Internet of Things: Concepts and Technologies

1
Internet of Things: Concepts and
Technologies
Payam Barnaghi
Institute for Communication Systems
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
University of Surrey

Internet of Things
2P. Barnaghi et al., "Digital Technology Adoption in the Smart Built Environment", IET Sector Technical Briefing, The Institution of Engineering and Technology
(IET), I. Borthwick (editor), March 2015.

3
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)
− Sensor Networks consist of nodes with different capabilities.
− Large number of heterogeneous sensor nodes
− Spread over a physical location
− It includes physical sensing, data processing and networking
− In ad-hoc networks, sensors can join and leave due to
mobility, failure etc.
− Data can be processed in-network, or it can be directly
communicated to the endpoints.

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Sink
node Gateway
Core network
e.g. InternetGateway
End-user
Computer services
- The networks typically run Low Power Devices
- Consist of one or more sensors, could be different type of sensors (or actuators)

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Types of nodes
− Sensor nodes
− Low power
− Consist of sensing device, memory, processor and radio
− Resource-constrained
− Sink nodes
− Another sensor node or a different wireless node
− Normally more powerful/better resources
− Gateway
− A more powerful node
− Connection to core network
− Could consist service representation, cache/storage, discovery and
other functions

6
Types of applications
− Event detection
− Reporting occurrences of events
− Reporting abnormalities and changes
− Could require collaboration of other nearby or remote nodes
− Event definition and classification is an issue
− Periodic measurements
− Sensors periodically measure and report the observation and measurement
data
− Reporting period is application dependent
− Approximation and pattern detection
− Sending messages along the boundaries of patterns in both space/time
− Tracking
− When the source of an event is mobile
− Sending event updates with location information

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Requirements and challenges
− Types of services
− In conventional communication network the target is moving bits from
one place to another
− In WSN moving the data is not the actual goal.
− It is expected to provide meaningful information/actions.

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Type of Services in WSN
Sink
node Gateway
Core network
e.g. Internet End-user
Data
Sender
Data
Receiver
A sample data communication in conventional networks
A sample data communication in WSN
Fire! Some bits
01100011100

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Requirements and challenges – Cont’d
− Quality of Service
− In networks QoS usually comes from multimedia type applications; e.g.
delay, bandwidth (and often for large data)
− Here the transmitted data is small (but in large networks could be a
large number of small data transmissions).
− QoS requirements depends on the application
− Latency could be an important factor for time-sensitive applications or
actuation control
− The packet delivery metric could be insufficient
− What is more relevant is Quality of Information that can be extracted.

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− Fault tolerance
− The nodes can get damaged, run out of power, the wireless
communication between two nodes can be interrupted, etc.
− To tolerate node failures, redundant deployments can be necessary.
− Lifetime
− The nodes could have a limited energy supply;
− Sometimes replacing the energy sources is not practical (e.g.
underwater deployment, large/remote field deployments).
− Energy efficient operation can be a necessity.

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− Scalability
− AWSN can consists of a large number of nodes
− The employed architectures and protocols should scale to these
numbers.
− Wide range of densities
− Density of the network can vary
− Different applications can have different node densities
− Density does not need to be homogeneous in the entire network and
network should adapt to such variations.

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− Programmability
− Nodes should be flexible and their tasks could change
− The programmes should be also changeable during operation.
− Maintainability
− WSN and environment of aWSN can change;
− The system should be adaptable to the changes.
− The operational parameters can change to choose different trade-offs
(e.g. to provide lower quality when energy efficiency is more
important)

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Required mechanisms
− Multi-hop wireless communications
− Communication over long distances can require intermediary nodes as
relay (instead of using high transmission power for long range
communications).
− Energy-efficient operation
− To support long lifetime
− Energy efficient communication/dissemination of information
− Energy efficient determination of a requested information
− Auto-configuration
− Self-xxx functionalities
− Tolerating node failures
− Integrating new nodes

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− Collaboration and in-network processing
− In some applications a single sensor node is not able to handle the given task
or provide the requested information.
− Instead of sending the information form various source to an external
network/node, the information can be processed in the network itself.
− e.g. data aggregation, summarisation and then propagating the processed data with
reduced size (hence improving energy efficiency by reducing the amount of data to
be transmitted).
− Data-centric
− Conventional networks often focus on sending data between two specific
nodes each equipped with an address.
− Here what is important is data and the observations and measurements not
the node that provides it.
Required mechanisms

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Architectures (hardware and software)
− Hardware components
− Examples of nodes
− Energy characteristics
− Operating systems and run-time environments

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Sensor node- overview
Power supply
Communication
device
Controller
Sensors/
Actuators
Memory

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Example: Radiation Sensor Board (Libelium)
Source: Wireless Sensor Networks to Control Radiation Levels, David Gascón, Marcos Yarza, Libelium, April 2011.
Waspmote

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Sensors and sensor nodes
− Active & Passive Sensors
− Energy Efficiency
− Processing capabilities
− e.g. Intel StrongARM (RISC, 32bit, up to 206MHz)
− e.g.Texas Instrument MSP40 (RISC core, 16bit, up to 4MHz)
− Network communications
− For actual communication both a transmitter and a receiver is
required in a sensor node.
− Device that combined these two tasks (transmission, and receive) are
called transceivers.
− Data rate: typically a few tens of kilobits per second

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Sensor devices are becoming widely available
- Programmable devices
- Off-the-shelf gadgets/tools

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Radio-frequency identification (RFID)
− Active Tags and Passive Tags
− Applications: supply chain, inventory tracking, tools collection,
etc.
− Limitations:
− Technology
− Reading range
− Physical limitations
− Interference
− Security and Privacy

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Some of the existing solutions for sensor nodes

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Energy consumption of the nodes
− Batteries have small capacity and recharging could be complex
(if not impossible) in some cases.
− The main consumers of the energy are: the controller, radio,
to some extent memory and depending on the type, the
sensor(s).
− A controller can go to:
− “active”,“idle” and “sleep”
− A radio modem could turn transmitter, receiver, or both on
or off,
− sensors and memory can be also turned on and off.

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Power consumption of commercial
sensor nodes
Source: James M. Gilbert, Farooq Balouchi, "Comparison of Energy Harvesting Systems for Wireless Sensor Networks", International Journal of
Automation and Computing, 2008

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Comparison of Energy sources
Source: UC Berkeley, via C. Edward Chow, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), University of Colorado

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Power consumption: Computation
vs. Communication
Source: ISI & DARPA PAC/C Program, via C. Edward Chow, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), University of Colorado

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Relationship between computation
and communication
− Communication is considerably more expensive than
computation.
− However, energy required for communication can not be
ignored;
− The main principle is investing into computation within the
network wherever applicable (e.g. in-network processing,
aggregation) and reduce the communication.
− The load of computation should still be considered.

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Energy Management Issues
− Actuation usually uses more energy
− Strategy: using ultra-low-power nodes
− Wake-up or command movement of mobile nodes
− Communication energy is the next important issue
− Strategy: energy-aware data communication
− Adapting the instantaneous performance to meet the timing and error rate constraints, while
minimizing energy/bit
− Processor and sensor energy usually use less energy
Source: C. Edward Chow, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), University of Colorado.

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Operating Systems and Run-time
environments
− Embedded operating systems
− Virtual machines
− Abstracting the hardware specific issues from the users.
− Need for energy-efficient execution
− The code is more restricted (compared to conventional
operating systems) so a full-blown OS is not obviously
required.
− An appropriate programming model
− A clear way to structure a protocol stack
− And support for energy management

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Embedded Operating Systems
− OS running on devices with restricted functionality
− In the case of sensor nodes, there devices typically also have limited
processing capability
− e.g.TinyOS
− Restricted to narrow applications
− industrial controllers, robots, networking gear, gaming consoles,
metering, sensor nodes…
− Architecture and purpose of embedded OS changes as the
hardware capabilities change (i.e. mobile phones)
Source: The Web of Things, Marko Grobelnik, Carolina Fortuna, Jožef Stefan Institute.

