Course Title: Introduction to Internet of Things (IOT)

Course Code: BETCK105H

Total Hours of Pedagogy: 40 hours

Course objectives
Understand about the fundamentals of Internet of Things and its
building blocks along with their characteristics.

 Understand the recent application domains of IoT in everyday life.

 Gain insights about the current trends of Associated IOT technologies
and IOT Analytics.
Module-1 (8- Hours Pedagogy)

Basics of Networking:
Introduction
Network Types
Layered network models
Emergence of IoT:
Introduction
Evolution of IoT
Enabling IoT and the Complex Interdependence of
Technologies, IoT Networking Components
Basics of Networking:
Introduction:
In the present era of data- and information-centric operations,
everything—right from agriculture to military operations—relies heavily
on information.
The quality of any particular information is as good as the variety and
strength of the data that generates this information.
Additionally, the speed at which data is updated to all members of a
team (which may be a group of individuals, an organization, or a
country) dictates the advantage that the team has over others in
generating useful information from the gathered data.
Considering the present-day global scale of operations of various
organizations or militaries of various countries, the speed and nature of
germane information are crucial for maintaining an edge over others in
the same area.
To sum it up, today’s world relies heavily on data and networking,
which allows for the instant availability of information from anywhere
on the earth at any moment.

Typically, networking refers to the linking of computers and

communication network devices (also referred to as hosts), which
interconnect through a network (Internet or Intranet) and are separated
by unique device identifiers (Internet protocol, IP addresses and media
access control, MAC addresses).

These hosts may be connected by a single path or through multiple

paths for sending and receiving data. The data transferred between the
hosts may be text, images, or videos, which are typically in the form of
binary bit streams
Network Types:
Computer networks are classified according to various parameters:
1) Type of connection
2) physical topology
3) reach of the network

These classifications are helpful in deciding the requirements of a

network setup and provide insights into the appropriate selection of a
network type for the setup.

1) Connection types/Type of connection:

Depending on the way a host communicates with other hosts, computer
networks are of two types
a) Point-to-point
b) Point-to-multipoint.
a) Point-to-point :
Point-to-point connections are used to establish direct connections
between two hosts.
Day-to-day systems such as a remote control for an air conditioner or
television is a point to point connection, where the connection has the
whole channel dedicated to it only.
These networks were designed to work over duplex links and are
functional for both synchronous as well as asynchronous systems.
Regarding computer networks, point to point connections find usage for
specific purposes such as in optical networks.

Figure(a) : Point to Point

Point-to-multipoint:
In a point-to-multipoint connection, more than two hosts share the
same link. This type of configuration is similar to the one-to-many
connection type.
Point-to-multipoint connections find popular use in wireless networks
and IP telephony. The channel is shared between the various hosts, either
spatially or temporally.
One common scheme of spatial sharing of the channel is frequency
division multiple access (FDMA). Temporal sharing of channels include
approaches such as time division multiple access (TDMA).
Each of the spectral and temporal sharing approaches has various
schemes and protocols for channel sharing in point-to-multipoint
networks.
Point-to-multipoint connections find popular use in present-day
networks, especially while enabling communication between a massive
number of connected devices.
Figure (b): Point-to-Multipoint

