Design and development of an AllJoyn to CoAP bridge

The recent advancements of the building automation in the technological revolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) are leading to the need to enable the communication between devices extremely different from each other. Smart objects equipped with communication capabilities may rely on proprietary IoT solutions consisting of various hardware and software components, that would not be able to be interworked. Several companies are developing advanced IoT software frameworks, e.g. AllJoyn, which enable interoperability between devices across multiple architectures and protocols. These frameworks provide resource discovery, data transmission and device management, and they support several platform and language bindings. Despite their great effort, further improvements are still needed, due to technical limitations and framework availability of low-power devices in pre-existing networks. An example is the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), a redesign of the popular HTTP protocol that aims to support heavily resource-constrained devices for machine-to- machine (M2M) applications. In this work we present the design and the implementation of an application that acts as a bridge between an AllJoyn network and a pre-existing one based on CoAP, in order to enable the resources provided by resource-constrained nodes to be reached by a more powerful network, which also includes computers and smartphones. The bridge allows on-demand registration of CoAP resources, dynamically translated and advertised on the AllJoyn network, so that AllJoyn client applications can easily discover and interact with them. Experimental tests show the proper functioning of the bridge, the transparent way it operates, and the amplitude of its application. These tests validate the work with both an ad-hoc client application and an already existing AllJoyn application

OIoT: a platform to manage opportunistic IoT communities

Opportunistic Internet of Things (IoT) extends the concept of opportunistic networking combining human users carrying mobile devices and smart things. It explores the relationships between humans and the opportunistic connection of smart objects. This paper presents a software infrastructure, named Opportunistic IoT Platform (OIoT), which helps developers to create and manage opportunistic IoT communities between smart devices. The platform enables the creation of opportunistic IoT communities that support the AllJoyn communications framework, for IoT devices and applications. Results from a preliminary evaluation of the OIoT platform indicate that this infrastructure is useful to manage and share data across opportunistic IoT communities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Fog computing for sustainable smart cities: a survey

The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to connect billions of smart objects to the Internet, which can bring a promising future to smart cities. These objects are expected to generate large amounts of data and send the data to the cloud for further processing, specially for knowledge discovery, in order that appropriate actions can be taken. However, in reality sensing all possible data items captured by a smart object and then sending the complete captured data to the cloud is less useful. Further, such an approach would also lead to resource wastage (e.g. network, storage, etc.). The Fog (Edge) computing paradigm has been proposed to counterpart the weakness by pushing processes of knowledge discovery using data analytics to the edges. However, edge devices have limited computational capabilities. Due to inherited strengths and weaknesses, neither Cloud computing nor Fog computing paradigm addresses these challenges alone. Therefore, both paradigms need to work together in order to build an sustainable IoT infrastructure for smart cities. In this paper, we review existing approaches that have been proposed to tackle the challenges in the Fog computing domain. Specifically, we describe several inspiring use case scenarios of Fog computing, identify ten key characteristics and common features of Fog computing, and compare more than 30 existing research efforts in this domain. Based on our review, we further identify several major functionalities that ideal Fog computing platforms should support and a number of open challenges towards implementing them, so as to shed light on future research directions on realizing Fog computing for building sustainable smart cities

An approach to pervasive monitoring in dynamic learning contexts : data sensing, communication support and awareness provision