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TinyOS
− “TinyOS is an open source, BSD-licensed operating system
designed for low-power wireless devices, such as those used
in sensor networks .”
− TinyOS applications are developed using nesC
− nesC is a dialect of the C language that is optimised for the
memory limits of sensor networks.

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TinOS - programming
− “TinyOS is completely non-blocking:
− it has one stack.
− All I/O operations that last longer than a few hundred microseconds
are asynchronous and have a callback.
− To enable the native compiler to better optimize across call
boundaries,TinyOS uses nesC's features to link these callbacks, called
events, statically.”
TinyOS home page: http://www.tinyos.net/
TinyOS tutorial: http://docs.tinyos.net/tinywiki/index.php/TinyOS_Tutorials

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Contiki
− Contiki is the open source operating system for the Internet ofThings.
− runs on networked embedded systems and wireless sensor networks.
− It is designed for microcontrollers with small amounts of memory.A typical
Contiki configuration is 2 kilobytes of RAM and 40 kilobytes of ROM.
− Contiki provides IP communication, both for IPv4 and IPv6.
− It has a fully tested IPv6 stack that, combined with power-efficient radio
mechanisms such as ContikiMAC, allow battery-operated devices to participate
in IPv6 networking - even routers can run on batteries.
− Contiki supports 6lowPAN header compression, IETF RPL IPv6 routing, and the
IETF CoAP application layer protocol.
Source: http://www.contiki-os.org

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Beyond conventional sensors
− Human as a sensor (citizen sensors)
− e.g. tweeting real world data and/or events
− Virtual (software) sensors
− e.g. Software agents/services generating/representing data
Road block, A3
Road block, A3
Suggest a different route

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Actuators
Stepper Motor [1]
Image sources:
[1] http://directory.ac/telco-motion.html
[2] http://bruce.pennypacker.org/category/theater/
[3] http://www.arbworx.com/services/fencing-garden-fencing/
[2]
[3]

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Source: Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks
Holger Karl, Andreas Willig, chapter 3, Wiley, 2005 .

Gateway/Middleware
Connectivity/Device Association Layer
Data Exchange/Interoperability Layer
Service/Application Layer
Blue
toot
h
WiFI
ZigB
EE
Cloud
Hyp
erC
AT
RES
T
API
Proprietary
Cloud/Data
Services Hy
pe
rC
AT
Hy
pe
rC
AT

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Designing a gateway/node
association protocol
Source: F. Ganz, P. Barnaghi, F. Carrez, and K. Moessner, Context-aware Management of Wireless Sensor Networks,
In: The 5th
Int. Conf. on COMmunication System softWAre and middlewaRE, (COMSWARE11),ACM, 2011.

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How to say what a sensor is and
what it measures?
More about this soon! in the coming slides
Sink
node
Gateway

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Distributed WSN- Gateways and directories

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What are the main issues?
− Heterogeneity
− Interoperability
− Mobility
− Energy efficiency
− Scalability
− Security

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Communication Protocols
− Wired
− USB, Ethernet
− Wireless
− Wifi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, IEEE 802.15.x
− Single-hop or multi-hop
− Sink nodes, cluster heads…
− Point-to-Point or Point-to-Multi Point
− (Energy) efficient routing

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Wireless Communications
−Mostly performed in unlicensed bands according to
open standards
−Standard: IEEE 802.15.4 -Low Rate WPAN
−868/915 MHz bands with transfer rates of 20 and 40 kbit/s, 2450
MHz band with a rate of 250 kbit/s
−Technology: ZigBee,WirelessHART
−Standard: ISO/IEC 18000-7 (standard for active RFID)
−433 MHz unlicensed spectrum with transfer rates of
200kbit/s
Adapted from: The Web of Things, Marko Grobelnik, Carolina Fortuna, Jožef Stefan Institute.

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Wireless Communications - continued
− Standard: IEEE 802.15.1 –High Rate WPAN
− 2.40GHzbands with transfer rates of 1-24 Mbit/s
− Technology: Bluetooth (BT 3.0 Low Energy Mode)
− Standard: IEEE 802.11x –WLAN
− 2.4, 3.6 and 5GHz with transfer rates 15-150 Mbit/s
− Technology: Wi-Fi
− Licensed bands
− Standard: 3GPP –WMAN,WWAN cellular communication
− 950 MHz, 1.8 and 2.1 GHz bands with data rate ranging from 20 Kbit/s to 7.2
Mbit/s, depending on the release
− Technology: GPRS, HSPA

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Wireless Communications
− Proprietary standards and protocols
− Z-Wave–for home automation
− 900 MHzband (partly overlaps with 900 MHz cellular) with data rates of 9.6 Kbit/s
or 40 Kbit/s
− ANT–for sportsmen and outdoor activity monitoring, owned by Garmin
− 2.4 GHz and 1 Mbit/s data rates
− Wavenis–for M2M periodic low data rate communication
− 868 MHz, 915 MHz, 433 MHz with data rates from 4.8 Kbits/s to 100 Kbits/s
− mostWavenis applications communicate at 19.2 kbits/s.
− MiWi, SimpliciTI, Digixxx, …

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IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN
− IEEE standard for WPAN applications
− MAC protocol
− Single channel at any one time
− Combines contention-based and schedule-based schemes
− Asymmetric: nodes can assume different roles
− It does not define other higher-level layers and
interoperability sub-layers are
− ZigBee is built on this standard
− TinyOS stack also uses some items of IEEE 802.15.4 hardware.

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ISO/IEC 18000-7
− RFID devices operating in the 433 MHz frequency band.
− Provides an air interface implementation for wireless, non-
contact information system equipments.
− Parameters for active air interface communications at
433 MHz.
− Typical applications operate at ranges greater than one meter.

ZigBee
− It is supposed to be a low cost, low power mesh network protocol.
− ZigBee operation range is in the industrial, scientific and medical radio
bands;
− ZigBee’s physical layer and media access control defined in defined based
on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard.
− ZigBee nodes can go from sleep to active mode in 30 ms or less, the
latency can be low and in result the devices can be responsive, in
particular compared to Bluetooth devices that wake-up time can be
longer (typically around three seconds).
[source: Gary Legg, ZigBee: Wireless Technology for Low-Power Sensor Networks,
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1275760]

ZigBee
[source: Gary Legg, ZigBee: Wireless Technology for Low-Power Sensor Networks,
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1275760]

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Network protocols
− The network (or OSI Layer 3 abstraction) provides an
abstraction of the physical world.
− Communication protocols
− Most of the IP-based communications are based on the IPV.4 (and
often via gateway middleware solutions)
− IP overhead makes it inefficient for embedded devices with low bit
rate and constrained power.
− However, IPv6.0 is increasingly being introduced for embedded devices
− 6LowPAN

IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks
(6LowPAN)
− 6LoWPAN typically includes devices that work together to connect the
physical environment to real-world applications, e.g., wireless sensors.
− Small packet size
− the maximum physical layer packet is 127 bytes
− 81 octets (81 * 8 bits) for data packets.
− Header compression
− Fragmentation and reassembly
− 6LoWPAN defines a header encoding to support fragmentation when
IPv6 datagrams do not fit within a single frame and compresses IPv6
headers to reduce header overhead.
− Support for both 16-bit short or IEEE 64-bit extended media access
control addresses.
− Low bandwidth
− Data rates of 250 kbps, 40 kbps, and 20 kbps for each of the currently defined
physical layers (2.4 GHz, 915 MHz, and 868 MHz, respectively).
Source: Jonathan W. Hui and David E. Culler, IPv6 in Low-Power Wireless Networks, Proceedings of the IEEE (Volume:98 , Issue: 11 ).