The above figures a & b are Network types based on connection types
2) Physical topology:
Depending on the physical manner in which communication paths
between the hosts are connected, computer networks can have the
following four broad topologies-
a) Star
b) Mesh
c) Bus
d) Ring
a) Star:
In a star topology, every host has a point-to-point link to a central
controller or hub. The hosts cannot communicate with one another
directly; they can only do so through the central hub. The hub acts as the
network traffic exchange.
For large-scale systems, the hub, essentially, has to be a powerful
server to handle all the simultaneous traffic flowing through it. However,
as there are fewer links (only one link per host), this topology is cheaper
and easier to set up.
Advantages of star Topology:
1) easy installation
2) ease of fault identification within the network.
If the central hub remains uncompromised, link failures between
a host and the hub do not have a big effect on the network, except for
the host that is affected. However, the main disadvantage of this
topology is the danger of a single point of failure. If the hub fails, the
whole network fails.
Figure: Star Topology
b) Mesh:
In a mesh topology, every host is connected to every other host using a
dedicated link (in a point-to-point manner).
This implies that for n hosts in a mesh, there are a total of n(n-1)/2
dedicated full duplex links between the hosts.
This massive number of links makes the mesh topology expensive.
However, it offers certain specific advantages over other topologies.
Advantages:
1) The first significant advantage is the robustness and resilience of the
system. Even if a link is down or broken, the network is still fully
functional as there remain other pathways for the traffic to flow through.
2) The second advantage is the security and privacy of the traffic as the data is
only seen by the intended recipients and not by all members of the network.
3) The third advantage is the reduced data load on a single host, as every host in
this network takes care of its traffic load. However, owing to the complexities
in forming physical connections between devices and the cost of establishing
these links, mesh networks are used very selectively, such as in backbone
networks.
Figure: Star Topology
A bus topology follows the point-to-multipoint connection. A backbone
cable or bus serves as the primary traffic pathway between the hosts. The
hosts are connected to the main bus employing drop lines or taps.
Advantages:
The main advantage of this topology is the ease of installation.
However, there is a restriction on the length of the bus and the number of
hosts that can be simultaneously connected to the bus due to signal loss
over the extended bus.
The bus topology has a simple cabling procedure in which a single bus
(backbone cable) can be used for an organization.
Multiple drop lines and taps can be used to connect various hosts to the
bus, making installation very easy and cheap.
Drawback:
However, the main drawback of this topology is the difficulty in fault
localization within the network.
Figure: Bus Topology
A ring topology works on the principle of a point-to-point connection.
Here, each host is configured to have a dedicated point-to-point
connection with its two immediate neighboring hosts on either side of it
through repeaters at each host.
The repetition of this system forms a ring. The repeaters at each host
capture the incoming signal intended for other hosts, regenerates the bit
stream, and passes it onto the next repeater.
Fault identification and set up of the ring topology is quite simple and
straightforward.

Disadvantages:
However, the main disadvantage of this system is the high probability of
a single point of failure. If even one repeater fails, the whole network
goes down.
Figure: Ring Topology
Table : Network topology comparison
Network reachability:
Computer networks are divided into four broad categories based
on network reachability:
a) Personal area networks (PAN)
b) Local area networks (LAN)
c) Wide area networks(WAN)
d) Metropolitan area networks(MAN)
a) Personal area networks (PAN) :

PANs, as the name suggests, are mostly restricted to individual

usage.

Generally, PANs are wireless networks, which make use of low-range

and low-power technologies such as Bluetooth. The reachability of
PANs lies in the range of a few centimeters to a few meters.

A good example of PANs may be connected wireless headphones,

wireless speakers, laptops, smartphones, wireless keyboards, wireless
mouse, and printers within a house.
b) Local area networks (LAN) :

A LAN is a collection of hosts linked to a single network through

wired or wireless connections. However, LANs are restricted to
buildings, organizations, or campuses.
Typically, a few leased lines connected to the Internet provide web
access to the whole organization or a campus; the lines are further
redistributed to multiple hosts within the LAN enabling hosts.
The hosts are much more in number than the actual direct lines to the
Internet to access the web from within the organization. This also allows
the organization to define various access control policies for web access
within its hierarchy.
Typically, the present-day data access rates within the LANs range
from 100 Mbps to 1000 Mbps, with very high fault-tolerance levels.
Commonly used network components in a LAN are servers, hubs,
routers, switches, terminals, and computers.
c) Wide area networks (WAN) :
WANs typically connect diverse geographic locations. However, they
are restricted within the boundaries of a state or country.
The data rate of WANs is in the order of a fraction of LAN’s data rate.
Typically, WANs connecting two LANs or MANs may use public
switched telephone networks (PSTNs) or satellite-based links.
Due to the long transmission ranges, WANs tend to have more errors
and noise during transmission and are very costly to maintain. The fault
tolerance of WANs are also generally low.
d) Metropolitan area networks (MAN) :

The reachability of a MAN lies between that of a LAN and a WAN.

Typically, MANs connect various organizations or buildings within a
given geographic location or city.

An excellent example of a MAN is an Internet service provider (ISP)

supplying Internet connectivity to various organizations within a city.

As MANs are costly, they may not be owned by individuals or even
single organizations. Typical networking devices/components in MANs
are modems and cables. MANs tend to have moderate fault tolerance
levels.
Layered Network Models:
The intercommunication between hosts in any computer network, be it a
large-scale or a small-scale one, is built upon the premise of various task-
specific layers.
Two of the most commonly accepted and used traditional layered
network models are -
the open systems interconnection developed by the International
Organization of Standardization (ISO-OSI) reference model and
the Internet protocol suite.
OSI Model:
The ISO-OSI model is a conceptual framework that partitions any
networked communication device into seven layers of abstraction, each
performing distinct tasks based on the underlying technology and
internal structure of the hosts.