It is within the capabilities of current technology to support the emerging learning paradigms. These paradigms suggest that today’s learning activities and environments are pervas ive and require a higher level of dynamism than the traditional learning contexts. Therefore, we have to rethink our approach to learning and use technology not only as a digital information support, but also as an instrument to reinforce knowledge, foster collaboration, promote creativity and provide richer learning experiences. Particularly, this thesis was motivated by the rapidly growing number of smartphone users and the fact that these devices are increasingly becoming more and more resource-rich, in terms of their communication and sensing technologies, display capabilities battery autonomy, etc. Hence, this dissertation benefits from the ubiquity and development of mobile technology, aiming to bridge the gap between the challenges posed by modern learning requirements and the capabilities of current technology. The sensors embedded in smartphones can be used to capture diverse behavioural and social aspects of the users. For example, using microphone and Bluetooth is possible to identify conversation patterns, discover users in proximity and detect face-to-face meetings. This fact opens up exciting possibilities to monitor the behaviour of the user and to provide meaningful feedback. This feedback offers useful information that can help people be aware of and reflect on their behaviour and its effects, and take the necessary actions to improve them. Consequently, we propose a pervasive monitoring system that take advantage of the capabilities of modern smartphones, us ing them to s upport the awarenes s provis ion about as pects of the activities that take place in today’s pervas ive learning environments. This pervasive monitoring system provides (i) an autonomous sensing platform to capture complex information about processes and interactions that take place across multiple learning environments, (ii) an on-demand and s elf-m anaged communication infras tructure, and (ii) a dis play facility to provide “awarenes s inform ation” to the s tudents and/or lecturers. For the proposed system, we followed a research approach that have three main components. First, the description of a generalized framework for pervasive sensing that enables collaborative sensing interactions between smartphones and other types of devices. By allowing complex data capture interactions with diverse remote sensors, devices and data sources, this framework allows to improve the information quality while saving energy in the local device. Second, the evaluation, through a real-world deployment, of the suitability of ad hoc networks to support the diverse communication processes required for pervasive monitoring. This component also includes a method to improve the scalability and reduce the costs of these networks. Third, the design of two awareness mechanisms to allow flexible provision of information in dynamic and heterogeneous learning contexts. These mechanisms rely on the use of smartphones as adaptable devices that can be used directly as awareness displays or as communication bridges to enable interaction with other remote displays available in the environment. Diverse aspects of the proposed system were evaluated through a number of simulations, real-world experiments, user studies and prototype evaluations. The experimental evaluation of the data capture and communication aspects of the system provided empirical evidence of the usefulness and suitability of the proposed approach to support the development of pervasive monitoring solutions. In addition, the proof-of-concept deployments of the proposed awareness mechanisms, performed in both laboratory and real-world learning environments, provided quantitative and qualitative indicators that such mechanisms improve the quality of the awareness information and the user experienceLa tecnología moderna tiene capacidad de dar apoyo a los paradigmas de aprendizaje emergentes. Estos paradigmas sugieren que las actividades de aprendizaje actuales, caracterizadas por la ubicuidad de entornos, son más dinámicas y complejas que los contextos de aprendizaje tradicionales. Por tanto, tenemos que reformular nuestro acercamiento al aprendizaje, consiguiendo que la tecnología sirva no solo como mero soporte de información, sino como medio para reforzar el conocimiento, fomentar la colaboración, estimular la creatividad y proporcionar experiencias de aprendizaje enriquecedoras. Esta tesis doctoral está motivada por el vertiginoso crecimiento de usuarios de smartphones y el hecho de que estos son cada vez más potentes en cuanto a tecnologías de comunicación, sensores, displays, autonomía energética, etc. Por tanto, esta tesis aprovecha la ubicuidad y el desarrollo de esta tecnología, con el objetivo de reducir la brecha entre los desafíos del aprendizaje moderno y las capacidades de la tecnología actual. Los sensores integrados en los smartphones pueden ser utilizados para reconocer diversos aspectos del comportamiento individual y social de los usuarios. Por ejemplo, a través del micrófono y el Bluetooth, es posible determinar patrones de conversación, encontrar usuarios cercanos y detectar reuniones presenciales. Este hecho abre un interesante abanico de posibilidades, pudiendo monitorizar aspectos del comportamiento del usuario y proveer un feedback significativo. Dicho feedback, puede ayudar a los usuarios a reflexionar sobre su comportamiento y los efectos que provoca, con el fin de tomar medidas necesarias para mejorarlo. Proponemos un sistema de monitorización generalizado que aproveche las capacidades de los smartphones para proporcionar información a los usuarios, ayudándolos a percibir y tomar conciencia sobre diversos aspectos de las actividades que se desarrollan en contextos de aprendizaje modernos. Este sistema ofrece: (i) una plataforma de detección autónoma, que captura información compleja sobre los procesos e interacciones de aprendizaje; (ii) una infraestructura de comunicación autogestionable y; (iii) un servicio de visualización que provee “información de percepción” a estudiantes y/o profesores. Para la elaboración de este sistema nos hemos centrado en tres áreas de investigación. Primero, la descripción de una infraestructura de detección generalizada, que facilita interacciones entre smartphones y otros dispositivos. Al permitir interacciones complejas para la captura de datos entre diversos sensores, dispositivos y fuentes de datos remotos, esta infraestructura consigue mejorar la calidad de la información y ahorrar energía en el dispositivo local. Segundo, la evaluación, a través de pruebas reales, de la idoneidad de las redes ad hoc como apoyo de los diversos procesos de comunicación requeridos en la monitorización generalizada. Este área incluye un método que incrementa la escalabilidad y reduce el coste de estas redes. Tercero, el diseño de dos mecanismos de percepción que permiten la provisión flexible de información en contextos de aprendizaje dinámicos y heterogéneos. Estos mecanismos descansan en la versatilidad de los smartphones, que pueden ser utilizados directamente como displays de percepción o como puentes de comunicación que habilitan la interacción con otros displays remotos del entorno. Diferentes aspectos del sistema propuesto han sido evaluados a través de simulaciones, experimentos reales, estudios de usuarios y evaluaciones de prototipos. La evaluación experimental proporcionó evidencia empírica de la idoneidad del sistema para apoyar el desarrollo de soluciones de monitorización generalizadas. Además, las pruebas de concepto realizadas tanto en entornos de aprendizajes reales como en el laboratorio, aportaron indicadores cuantitativos y cualitativos de que estos mecanismos mejoran la calidad de la información de percepción y la experiencia del usuario.Postprint (published version