6LowPAN
− IPv6 requires the link to carry a payload of up to 1280 Bytes.
− Low-power radio links often do not support such a large
payload - IEEE 802.15.4 frame only supports 127 Bytes of
payload and around 80 B in the worst case (with extended
addressing and full security information).
− the IPv6 base header, as shown, is relatively large at 40 Bytes.
Source: Jonathan W. Hui and David E. Culler, IPv6 in Low-Power Wireless Networks, Proceedings of the IEEE (Volume:98 , Issue: 11 ).

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Using gateway and middleware
− It is unlikely that everything will be IP enabled and/or will run
IP protocol stack
− Gateway and middleware solutions can interfaces between
low-level sensor island protocols and IP-based networks.
− The gateway can also provide other components such as QoS
support, caching, mechanisms to address heterogeneity and
interoperability issues.

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Gateway and IP networks
Gateway

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In-network processing
− Mobile Ad-hoc Networks are supposed to deliver bits from one end to
the other
− WSNs, on the other end, are expected to provide information, not
necessarily original bits
− Gives additional options
− e.g., manipulate or process the data in the network
− Main example: aggregation
− Applying aggregation functions to a obtain an average value of measurement
data
− Typical functions: minimum, maximum, average, sum, …
− Not amenable functions: median

57
In-network processing- signal processing
− Depending on application, more sophisticated processing of data can take
place within the network
− Example edge detection: locally exchange raw data with neighboring nodes,
compute edges, only communicate edge description to far away data sinks
− Example tracking/angle detection of signal source: Conceive of sensor nodes
as a distributed microphone array, use it to compute the angle of a single
source, only communicate this angle, not all the raw data
− Exploit temporal and spatial correlation
− Observed signals might vary only slowly in time ! no need to transmit all data
at full rate all the time
− Signals of neighboring nodes are often quite similar! only try to transmit
differences (details a bit complicated, see later)

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In-network processing- example
Using Symbolic Aggregate Approximation (SAX)
SAX Pattern (blue) with word length of 20 and a vocabulary of 10 symbols
over the original sensor time-series data (green)
Source: P. Barnaghi, F. Ganz, C. Henson, A. Sheth, "Computing Perception from Sensor Data",
in Proc. of the IEEE Sensors 2012, Oct. 2012.
fggfffhfffffgjhghfff
jfhiggfffhfffffgjhgi

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Data-centric networking
− In typical networks (including ad hoc networks), network transactions are
addressed to the identities of specific nodes
− A “node-centric” or “address-centric” networking paradigm
− In a redundantly deployed sensor networks, specific source of an event,
alarm, etc. might not be important
− Redundancy: e.g., several nodes can observe the same area
− Thus: focus networking transactions on the data directly instead of their
senders and transmitters ! data-centric networking
− Principal design change

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Implementation options for
data-centric networking
− Overlay networks & distributed hash tables (DHT)
− Hash table: content-addressable memory
− Retrieve data from an unknown source, like in peer-to-peer networking – with efficient
implementation
− Some disparities remain
− Static key in DHT, dynamic changes in WSN
− DHTs typically ignore issues like hop count or distance between nodes when
performing a lookup operation
− Publish/subscribe
− Different interaction paradigm
− Nodes can publish data, can subscribe to any particular kind of data
− Once data of a certain type has been published, it is delivered to all subscribes
− Subscription and publication are decoupled in time; subscriber and published are
agnostic of each other (decoupled in identity);

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Data-centric networking for
Internet content

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Data-centric networking in WSN
− Data in WSN is transient (or at least time dependent)
− Spatial feature of data
− Quality of Information
− In large-scale deployments, we have large number of small information (in
contrast to conventional data-centric networks that mainly focus on
multimedia data)
− Data discovery (or resource discovery) is a challenge
− Data annotation and description frameworks
− e.g. Semantic sensor Networks- to annotate sensor resources and observation
and measurement data.

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Other issues/concepts in WSN
− Naming and addressing
− Time Synchronization
− Localisation and positioning
− Routing protocols
− Mobility
− Security/Privacy

64
Some of the security issues
− Identity management
− Trade-off between security, usability, and privacy in resource
constrained devices.
− Encryption and Public Key and/ or Pre-Provisioned Symmetric
Keys
− Resource constraints and applicability of the existing solutions
− Privacy issues
− Hijacking

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Service interfaces to WSN
− Supporting high-level request/response interactions
− Asynchronous event notifications
− Identifying and accessing data
− By location, by observed entity,
− By semantically meaningful representations – “Room 35BA01”
− Accessibility of in-network processing functions
− Defining complex events
− Allow to specify Quality of Information requirements (e.g. accuracy &
timeliness requirements)
− Accessing node/network status information (e.g., battery level)
− Security, management functionality, …
− There are emerging solutions and standards in this area supported by
Semantic Web technologies and Linked-data.

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Service interfaces and Web connectivity
− WSN nodes are typically resource constrained
− Memory and process limitations
− Communication load
− Often none-IP or use 6LowPAN
− Using gateway and middleware is a clear solution
− Or can the nodes directly connect to the Web and or support
service interfaces?

67
Constrained Application Protocol (CoAp)
− CoAp is a transfer protocol for constrained nodes and networks.
− CoAp uses the Representational StateTransfer (REST) architecture.
− REST make information available as resources that are identified by URIs.
− Applications communication by exchanging representation of these resources
using a transfer protocol such as HTTP.
− Clients access servicer controlled resources using synchronous
request/response mechanisms.
− Such as GET, PUT, POST and DELETE.
− CoAp uses UDP instead of TCP and has a simple “message layer” for re-
transmitting lost packets.
− It also uses compression techniques.
C. Bormann, A. P. Castellani, Z. Shelby, "CoAP: An Application Protocol for Billions of Tiny Internet Nodes," IEEE Internet Computing,
vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 62-67, Feb. 2012, doi:10.1109/MIC.2012.29

68
Constrained Application Protocol (CoAp)- continued
Client
GET/temperature,
Room A
Server
200 OK
Txt/plain
17, Celsius

CoAP protocol stack and interactions
C. Bormann, A. P. Castellani, Z. Shelby, "CoAP: An Application Protocol for Billions of Tiny Internet Nodes," IEEE Internet Computing,
vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 62-67, Feb. 2012, doi:10.1109/MIC.2012.29

70
Connecting WSN nodes to Internet

71
Machine-to-Machine Communications
(M2M)
− What is M2M?
− Design of M2M services
− Networking technologies and M2M
− M2M data communication
− M2M Applications
− Making Sense of Data
− Semantic technologies and Linked-data

72
Machine-to-Machine
 Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications represent technological
solutions and deployments allowing Machines, Devices or Objects to
communicate with each other, with no human interactions.
[source EU FP7 Exalted project]
Source: ETSI
 M2M system – Key features
- Support of a huge number
of devices
- Seamless operability
across multiple domains
- Autonomous operation
- Self organisation
- Power efficiency
- etc., etc…

73
M2M Device Domain
− M2M Device
− A device that runs application(s) using M2M capabilities and network
domain functions.
− An M2M Device is either connected straight to an Access Network or
interfaced to M2M Gateways via an M2M Area Network.
− M2M Area Network
− A M2M Area Network provides connectivity between M2M Devices and
M2M Gateways.
− Examples of M2M Area Networks include: Personal Area Network
technologies such as IEEE 802.15, SRD, UWB, Zigbee, Bluetooth, etc
or local networks such as PLC, M-BUS, Wireless M-BUS.
− M2M Gateways
− Equipments using M2M Capabilities to ensure M2M Devices
interworking and interconnection to the Network and Application
Domain.
− The M2M Gateway may also run M2M applications.
Source: KAIST KSE, Uichin Lee, M2M and Semantic Sensor Web