These seven layers, from bottom-up, are as follows:

1) Physical layer
2) Data link layer
3) Network layer
4) Transport layer
5) Session layer
6) Presentation layer
7) Application layer
1) Physical Layer:

This is a media layer and is also referred to as layer 1 of the OSI

model. The physical layer is responsible for taking care of the electrical
and mechanical operations of the host at the actual physical level.
These operations include or deal with issues relating to signal
generation, signal transfer, voltages, the layout of cables, physical port
layout, line impedances, and signal loss.
This layer is responsible for the topological layout of the network (star,
mesh, bus, or ring), communication mode (simplex, duplex, full duplex),
and bit rate control operations.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a
symbol.
2) Data link layer:
This is a media layer and layer 2 of the OSI model. The data link layer
is mainly concerned with the establishment and termination of the
connection between two hosts, and the detection and correction of errors
during communication between two or more connected hosts.
IEEE 802 divides the OSI layer 2 further into two sub-layers
a) Medium access control (MAC): MAC is responsible for access
control and permissions for connecting networked devices
b) logical link control (LLC): LLC is mainly tasked with error
checking, flow control, and frame synchronization.;
 The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a
frame.
3) Network layer:

This layer is a media layer and layer 3 of the OSI model. It provides a
means of routing data to various hosts connected to different networks
through logical paths called virtual circuits.
These logical paths may pass through other intermediate hosts (nodes)
before reaching the actual destination host.
The primary tasks of this layer include addressing, sequencing of
packets, congestion control, error handling, and Internetworking.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a
packet.
4) Transport Layer:

This is layer 4 of the OSI model and is a host layer. The transport layer
is tasked with end-to-end error recovery and flow control to achieve a
transparent transfer of data between hosts.
This layer is responsible for keeping track of acknowledgments during
variable-length data transfer between hosts.
In case of loss of data, or when no acknowledgment is received, the
transport layer ensures that the particular erroneous data segment is re-
sent to the receiving host.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a
segment or datagram
5) Session Layer:

This is the OSI model’s layer 5 and is a host layer.

It is responsible for establishing, controlling, and terminating of
communication between networked hosts.
The session layer sees full utilization during operations such as remote
procedure calls and remote sessions.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as data.

6) Presentation Layer:

This layer is a host layer and layer 6 of the OSI model.

It is mainly responsible for data format conversions and encryption
tasks such that the syntactic compatibility of the data is maintained
across the network, for which it is also referred to as the syntax layer.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as data.
Application Layer:

This is layer 6 of the OSI model and is a host layer.

It is directly accessible by an end-user through software APIs
(application program interfaces) and terminals. Applications such as file
transfers, FTP (file transfer protocol), e-mails, and other such operations
are initiated from this layer.
The application layer deals with user authentication, identification of
communication hosts, quality of service, and privacy.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as data.
 A networked communication between two hosts following the
OSI model is shown in Figure below.

Figure: Networked communication between two hosts following the OSI model
The below table summarizes the OSI layers and their features,
where PDU stands for Protocol Data Unit.
Table: Summary of the OSI layers and their features
Internet protocol suite:
The Internet protocol suite is yet another conceptual framework
that provides levels of abstraction for ease of understanding and
development of communication and networked systems on the Internet.
The Internet protocol suite predates the OSI model and provides
only four levels of abstraction
The TCP/IP protocol suite comprises the following four layers:
1) Link layer
2) Internet layer,
3) transport layer
4) application layer.
This collection of protocols is commonly referred to as the
TCP/IP protocol suite as the foundation technologies of this suite are
transmission control protocol (TCP) and Internet protocol (IP).
1) Link Layer:

The first and base layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite is also known as
the network interface layer.

This layer is synonymous with the collective physical and data link
layer of the OSI model.

It enables the transmission of TCP/IP packets over the physical

medium.

According to its design principles, the link layer is independent of the

medium in use, frame format, and network access, enabling it to be used
with a wide range of technologies such as the Ethernet, wireless LAN,
and the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM).
2) Internet Layer:

Layer 2 of the TCP/IP protocol suite is somewhat synonymous to the

network layer of the OSI model.

It is responsible for addressing, address translation, data packaging,

data disassembly and assembly, routing, and packet delivery tracking
operations.

Some core protocols associated with this layer are address resolution
protocol (ARP), Internet protocol (IP), Internet control message protocol
(ICMP), and Internet group management protocol (IGMP).

Traditionally, this layer was built upon IPv4, which is gradually

shifting to IPv6, enabling the accommodation of a much more significant
number of addresses and security measures.
3) Transport Layer:

Layer 3 of the TCP/IP protocol suite is functionally synonymous with

the transport layer of the OSI model.