Internet of Things Based Technology for Smart Home System: A Generic Framework

Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology which enables computing devices, physical and virtual objects/devices to be connected to the internet so that users can control and monitor devices. The IoT offers huge potential for development of various applications namely: e-governance, environmental monitoring, military applications, infrastructure management, industrial applications, energy management, healthcare monitoring, home automation and transport systems. In this paper, the brief overview of existing frameworks for development of IoT applications, techniques to develop smart home applications using existing IoT frameworks, and a new generic framework for the development of IoTbasedsmart home system is presented. The proposed generic framework comprises various modules such as Auto-Configuration and Management, Communication Protocol, Auto-Monitoring and Control, and Objects Access Control. The architecture of the new generic framework and the functionality of various modules in the framework are also presented. The proposed generic framework is helpful for making every house as smart house to increase the comfort of inhabitants. Each of the components of generic framework is robust in nature in providing services at any time. The components of smart home system are designed to take care of various issues such as scalability, interoperability, device adaptability, security and privacy. The proposed generic framework is designed to work on all vendor boards and variants of Linux and Windows operating system

Pervasive Device and Service Discovery Protocol in Interoperability XBee-IP Network

The Internet of Things (IoT) communication protocol built over IP and non-IP environment. Therefore, a gateway device will be needed to bridge the IP and non-IP network transparently since an IoT user is more likely to concern on the service provided by the IoT device, rather than the complexity of the network or device configuration. Since today ubiquitous computing needs to hide the architectural level from it users, the data & information centric approach was proposed. However, the data & information centric protocol is having several issues and one of them is device and service discovery protocol over IP & non-IP network. This paper proposed a pervasive device and service discovery protocol that able to work in interoperability of the IP and non-IP network. The system environment consists of a smart device with XBee Communication as the non-IP network that will send the device and service description data to the IP network using WebSocket. The gateway will able to recognize the smart device and sent the data to the web-based user application. The user application displayed the discovered devices along the services and able to send the control data to each of the smart devices. Our proposed protocol also enriched with the smart device inoperability detection by using keep-alive tracking from the gateway to each of the smart devices. The result showed that the delay for the user application to detect the smart device in the XBee network is around 10.13 ms delay, and the service average delay requested by the user application to each of the devices is 2.13 ms

Interoperability in IoT

Interoperability refers to the ability of IoT systems and components to communicate and share information among them. This crucial feature is key to unlock all of the IoT paradigm´s potential, including immense technological, economic, and social benefits. Interoperability is currently a major challenge in IoT, mainly due to the lack of a reference standard and the vast heterogeneity of IoT systems. IoT interoperability has also a significant importance in big data analytics because it substantively eases data processing. This chapter analyzes the critical importance of IoT interoperability, its different types, challenges to face, diverse use cases, and prospective interoperability solutions. Given that it is a complex concept that involves multiple aspects and elements of IoT, for a deeper insight, interoperability is studied across different levels of IoT systems. Furthermore, interoperability is also re-examined from a global approach among platforms and systems.González-Usach, R.; Yacchirema-Vargas, DC.; Julián-Seguí, M.; Palau Salvador, CE. (2019). Interoperability in IoT. Handbook of Research on Big Data and the IoT. 149-173. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/150250S14917

Internet of Things over future internet

Everyday objects surrounding us including numerous sensors weaved into the daily fabric of life are becoming online, that is, readable and controllable via Internet, these days. By providing a new ecosystem of information, this notion, termed Internet of Things (IoT) will drastically change our ways to interact with real world. Meanwhile, current Internet is facing various challenges such as exponential growth in bandwidth demand. The realization of IoT is also putting current Internet under great pressure due to its unprecedented scale—according to some forecasts, IoT, an integral part of the “future” Internet, will consist of over 50 billion connected things. To cope with such bandwidth demand and complexity as well as to solve other issues, for example, seamless wireless access and mobility support, and security, with current Internet, new architectures for the future Internet have been proposed, for example, information/content centric network architectures and cloud-computing centric network architectures. However, several questions still remain: how IoT will be supported in the future Internet architectures, that is, when deploying large-scale wireless sensor networks do we need to fully integrate embedded sensors with Internet or use dedicated gateways to bridge sensors and Internet similar to state-of-the-art technologies? The aim of this Special Issue is to answer various open questions in realizing IoT over future Internet technologies. The Special Issue includes extended papers forwarded from the seventh International Conference on Ubiquitous and Future Networks (ICUFN 2015) and other contributions from outside the conference highly related to IoT in future Internet. Specifically, 6 high-quality papers out of 18 submitted have been accepted