74
M2M Network/Application Domain
− Network Service Capabilities
− Provide functions that are shared by different applications
− Expose functionalities through a set of open interfaces
− Use Core Network functionalities and simplify and optimize
applications development and deployment whilst hiding network
specificities to applications
− Examples include: data storage and aggregation, unicast and multicast
message delivery, etc.
− M2M Applications (Server)
− Applications that run the service logic and use service capabilities
accessible via open interfaces.
Source: KAIST KSE, Uichin Lee, M2M and Semantic Sensor Web

75
More “Things” are being connected
Home/daily-life devices
Business and
Public infrastructure
Health-care
…

76
People Connecting to Things
Motion sensor
Motion sensor
Motion sensor
ECG sensor
Internet

77
Things Connecting to Things
- Complex and heterogeneous
resources and networks

78
Network connected Things and Devices
Image courtesy: CISCO

79
Networking technologies
− Billions of devices, subscribers, trillions of objects,
− Seamless connection and integration
− Cellular,WiMax,WiFi, Femto
− ZigBee, IEEE 802.15.4 WPAN, …

80
3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE)
− LTE radio access is called Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
(E-UTRAN)
− It is expected to substantially improve end-user throughputs and bring
significantly improved user experience with full mobility.
− support for IP-based traffic with end-to-end Quality of service (QoS).
− Voice traffic is supported mainly asVoice over IP (VoIP) enabling better
integration with other multimedia services.
− a new Packet Core, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network architecture
to support the E-UTRAN.
Source: Long Term Evolution (LTE): A Technical Overview, Technical White Paper, Motorola.

81
M2M
Gateway
Client
Application
M2M Application
M2M Area Network
M2M Architecture (ETSI)
Service
Capabilities
M2M
Core
Source: ETSI, via KAIST KSE, Uichin Lee, M2M and Semantic Sensor Web
Application domain Network domain M2M device domain

82
M2M architecture
Remote clients Communication networks M2M area networks
-Zigbee
- Bluetooth
-WiFi
- …
Satellite (GPS)
GPRS, 3G, 4G, …
LAN, xDSL, …
M2M Gateway

83
Wide-Area M2M Networks
− Access network – connecting devices such as sensors and actuators:
− Wired (Cable, xDSL, optical, etc.)
− Wireless cellular (GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, LTE,WiMAX, etc.)
− Wireless capillary (Zigbee, Bluetooth, RFID,Wi-Fi, etc.)
− Gateway/Middleware – connecting the access network to the core network
− Network address translation
− Local device management
− Traffic aggregation
− etc.
− Core network – connecting the Internet
− IP enabled

84
Enabling the Internet of Things
- Diversity range of applications
- Interacting with large number of
devices with various types
-Multiple heterogeneous networks
-Deluge of data

85
Key characteristics of M2M
−Inexpensive sensors equipped with a radio
transceiver for various applications, typically low data
rate ~ 10-250 kbps.
−Deployed in large numbers (several thousands).
−The sensors coordinate to perform the desired task.
−The acquired information (periodic or event-based) is
reported back to the information processing centre
(sink, BS, etc.).
−Solutions are application-dependent.
85

86
M2M Requirements
− A huge number of devices i.e. many active users (~10 times more than
H2H users/devices)
− Low data rate (small data transmission)
− Larger delay tolerance (also depends on application)
− Autonomous devices
− Battery life for months and years (i.e. minimum energy at a given payload)
− Low cost devices and operations
− Low mobility
− High security
Challenge:
− Different applications have different requirements

87
Application requirements in M2M
−Smart Grid
−Lower power consumption, location tracking, reliability and
long maintenance cycles
−eHealth
−Service reliability, mobility, lower power consumption,
lower delays
− Automotive
−Mobility, location tracking
−Smart cities
−Reliability, fault tolerance, delay tolerance

88
Key challenges for M2M
− Scarce Resources
− Battery, Computational Power,Available Memory, Bandwidth
− Extended unattended lifetime
− Replacing or recharging the batteries may be impossible
− Fault tolerance
− Scalability
− Node Addressing
− Spectrum allocation and interference management
− PHY issues, Medium Access Control (MAC) issues, Routing issues, E2E Transport protocols
− Security – Authentication, data integrity, robustness to attacks, etc.
− Mobility
− Topology Control
− Data Fusion & Aggregation
88

89
“Raw data is both an oxymoron
and bad data”
Geoff Bowker, 2005
Source: Kate Crawford, "Algorithmic Illusions: Hidden Biases of Big Data", Strata 2013.

90
From data to actionable information
Data
Information
Knowledge
Wisdom?
Raw sensory data
Structured data (with semantics)
Abstractions and perceptions
Actionable information

Heterogeneity, multi-modality and volume are
among the key issues.
We need interoperable and machine-interpretable
solutions…
91

Semantics and Data
−Data with semantic annotations
−Provenance, quality of information
−Interpretable formats
−Links and interconnections
−Background knowledge, domain information
−Hypotheses, expert knowledge
−Adaptable and context-aware solutions
92

Wireless Sensor (and Actuator)
Networks
Sink
node Gateway
Core network
e.g. InternetGateway
End-user
Computer services
- The networks typically run Low Power Devices
- Consist of one or more sensors, could be different type of sensors (or actuators)
Operating
Systems?
Services?
Protocols?
Protocols?
In-node Data
Processing
Data
Aggregation/
Fusion
Inference/
Processing of
IoT data
Interoperable/
Machine-
interpretable
representations
Interoperable/
Machine-
interpretable
Representations?
“Web of Things”
Interoperable/
Machine-
interpretable
representations

94
Observation and measurement data- annotation
Tags
Data formats
Location
Source: Cosm.com

Observation and measurement data
15, C, 08:15, 51.243057, -0.589444
95
value
Unit of
measurement
Time
Longitude
Latitude
How to make the data representations more machine-readable
and machine-interpretable;

15, C, 08:15, 51.243057, -0.589444
96
<value>
<unit>
<Time>
<Longitude>
<Latitude>
What about this?
<value>15</value>
<unit>C</unit>
<time>08:15</time>
<longitude>51.243057</longitude>
<latitude>-0.58944</latitude>

Extensible Markup Language (XML)
− XML is a simple, flexible text format that is used for data
representation and annotation.
− XML was originally designed for large-scale electronic
publishing.
− XML plays a key role in the exchange of a wide variety of data
on the Web and elsewhere.
− It is one of the most widely-used formats for sharing
structured information.
97

XML Document Example
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<measurement>
<value>15</value>
<unit>C</unit>
<time>08:15</time>
</measurement>
98
XML Prolog- the XML
declaration
XML
elements
XML documents
MUST be “well
formed”
Root element

XML Document Example-
with attributes
<?xml version="1.0“ encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<measurement>
<value type=“Decimal”>15</value>
<unit>C</unit>
<time>08:15</time>
</measurement>
99

Well Formed XML Documents
−A "Well Formed" XML document has correct XML
syntax.
−XML documents must have a root element
−XML elements must have a closing tag
−XML tags are case sensitive
−XML elements must be properly nested
−XML attribute values must be quoted
100Source: W3C Schools, http://www.w3schools.com/

Validating XML Documents
−A "Valid" XML document is a "Well Formed" XML
document, which conforms to the structure of the
document defined in an XML Schema.
−XML Schema defines the structure and a list of
defined elements for an XML document.
101

XML Schema- example
<xs:element name=“measurement">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name=“value" type="xs:decimal"/>
<xs:element name=“unit" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name=“time" type="xs:time"/>
<xs:element name=“longitude" type="xs:double"/>
<xs:element name=“latitude" type="xs:double"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
102
- XML Schema defines the structure and elements
- An XML document then becomes an instantiation of the document
defined by the schema;

XML Documents–
revisiting the example
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<measurement>
<value>15</value>
<unit>C</unit>
<time>08:15</time>
</measurement>
103
<?xml version="1.0"?> “But how about this?”
<sensor_data>
<reading>15</reading>
<u>C</u>
<timestamp>08:15</timestamp>
<long>51.243057</long>
<lat>-0.58944</lat>
</sensor_data>

104
XML
− Meaning of XML-Documents is intuitively clear
− due to "semantic" Mark-Up
− tags are domain-terms
− But, computers do not have intuition
− tag-names do not provide semantics for machines.
− DTDs or XML Schema specify the structure of documents, not
the meaning of the document contents
− XML lacks a semantic model
− has only a "surface model”, i.e. tree
Source: Semantic Web, John Davies, BT, 2003.