This layer is tasked with the functions of error control, flow control,
congestion control, segmentation, and addressing in an end-to-end
manner; it is also independent of the underlying network.

Transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol

(UDP) are the core protocols upon which this layer is built, which in turn
enables it to have the choice of providing connection-oriented or
connectionless services between two or more hosts or networked
devices.
4) Application Layer:

The functionalities of the application layer, layer 4, of the TCP/IP

protocol suite are synonymous with the collective functionalities of the
OSI model’s session, presentation, and application layers.

This layer enables an end-user to access the services of the underlying

layers and defines the protocols for the transfer of data.

Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), file transfer protocol (FTP),

simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), domain name system (DNS),
routing information protocol (RIP), and simple network management
protocol (SNMP) are some of the core protocols associated with this
layer.
A networked communication between two hosts following the TCP/IP model is shown in below
figure

Figure: Networked communication between two hosts following the TCP/IP suite
Emergence of IoT:
Introduction :
The modern-day advent of network-connected devices has given
rise to the popular paradigm of the Internet of Things (IoT). Each second,
the present-day Internet allows massively heterogeneous traffic through
it.
This network traffic consists of images, videos, music, speech,
text, numbers, binary codes, machine status, banking messages, data
from sensors and actuators, healthcare data, data from vehicles, home
automation system status and control messages, military
communications, and many more.
This huge variety of data is generated from a massive number of
connected devices, which may be directly connected to the Internet or
connected through gateway devices. According to statistics from the
Information Handling Services, the total number of connected devices
globally is estimated to be around 25 billion.
This figure is projected to triple within a short span of 5 years by
the year 2025. the below Figure shows the global trend and projection for
connected devices worldwide.
Figure: 10-year global trend and projection of connected devices (statistics sourced from
the Information Handling Services
IoT is an anytime, anywhere, and anything network of Internet-
connected physical devices or systems capable of sensing an
environment and affecting the sensed environment intelligently.
This is generally achieved using low-power and low-form-
factor embedded processors on-board the “things” connected to the
Internet.
In other words, IoT may be considered to be made up of
connecting devices, machines, and tools; these things are made up of
sensors/actuators and processors, which connect to the Internet
through wireless technologies.
Another school of thought also considers wired Internet access to
be inherent to the IoT paradigm. we will consider any technology
enabling access to the Internet—be it wired or wireless—to be an IoT
enabling technology.
However, most of the focus on the discussion of various IoT
enablers will be restricted to wireless IoT systems due to the much
more severe operating constraints and challenges faced by wireless
devices as compared to wired systems.
Typically, IoT systems can be characterized by the following features
Associated architectures, which are also efficient and scalable.

 No ambiguity in naming and addressing.

Massive number of constrained devices, sleeping nodes, mobile

devices, and non-IP devices.

 Intermittent and often unstable connectivity.

Figure: The three characteristic features anytime, anywhere, and anything highlight the
robustness and dynamic nature of IoT
IoT is speculated to have achieved faster and higher technology acceptance as compared to
electricity and telephony. These speculations are not ill placed as evident from the various
statistics shown in Figures

Figure: The global IoT spending across various organizations and industries and its
subsequent projection until the year 2021 (sourced from International Data Corporation)
Figure: The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the IoT
Figure: The IoT market share across various industries (statistics sourced from
International Data Corporation)
Evolution of IoT:
The IoT, as we see it today, is a result of a series of technological
paradigm shifts over a few decades.
The technologies that laid the foundation of connected systems
by achieving easy integration to daily lives, popular public acceptance,
and massive benefits by using connected solutions can be considered as
the founding solutions for the development of IoT.
The below Figure shows the sequence of technological
advancements for shaping the IoT as it is today.

Figure: The sequence of technological developments leading to the shaping of the modern-
day IoT
ATM: ATMs or automated teller machines are cash distribution
machines, which are linked to a user’s bank account. ATMs dispense
cash upon verification of the identity of a user and their account through
a specially coded card. The central concept behind ATMs was the
availability of financial transactions even when banks were closed
beyond their regular work hours. These ATMs were ubiquitous money
dispensers. The first ATM became operational and connected online for
the first time in 1974.
Web: World Wide Web is a global information sharing and
communication platform. The Web became operational for the first time
in 1991. Since then, it has been massively responsible for the many
revolutions in the field of computing and communication.
Smart Meters: The earliest smart meter was a power meter, which
became operational in early 2000. These power meters were capable of
communicating remotely with the power grid. They enabled remote
monitoring of subscribers’ power usage and eased the process of billing
and power allocation from grids.
Digital Locks: Digital locks can be considered as on of the earlier
attempts at connected home-automation systems. Present-day digital
locks are so robust that smart phones can be used to control them.
Operations such as locking and unlocking doors, changing key codes,
including new members in the access lists, can be easily performed, and
that too remotely using smartphones.

