accommodate innovative technology.
• Solution: A possible solution is to Adopt industry standards for communication and data formats. Use middleware solutions to handle different protocols.

IoT Challenges

Power Consumption

• There exist many IoT applications that are installed in remote places or in spaces where providing power to them could be very challenging (e.g. at the bottom of the lake to monitor pollution). This means that either we need have batteries that last for a long time or to limit power consumption but ideally both. .
• Solution: Optimize communication protocols, use low-power technologies like LPWAN, and design energy-efficient hardware or push some functionality to a central processing unit.

IoT Challenges

Data Privacy

• A big concern in IoT Systems is about what happens with the collected data especially if they are sensitive ones (e.g. heath data in an IoT e-health system).
• Solution: Use encryption, data anonymization, and explicit privacy policies in practice. Respect laws like the GDPR and HIPAA.

Other IoT Challenges

Regulation

• Another common characteristic of technological innovations is that government regulation often takes a long time to catch up with the current state of technology.
• With the rapid evolution that’s happening every day in IoT, governments are taking time in catching up and businesses are often left without crucial information they need to make decisions.
• The lack of strong IoT regulations is a big part of why the IoT remains a severe security risk, and the problem is likely to get worse as the potential attack surface expands to include ever more crucial devices.

Other IoT Challenges

Compatibility

• Bluetooth has long been the compatibility standard for IoT devices.
• When it comes to home automation using mesh networking, several competitors have sprung up to challenge Bluetooth’s mesh network offerings, including protocols such as Zigbee and Z-Wave.
• It could be years before the market settles enough to crown a single universal standard or unifiying architecture for home IoT.
• Continued compatibility for IoT devices also depends upon users keeping their devices updated and patched, which, as we’ve just discussed, can be pretty difficult. When IoT devices that have to talk to each other are running different software versions, all kinds of performance issues and security vulnerabilities can result.

Other IoT Challenges

Bandwidth

• Connectivity is a bigger challenge to the IoT than you might expect.
• As the size of the IoT market grows exponentially, bandwidth-intensive IoT applications such as video streaming will soon struggle for space on the IoT’s current server-client model.
• However, limitations might come also from massive number of connections (especially in the network control plane).
• The server-client model uses a centralised server to authenticate and direct traffic on IoT networks. However, as more and more devices begin to connect to these networks, they often struggle to bear the load.
• Features like intelligent switching between mobile network operators (MNOs) are particularly useful for creating a more reliable and user-friendly IoT product for your customers.

Other IoT Challenges

Customers' Expectations

• Businesses looking to enter this competitive and innovative sector should be prepared for a market that never sits still and customers who always want a smoother and more advanced experience.
• IoT is an exciting sector with a lot of potential to change the way we live, work and play. But the tech industry, government and consumers alike must get on the same page about issues of security and performance to ensure that the IoT remains safe and productive to use.

10

IoT Applications

IoT Applications

Consumer Applications

• A growing portion of IoT devices are created for consumer use, including connected vehicles, home automation, wearable technology, connected health, and appliances with remote monitoring capabilities.
• Smart Home
• IoT devices are a part of the larger concept of home automation, which can include lighting, heating and air conditioning, media and security systems. Long-term benefits could include energy savings by automatically ensuring lights and electronics are turned off.
• Elder care
• One key application of a smart home is to provide assistance for those with disabilities and elderly individuals. These home systems use assistive technology to accommodate an owner's specific disabilities.

IoT Applications

Organizational Applications

• Medical and healthcare
• The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is an application of the IoT for medical and health related purposes, data collection and analysis for research, and monitoring
• Transportation
• The IoT can assist in the integration of communications, control, and information processing across various transportation systems.
• V2X communications
• In vehicular communication systems, vehicle-to-everything communication (V2X), consists of three main components: vehicle to vehicle communication (V2V), vehicle to infrastructure communication (V2I) and vehicle to pedestrian communications (V2P). V2X is the first step to autonomous driving and connected road infrastructure
• Building and home automation
• IoT devices can be used to monitor and control the mechanical, electrical and electronic systems used in various types of buildings (e.g., public and private, industrial, institutions, or residential

IoT Applications

Industrial Applications

• Also known as IIoT, industrial IoT devices acquire and analyze data from connected equipment, operational technology (OT), locations and people. Combined with operational technology (OT) monitoring devices, IIoT helps regulate and monitor industrial systems.
• Manufacturing
• The IoT can realize the seamless integration of various manufacturing devices equipped with sensing, identification, processing, communication, actuation, and networking capabilities. Based on such a highly integrated smart cyber-physical space, it opens the door to create whole new business and market opportunities for manufacturing.
• Agriculture
• There are numerous IoT applications in farming, such as collecting data on temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, pest infestation, and soil content. This data can be used to automate farming techniques, take informed decisions to improve quality and quantity, minimize risk and waste, and reduce effort required to manage crops. For example, farmers can now monitor soil temperature and moisture from afar, and even apply IoT-acquired data to precision fertilization programs

IoT Applications

Infrastructure Applications

• Monitoring and controlling operations of sustainable urban and rural infrastructures like bridges, railway tracks and on- and offshore wind-farms is a key application of the IoT. The IoT infrastructure can be used for monitoring any events or changes in structural conditions that can compromise safety and increase risk. Usage of IoT devices for monitoring and operating infrastructure is likely to improve incident management and emergency response coordination, and quality of service, up-times and reduce costs of operation in all infrastructure related areas.
• Metropolitan scale deployments / Smart City
• There are several planned or ongoing large-scale deployments of the IoT, to enable better management of cities and systems. For example, Songdo, South Korea, the first of its kind fully equipped and wired smart city, is gradually being built, with approximately 70 percent of the business district completed as of June 2018. Much of the city is planned to be wired and automated, with little or no human intervention

IoT Applications

Infrastructure Applications

• Energy management
• Significant numbers of energy-consuming devices (e.g. lamps, household appliances, motors, pumps, etc.) already integrate Internet connectivity, which can allow them to communicate with utilities not only to balance power generation but also helps optimize the energy consumption as a whole
• The smart grid is a utility-side IoT application; systems gather and act on energy and power-related information to improve the efficiency of the production and distribution of electricity
• Environmental monitoring
• Environmental monitoring applications of the IoT typically use sensors to assist in environmental protection by monitoring air or water quality, atmospheric or soil conditions, and can even include areas like monitoring the movements of wildlife and their habitats
• Living Lab
• Another example of integrating the IoT is Living Lab which integrates and combines research and innovation process, establishing within a public-private-people-partnership

IoT Applications

Military Applications

• The Internet of Military Things (IoMT) is the application of IoT technologies in the military domain for the purposes of reconnaissance, surveillance, and other combat-related objectives.
• It is heavily influenced by the future prospects of warfare in an urban environment and involves the use of sensors, munitions, vehicles, robots, human-wearable biometrics, and other smart technology that is relevant on the battlefield.
• Internet of Battlefield Things
• The Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) is a project initiated and executed by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) that focuses on the basic science related to IoT that enhance the capabilities of Army soldiers.
• Ocean of Things
• The Ocean of Things project is a DARPA-led program designed to establish an Internet of Things across large ocean areas for the purposes of collecting, monitoring, and analyzing environmental and vessel activity data.

Assessment

In this section, you will have the opportunity to test your acquired knowledge throughout the course. Our interactive quiz will provide a detailed assessment of your understanding of key topics. Get ready to challenge your skills and reinforce your learning as you move towards mastering the fundamental concepts. Don't miss the chance to demonstrate everything you've learned so far!

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