XML: limitations for semantic markup
− XML representation makes no commitment on:
− Domain specific ontological vocabulary
− Which words shall we use to describe a given set of concepts?
− Ontological modelling primitives
− How can we combine these concepts, e.g. “car is a-kind-of (subclass-of)
vehicle”
 requires pre-arranged agreement on vocabulary and
primitives
 Only feasible for closed collaboration
 agents in a small & stable community
 pages on a small & stable intranet
.. not for sharable Web-resources
Source: Semantic Web, John Davies, BT, 2003.
105

Semantic Web technologies
− XML provide a metadata format.
− It defines the elements but does not provide any modelling
primitive nor describes the meaningful relations between
different elements.
− Using semantic technologies to solve these issues.
106

A bit of history
− “The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in
which information is given well-defined meaning, better
enabling computers and people to work in co-operation.“
(Tim Berners-Lee et al, 2001)
107
Image source: Miller 2004

Semantics & the IoT
− The Semantic Sensor (&Actuator) Web is an extension
of the current Web/Internet in which information is given
well-defined meaning, better enabling objects, devices and
people to work in co-operation and to also enable
autonomous interactions between devices and/or objects.
108

Resource Description Framework (RDF)
− AW3C standard
− Relationships between documents
− Consisting of triples or sentences:
− <subject, property, object>
− <“Sensor”, hasType,“Temperature”>
− <“Node01”, hasLocation,“Room_BA_01” >
− RDFS extends RDF with standard “ontology vocabulary”:
− Class, Property
− Type, subClassOf
− domain, range
109

RDF for semantic annotation
− RDF provides metadata about resources
− Object -> Attribute->Value triples or
− Object -> Property-> Subject
− It can be represented in XML
− The RDF triples form a graph
110

RDF Graph
111
xsd:decimal
Measurement
hasValue
hasTime
xsd:double
xsd:time
xsd:double
xsd:string
hasLongitude hasLatitude
hasUnit

RDF Graph- an instance
112
15
Measurement
#0001
hasValue
hasTime
-0.589444
08:15
51.243057
C
hasLongitude hasLatitude
hasUnit

RDF/XML
<rdf:RDF>
<rdf:Description
rdf:about=“Measurment#0001">
<hasValue>15</hasValue>
<hasUnit>C</hasUnit>
<hasTime>08:15</hasTime>
<hasLongitude>51.243057</hasLongitude>
<hasLatitude>-0.589444</hasLatitude>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
113

Let’s add a bit more structure
(complexity?)
114
xsd:decimal
Location
hasValue
hasTime
xsd:double
xsd:time
xsd:double
xsd:string
hasLongitude
hasLatitude
hasUnit
Measurement
hasLocation

An instance of our model
115
15
Location
#0126
hasValue
hasTime
51.243057
08:15
-0.589444
C
hasLongitude
hasLatitude
hasUnit
Measurement
#0001
hasLocation

RDF: Basic Ideas
−Resources
−Every resource has a URI (Universal Resource Identifier)
−A URI can be a URL (a web address) or a some other kind
of identifier;
−An identifier does not necessarily enable access to a
resources
−We can think of a resources as an object that we want to
describe it.
−Car
−Person
−Places, etc.
116

RDF: Basic Ideas
− Properties
− Properties are special kind of resources;
− Properties describe relations between resources.
− For example: “hasLocation”,“hasType”,“hasID”,“sratTime”,
“deviceID”,.
− Properties in RDF are also identified by URIs.
− This provides a global, unique naming scheme.
− For example:
− “hasLocation” can be defined as:
− URI: http://www.loanr.it/ontologies/DUL.owl#hasLocation
− SPARQL is a query language for the RDF data.
− SPARQL provide capabilities to query RDF graph patterns along with their
conjunctions and disjunctions.
117

Ontologies
−The term ontology is originated from philosophy. In
that context it is used as the name of a subfield of
philosophy, namely, the study of the nature of
existence.
−In the Semantic Web:
−An ontology is a formal specification of a domain; concepts
in a domain and relationships between the concepts (and
some logical restrictions).
118

Ontologies and Semantic Web
− In general, an ontology describes a set of concepts in a
domain.
− An ontology consists of a finite list of terms and the
relationships between the terms.
− The terms denote important concepts (classes of objects) of
the domain.
− For example, in a university setting, staff members, students,
courses, modules, lecture theatres, and schools are some
important concepts.
119

Web Ontology Language (OWL)
− RDF(S) is useful to describe the concepts and their
relationships, but does not solve all possible requirements
− Complex applications may want more possibilities:
− similarity and/or differences of terms (properties or classes)
− construct classes, not just name them
− can a program reason about some terms? e.g.:
− each «Sensor» resource «A» has at least one «hasLocation»
− each «Sensor» resource «A» has maximum one ID
− This lead to the development of Web Ontology Language or
OWL.
120

OWL
− OWL provide more concepts to express meaning and
semantics than XML and RDF(S)
− OWL provides more constructs for stating logical expressions
such as: Equality, Property Characteristics, Property
Restrictions, Restricted Cardinality, Class Intersection,
Annotation Properties, Versioning, etc.
Source: http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-features/ 121

Ontology engineering
− An ontology: classes and properties (also referred to as
schema ontology)
− Knowledge base: a set of individual instances of classes and
their relationships
− Steps for developing an ontology:
− defining classes in the ontology and arranging the classes in a
taxonomic (subclass–superclass) hierarchy
− defining properties and describing allowed values and restriction for
these properties
− Adding instances and individuals

Basic rules for designing ontologies
− There is no one correct way to model a domain; there are
always possible alternatives.
− The best solution almost always depends on the application that you
have in mind and the required scope and details.
− Ontology development is an iterative process.
− The ontologies provide a sharable and extensible form to represent a
domain model.
− Concepts that you choose in an ontology should be close to
physical or logical objects and relationships in your domain of
interest (using meaningful nouns and verbs).

A simple methodology
1. Determine the domain and scope of the model that you want to design
your ontology.
2. Consider reusing existing concepts/ontologies; this will help to increase the
interoperability of your ontology.
3. Enumerate important terms in the ontology; this will determine what are
the key concepts that need to be defined in an ontology.
4. Define the classes and the class hierarchy; decide on the classes and the
parent/child relationships
5. Define the properties of classes; define the properties that relate the
classes;
6. Define features of the properties; if you are going to add restriction or
other OWL type restrictions/logical expressions.
7. Define/add instances
124

Semantic technologies in the IoT
−Applying semantic technologies to IoT can support:
−Interoperability
−effective data access and integration
−resource discovery
−reasoning and processing of data
−knowledge extraction (for automated decision making and
management)
125

126
Data/Service description frameworks
−There are standards such as Sensor Web Enablement
(SWE) set developed by the Open Geospatial
Consortium that are widely being adopted in
industry, government and academia.
−While such frameworks provide some
interoperability, semantic technologies are
increasingly seen as key enabler for integration of IoT
data and broader Web information systems.

Revisiting goals of the Internet of Things
− A primary goal of interconnecting devices and
collecting/processing data from them is to create situation
awareness and enable applications, machines, and human users
to better understand their surrounding environments.
− The understanding of a situation, or context, potentially
enables services and applications to make intelligent decisions
and to respond to the dynamics of their environments.
127

128
Semantic technologies
− The sensors (and in general “Things”) are increasingly being connected
withWeb infrastructure.
− This can be supported by embedded devices that directly support IP and
web-based connection (e.g. 6LowPAN and CoAp) or devices that are
connected via gateway components.
− Broadening the IoT to the concept of “Web of Things”
− There are already Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards developed by
the Open Geospatial Consortium that are widely being adopted in
industry, government and academia.
− While such frameworks provide some interoperability, semantic
technologies are increasingly seen as key enabler for integration of IoT
data and broaderWeb information systems.

129
129
Source: W3C Semantic Sensor Networks, SSN Ontology presentation, Laurent Lefort et al.

130
Sensor Markup Language (SensorML)
Source: http://www.mitre.org/

131
Semantics and sensor data
Source: W. Wang, P. Barnaghi, "Semantic Annotation and Reasoning for Sensor Data",
In proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Smart Sensing and Context (EuroSSC2009), 2009.

132
Observation and measurement data-
a semantic model
P. Barnaghi, S. Meissner, M. Presser, K. Moessner, "Sense and Sens’ability: Semantic Data Modelling for Sensor Networks",
In Proc of the ICT Mobile Summit 2009, June 2009.

Semantic modelling
− Lightweight: experiences show that a lightweight ontology
model that well balances expressiveness and inference
complexity is more likely to be widely adopted and reused;
also large number of IoT resources and huge amount of data
need efficient processing
− Compatibility: an ontology needs to be consistent with those
well designed, existing ontologies to ensure compatibility
wherever possible.
− Modularity: modular approach to facilitate ontology evolution,
extension and integration with external ontologies.
133

Existing models- SSN Ontology
− W3C Semantic Sensor Network Incubator Group’s SSN
ontology (mainly for sensors and sensor networks, platforms
and systems).
http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/ssn/

Stimulus-Sensor-Observation
- The SSO Ontology Design Pattern developed
following the principle of minimal ontological
commitments to make it reusable for a variety of
application areas.
-Introduces a minimal set of classes and relations
centered around the notions of stimuli, sensor, and
observations.
-Defines stimuli as the (only) link to the physical
environment.
135

138
SSN Ontology
Ontology Link: http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/ssn/ssnx/ssn
M. Compton et al, "The SSN Ontology of the W3C Semantic Sensor Network Incubator Group", Journal of Web Semantics, 2012.

139
139
W3C SSN Ontology
makes observations of
this type
Where it is
What it
measures
units
SSN-XG ontologies
SSN-XG annotations
SSN-XG Ontology Scope

What SSN does not model
− Sensor types and models
− Networks: communication, topology
− Representation of data and units of measurement
− Location, mobility or other dynamic behaviours
− Control and actuation
− ….
140

Web of Things
− Integrating the real world data into the
Web and providing Web-based
interactions with the IoT resources is
also often discussed under umbrella
term of “Web of Things” (WoT).
− WoT data is not only large in scale
and volume, but also continuous, with
rich spatiotemporal dependency.
141

142
Example: Linked IoT Data
Internal location
ontology (local)
Lined-data location
(external)

143
IoT and Semantics: Challenges and issues

Several ontologies and description models
144

145
We have good models and description
frameworks;
The problem is that having good models and
developing ontologies is not enough.

146
Semantic descriptions are intermediary
solutions, not the end product.
They should be transparent to the end-user and
probably to the data producer as well.

A WoT/IoT Framework
WSN
WSN
WSN
WSN
WSN
Network-enabled
Devices
Semantically
annotate data
147
Gateway
CoAP
HTTP
CoAP
CoAP
HTTP
6LowPAN
Semantically
annotate data
http://mynet1/snodeA23/readTemp?
WSN
MQTT
MQTT
Gateway
And several other
protocols and solutions…

Publishing Semantic annotations
− We need a model (ontology) – this is often the easy part for a
single application.
− Interoperability between the models is a big issue.
− Express-ability vs Complexity is a challenge
− How and where to add the semantics
− Where to publish and store them
− Semantic descriptions for data, streams, devices (resources)
and entities that are represented by the devices, and
description of the services.
148

149
Simplicity can be very useful…

Hyper/CAT
150
Source: Toby Jaffey, HyperCat Consortium, http://www.hypercat.io/standard.html
- Servers provide catalogues of resources to
clients.
- A catalogue is an array of URIs.
- Each resource in the catalogue is annotated
with metadata (RDF-like triples).

Hyper/CAT model
151
Source: Toby Jaffey, HyperCat Consortium, http://www.hypercat.io/standard.html

152
Complex models are (sometimes) good for
publishing research papers….
But they are often difficult to implement and use
in real world products.

What happens afterwards is more important
− How to index and query the annotated data
− How to make the publication suitable for constrained
environments and/or allow them to scale
− How to query them (considering the fact that here we are
dealing with live data and often reducing the processing time
and latency is crucial)
− Linking to other sources
153

154
Data Challenges
− Discovery: finding appropriate device and data sources
− Access:Availability and (open) access to M2M resources and data
− Search: querying for data
− Integration: dealing with heterogeneous device, networks and data
− Interpretation: translating data to knowledge usable by people and
applications
− Scalability: dealing with large number of devices and myriad of data and
computational complexity of interpreting the data.

155
155
Myth and reality
− #1: If we create an Ontology our data is interoperable
− Reality: there are/could be a number of ontologies for a domain
− Ontology mapping
− Reference ontologies
− Standardisation efforts
− #2: Semantic data will make my data machine-understandable and my
system will be intelligent.
− Reality: it is still meta-data, machines don’t understand it but can interpret it. It still does
need intelligent processing, reasoning mechanism to process and interpret the data.
− #3: It’s a Hype! Ontologies and semantic data are too much overhead; we
deal with tiny devices in IoT.
− Reality: Ontologies are a way to share and agree on a common vocabulary and knowledge;
at the same time there are machine-interpretable and represented in interoperable and
re-usable forms;
− You don’t necessarily need to add semantic metadata in the source- it could be added to
the data at a later stage (e.g. in a gateway);
− Legacy applications can ignore it or to be extended to work with it.

156
Semantics and Linked-data
− The principles in designing the linked data are defined as:
− using URI’s as names for things;
− using HTTP URI’s to enable people to look up those names;
− provide useful RDF information related to URI’s that are looked up by
machine or people;
− including RDF statements that link to other URI’s to enable discovery
of other related concepts of the Web of Data;

157
157
Linked-data
Linked data is data presented in a better way
and in relation to other resources…

159
Linked Open Data
Collectively, the 203 data sets consist of over 25 billion RDF triples, which
are interlinked by around 395 million RDF links (September 2010).

160
Creating and using Linked Sensor Data

162
Smart-Campus Infrastructure
User devices
Core Network by FI
platform
USB
Ethernet
Ethernet
802.15.4
Smart
Campus
Service
platform
IoT
devices
GW devices
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Wifi,
Ethernet
Display
infrastructure
Wifi,
Ethernet
GW devices
Indoor IoT deployments
• Smart Transportation
• Smart Waste Management
• Environmental Monitoring
Outdoor IoT deployments
• Intelligent offices spaces
Sustainable Campus using Internet of Things Technologies
Source: A. Gluhak et al, CCSR, University of Surrey, 2012.

163
IoT Data Access
− Publish/Subscribe (long-term/short-term)
− Ad-hoc query
− The typical types of data request for sensory data:
− Query based on
− ID (resource/service) – for known resources
− Location
− Type
− Time – requests for freshness data or historical data;
− One of the above + a range [+ Unit of Measurement]
− Type/Location/Time + A combination of Quality of Information attributes
− An entity of interest (a feature of an entity on interest)
− Complex DataTypes (e.g. pollution data could be a combination of different types)

Comparing IoT data streams with conventional
multimedia streams
Source: P. Barnaghi, W. Wang, L. Dong, C. Wang, "A Linked-data Model for Semantic Sensor Streams", in the Proc. of
IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things (iThings 2013), August 2013.

165
Describing IoT Data:An example
Time
Location
Type
Value
Link to QoI metadata
UTC
#GeoHash
#Hash
[DataType, Value]
URI
Ontology for
common
types

166
Observation and MeasurementValue
GeoHash
UTC time
UTC time (in Java) : The time indicated is returned represented as the distance, measured in milliseconds,
of that time from the epoch (00:00:00 GMT on January 1, 1970).
Standard XSD data type

167
GeoHashing
− For example Guildford: lat: 51.235401 and
long: -0.574600 can be hashed as: gcpe6zjeffgp
− It can be used as:
− A unique identifier
− represent point data as hash string
− It uses Base 32 encoding and bit interleaving
− It’s used for geo-tagging (and is a symmetric technique)
− Place close to each other will have similar prefix (string similarity)
− Limitations:
− We could have Geohash codes with no common prefix
− Edge case (locations close to each other but on opposite sides of the Equator)
− A meridian point (line of longitude)

168
GeoHash Example
Sample locations on a Google Map and their
equivalent geohash strings;
- close locations have similar prefixes

IoT Data Processing
WSN
WSN
WSN
WSN
WSN
Network-enabled
Devices
Network-enabled
Devices
Network
services/storage
and processing
units Data/service
access at
application level
Data collections and
processing within
the networks
Data Discovery
Service/
Resource
Discovery

Data Aggregation
− Computing a smaller representation of a number of data
items (or messages) that is extracted from all the individual
data items.
− For example computing min/max or mean of sensor data.
− More advance aggregation solutions could use approximation
techniques to transform high-dimensionality data to lower-
dimensionality abstractions/representations.
− The aggregated data can be smaller in size, represent
patterns/abstractions; so in multi-hop networks, nodes can
receive data form other node and aggregate them before
forwarding them to a sink or gateway.
− Or the aggregation can happen on a sink/gateway node.

Aggregation example
− Reduce number of transmitted bits/packets by applying an aggregation
function in the network
1
1
3
1
1
6
1
1
1
1
1
1
Source: Holger Karl, Andreas Willig, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks, chapter 3, Wiley, 2005 .

Efficacy of an aggregation mechanism
− Accuracy: difference between the resulting value or representation and
the original data
− Some solutions can be lossless or lossly depending on the applied
techniques.
− Completeness: the percentage of all the data items that are included in the
computation of the aggregated data.
− Latency: delay time to compute and report the aggregated data
− Computation foot-print; complexity;
− Overhead: the main advantage of the aggregation is reducing the size of
the data representation;
− Aggregation functions can trade-off between accuracy, latency and overhead;
− Aggregation should happen close to the source.

Publish/Subscribe
− Achieved by publish/subscribe paradigm
− Idea: Entities can publish data under certain names
− Entities can subscribe to updates of such named data
− Conceptually: Implemented by a software bus
− Software bus stores subscriptions, published data; names used as filters;
subscribers notified when values of named data changes
Software bus
Publisher 1 Publisher 2
Subscriber 1 Subscriber 2 Subscriber 3
− Variations
− Topic-based P/S –
inflexible
− Content-based P/S –
use general predicates
over named data
Source: Holger Karl, Andreas Willig, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks, chapter 12, Wiley, 2005 .

MQTT Pub/Sub Protocol
− MQTelemetry Transport (MQTT) is a lightweight broker-based
publish/subscribe messaging protocol.
− MQTT is designed to be open, simple, lightweight and easy to implement.
− These characteristics make MQTT ideal for use in constrained
environments, for example in IoT.
−Where the network is expensive, has low bandwidth or is
unreliable
−When run on an embedded device with limited processor or
memory resources;
− A small transport overhead (the fixed-length header is just 2 bytes), and
protocol exchanges minimised to reduce network traffic
− MQTT was developed by Andy Stanford-Clark of IBM, and Arlen Nipper
of Cirrus Link Solutions.
Source: MQTT V3.1 Protocol Specification, IBM, http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/dw/webservices/ws-mqtt/mqtt-v3r1.html

MQTT
− It supports publish/subscribe message pattern to provide one-to-many message
distribution and decoupling of applications
− A messaging transport that is agnostic to the content of the payload
− The use of TCP/IP to provide basic network connectivity
− Three qualities of service for message delivery:
− "At most once", where messages are delivered according to the best efforts of
the underlying TCP/IP network. Message loss or duplication can occur.
− This level could be used, for example, with ambient sensor data where it
does not matter if an individual reading is lost as the next one will be
published soon after.
− "At least once", where messages are assured to arrive but duplicates may
occur.
− "Exactly once", where message are assured to arrive exactly once.This level
could be used, for example, with billing systems where duplicate or lost
messages could lead to incorrect charges being applied.

MQTT Message Format
− The message header for each MQTT command message contains a fixed
header.
− Some messages also require a variable header and a payload.
− The format for each part of the message header:
— DUP: Duplicate delivery
— QoS: Quality of Service
— RETAIN: RETAIN flag
—This flag is only used on PUBLISH messages. When a client sends a
PUBLISH to a server, if the Retain flag is set (1), the server should hold
on to the message after it has been delivered to the current
subscribers.
—This allows new subscribers to instantly receive data with the
retained, or Last Known Good, value.

Sensor Data as time-series data
− The sensor data (or IoT data in general) can be seen as time-
series data.
− A sensor stream refers to a source that provide sensor data
over time.
− The data can be sampled/collected at a rate (can be also
variable) and is sent as a series of values.
− Over time, there will be a large number of data items
collected.
− Using time-series processing techniques can help to reduce
the size of the data that is communicated;
−Let’s remember, communication can consume more energy
than communication;

Sensor Data as time-series data
− Different representation method that introduced for time-series data can be
applied.
− The goal is to reduce the dimensionality (and size) of the data, to find patterns,
detect anomalies, to query similar data;
− Dimensionality reduction techniques transform a data series with n items to a
representation with w items where w < n.
− This functions are often lossy in comparison with solutions like normal compression
that preserve all the data.
− One of these techniques is called Symbolic Aggregation Approximation (SAX).
− SAX was originally proposed for symbolic representation of time-series data; it
can be also used for symbolic representation of time-series sensor measurements.
− The computational foot-print of SAX is low; so it can be also used as a an in-
network processing technique.

179
In-network processing
Using Symbolic Aggregate Approximation (SAX)
SAX Pattern (blue) with word length of 20 and a vocabulary of 10 symbols
over the original sensor time-series data (green)
Source: P. Barnaghi, F. Ganz, C. Henson, A. Sheth, "Computing Perception from Sensor Data",
in Proc. of the IEEE Sensors 2012, Oct. 2012.
jfhiggfffhfffffgjhgi

Symbolic Aggregate Approximation
(SAX)
− SAX transforms time-series data into symbolic string representations.
− Symbolic Aggregate approXimation was proposed by Jessica Lin et al at the
University of California –Riverside;
− http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~eamonn/SAX.htm .
− It extends Piecewise Aggregate Approximation (PAA) symbolic representation
approach.
− SAX algorithm is interesting for in-network processing in WSN because of its
simplicity and low computational complexity.
− SAX provides reasonable sensitivity and selectivity in representing the data.
− The use of a symbolic representation makes it possible to use several other
algorithms and techniques to process/utilise SAX representations such as hashing,
pattern matching, suffix trees etc.

Processing Steps in SAX
− SAX transforms a time-series X of length n into the string of
arbitrary length, where typically, using an alphabet A of size a
> 2.
− The SAX algorithm has two main steps:
−Transforming the original time-series into a PAA
representation
−Converting the PAA intermediate representation into a
string during.
− The string representations can be used for pattern matching,
distance measurements, outlier detection, etc.

Piecewise Aggregate Approximation
− In PAA, to reduce the time series from n dimensions to w
dimensions, the data is divided into w equal sized “frames.”
− The mean value of the data falling within a frame is calculated
and a vector of these values becomes the data-reduced
representation.
− Before applying PAA, each time series to have a needs to be
normalised to achieve a mean of zero and a standard
deviation of one.
−The reason is to avoid comparing time series with different
offsets and amplitudes;
Source: Jessica Lin, Eamonn Keogh, Stefano Lonardi, and Bill Chiu. 2003. A symbolic representation of time series, with implications for streaming algorithms. In
Proceedings of the 8th ACM SIGMOD workshop on Research issues in data mining and knowledge discovery (DMKD '03). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2-11.

SAX- normalisation before PAA
Timeseries (c): 2, 3, 4.5, 7.6, 4, 2, 2, 2, 3, 1
Mean (μ): =μ (2+3+4.5+7.6+4+2+2+2+3+1)/10= 3.11
Standard deviation (σ):
(2-3.11)2
= 1.2321
(3-3.11)2
= 0.0121
(4.5-3.11)2
= 1.9321
(7.6-3.11)2
= 20.1601
(4-3.11)2
= 0.7921
(2-3.11)2
= 1.2321
(2-3.11)2
= 1.2321
(2-3.11)2
= 1.2321
(3-3.11)2
= 0.0121
(1-3.11)2
= 4.4521
1.2321+0.0121+ 1.9321+ 20.1601+
0.7921+ 1.2321+ 1.2321+ 1.2321+
1.2321+ 0.0121+4.4521 = 33.5211
= √ (33.5211/10) = 1.83087683911σ

Normalisation
Timeseries (c): 2, 3, 4.5, 7.6, 4, 2, 2, 2, 3, 1
Normalised: zi = (ci – )/μ σ
= 1.83087683911σ
= 3.11μ
z1 = (2- 3.11)/1.83087683911 = -0.606
z2 = (3-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -0.600
z3 = (4.5-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= 2.452
z4 = (7.6-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -0.600
z5 = (4-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= 0.486
z6 = (2-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -0.606
z7 = (2-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -0.606
z8 = (2-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -0.606
z9 = (3-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -0.600
z10 = (1-3.11)/ 1.83087683911= -1.152
Normalised Timeseries (z): -0.606, -0.600, 2.452, -0.600, 0.486,
-0.606, -0.606, -0.606 , -0.600, -1.152

PAA calculation
Timeseries (c): 2, 3, 4.5, 7.6, 4, 2, 2, 2, 3, 1
Normalised Timeseries (z): -0.606, -0.600, 2.452, -0.600, 0.486,
-0.606, -0.606, -0.606 , -0.600, -1.152
PAA (w=5): -0.603, 0.926, -0.06, -0.606, 0.273

PAA to SAX Conversion
− Conversion of the PAA representation of a time-series into
SAX is based on producing symbols that correspond to the
time-series features with equal probability.
− The SAX developers have shown that time-series which are
normalised (zero mean and standard deviation of 1) follow a
Normal distribution (Gaussian distribution).
− The SAX method introduces breakpoints that divides the
PAA representation to equal sections and assigns an alphabet
for each section.
− For defining breakpoints, Normal inverse cumulative distribution
function

Breakpoints in SAX
− “Breakpoints: breakpoints are a sorted list of numbers B = β 1,…, β a-1 such
that the area under a N(0,1) Gaussian curve from βi to βi+1 = 1/a”.
Source: Jessica Lin, Eamonn Keogh, Stefano Lonardi, and Bill Chiu. 2003. A symbolic representation of time series, with implications for streaming algorithms. In Proceedings of the
8th ACM SIGMOD workshop on Research issues in data mining and knowledge discovery (DMKD '03). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2-11.

Alphabet representation in SAX
− Let’s assume that we will have 4 symbols alphabet: a,b,c,d
− As shown in the table in the previous slide, the cut lines for
this alphabet (also shown as the thin red lines on the plot
below) will be { -0.67, 0, 0.67 }
Source: JMOTIF Time series mining, http://code.google.com/p/jmotif/wiki/SAX

SAX Represetantion
Timeseries (c): 2, 3, 4.5, 7.6, 4, 2, 2, 2, 3, 1
Normalised Timeseries (z): -0.606, -0.600, 2.452, -0.600,
0.486, -0.606, -0.606, -0.606 , -0.600, -1.152
PAA (w=5): -0.603, 0.926, -0.06, -0.606, 0.273
Cut off ranges: {-0.67, 0, 0.67}
Alphabet: a ,b ,c, d
SAX representation: bdbbc

Features of the SAX technique
− SAX divides a time series data into equal segments and then
creates a string representation for each segment.
− The SAX patterns create the lower-level abstractions that are
used to create the higher-level interpretation of the
underlying data.
− The string representation of the SAX mechanism enables to
compare the patterns using a specific type of string similarity
function.

191
A sample data processing framework
fggfffhfffffgjhghfff dddfffffffffffddd cccddddccccdddcc
c
aaaacccaaaaaaaaccccdddcdcdcdcddasddd
PIR Sensor Light Sensor
Temperature
Sensor
Raw sensor data stream Raw sensor data streamRaw sensor data stream
Attendance Phone
Hot
Temperature
Cold
Temperature
Bright
Day-time
Night-time
Office room
BA0121
On going
meeting
Window has
been left open
….
Temporal data
(extracted from
descriptions)
Spatial data
(extracted from
descriptions)
Thematic data
(low level
abstractions)
Intelligent Processing
Observations
High-level abstractions
Domain knowledge
SAX Patterns
Raw sensor data
(or Annotated data)
…
….
Intelligent
Processing/
Reasoning
High-level
information/
knowledge

192
Summary
− Wireless Sensor Networks
− Communication
− Networks
− Middleware/gateway
− Service/application layer
− 6LowPAN and CoAp
− Machine-to-machine communication
− M2M architecture
− M2M networks
− Applications
− Semantic technologies
− Machine-interpretable data for automated processing,
− Modelling and annotation
− Linked-data

194
Links and further Reading
− ETSI, Machine to Machine Communications
− http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/m2m
− Machine-to-Machine Communications, OECD Library,
− http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/machine-to-machine-communications_5k9g
− Internet of Things, ITU
− http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/internetofthings/InternetofThings_summary.pdf
− IoT Comic Book
− http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/content/mirko-presser-iot-comic-book
− W3C Semantic Sensor Networks
− http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/ssn/XGR-ssn-20110628/

195
Acknowledgments
− Protocols and Architectures forWireless Sensor Networks, Protocols and
Architectures forWireless Sensor Networks, Holger Karl,AndreasWillig,
Wiley, 2005 .
− Dave Evans,The Internet ofThings: How the Next Evolution of the
Internet Is Changing Everything, Cisco,April 2011.
− TheWeb ofThings, Marko Grobelnik, Carolina Fortuna, Jožef Stefan
Institute, Slovenia.

Acknowledgements
− Some parts of the content are adapted from:
− Holger Karl,Andreas Willig, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor
Networks, Protocols and Architectures for Wireless Sensor Networks,
chapters 3 and 12,Wiley, 2005 .
− Jessica Lin, Eamonn Keogh, Stefano Lonardi, and Bill Chiu. 2003.A symbolic
representation of time series, with implications for streaming algorithms. In
Proceedings of the 8th ACM SIGMOD workshop on Research issues in data mining
and knowledge discovery (DMKD '03).ACM, NewYork, NY, USA, 2-11.
− JMOTIF Time series mining, http://code.google.com/p/jmotif/wiki/SAX

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