Connected Healthcare: Here, healthcare devices connect to hospitals,

doctors, and relatives to alert them of medical emergencies and take
preventive measures. The devices may be simple wearable appliances,
monitoring just the heart rate and pulse of the wearer, as well as regular
medical devices and monitors in hospitals. The connected nature of these
systems makes the availability of medical records and test results much
faster, cheaper, and convenient for both patients as well as hospital
authorities.
•Connected Vehicles: Connected vehicles may communicate to the Internet
or with other vehicles, or even with sensors and actuators contained within
it. These vehicles self-diagnose themselves and alert owners about system
failures.
• Smart Cities: This is a city-wide implementation of smart sensing,
monitoring, and actuation systems. The city-wide infrastructure
communicating amongst themselves enables unified and synchronized
operations and information dissemination. Some of the facilities which may
benefit are parking, transportation, and others.

• Smart Dust: These are microscopic computers. Smaller than a grain of

sand each, they can be used in numerous beneficial ways, where regular
computers cannot operate. For example, smart dust can be sprayed to
measure chemicals in the soil or even to diagnose problems in the human
body.
• Smart Factories: These factories can monitor plant processes, assembly
lines, distribution lines, and manage factory floors all on their own. The
reduction in mishaps due to human errors in judgment or unoptimized
processes is drastically reduced.

• UAVs: UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles have emerged as robust public

domain solutions tasked with applications ranging from agriculture, surveys,
surveillance, deliveries, stock maintenance, asset management, and other
tasks.
IoT is being used in vivid and diverse areas such as smart parking, smartphone
detection, traffic congestion, smart lighting, waste management, smart roads,
structural health, urban noise maps, river floods, water flow, silos stock
calculation, water leakages, radiation levels, explosive and hazardous gases,
perimeter access control, snow level monitoring, liquid presence, forest fire
detection, air pollution, smart grid, tank level, photovoltaic installations, NFC
(near-field communications) payments, intelligent shopping applications,
landslide and avalanche prevention, early detection of earthquakes, supply
chain control, smart product management, and others.

Figure: The interdependence and reach of IoT over various application domains and
networking paradigms
The above figure shows the various technological interdependencies of
IoT with other domains and networking paradigms such as
M2M, CPS, the Internet of environment (IoE), the Internet of people
(IoP), and Industry 4.0. Each of these networking paradigms is a massive
domain on its own, but the omnipresent nature of IoT implies that these
domains act as subsets of IoT. The paradigms are briefly discussed here:

a) M2M:
The M2M or the machine-to-machine paradigm signifies a system of
connected machines and devices, which can talk amongst themselves
without human intervention. The communication between the machines
can be for updates on machine status (stocks, health, power status, and
others), collaborative task completion, overall knowledge of the systems
and the environment, and others.
b) CPS:
The CPS or the cyber physical system paradigm insinuates a closed control
loop—from sensing, processing, and finally to actuation—using a feedback
mechanism. CPS helps in maintaining the state of an environment through the
feedback control loop, which ensures that until the desired state is attained, the
system keeps on actuating and sensing. Humans have a simple supervisory role
in CPS-based systems; most of the ground-level operations are automated.

c) IoE:
The IoE paradigm is mainly concerned with minimizing and even reversing
the ill-effects of the permeation of Internet-based technologies on the
environment [3]. The major focus areas of this paradigm include smart and
sustainable farming, sustainable and energy-efficient habitats, enhancing the
energy efficiency of systems and processes, and others. In brief, we can safely
assume that any aspect of IoT that concerns and affects the environment, falls
under the purview of IoE.
d) Industry 4.0:
Industry 4.0 is commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution
pertaining to digitization in the manufacturing industry. The previous
revolutions chronologically dealt with mechanization, mass production, and the
industrial revolution, respectively. This paradigm strongly puts forward the
concept of smart factories, where machines talk to one another without much
human involvement based on a framework of CPS and IoT. The digitization and
connectedness in Industry 4.0 translate to better resource and workforce
management, optimization of production time and resources, and better upkeep
and lifetimes of industrial systems.
e) IoP:
IoP (Internet of People) is a new technological movement on the Internet
which aims to decentralize online social interactions, payments, transactions,
and other tasks while maintaining confidentiality and privacy of its user’s data.
A famous site for IoP states that as the introduction of the Bitcoin has severely
limited the power of banks and governments, the acceptance of IoP will limit
the power of corporations, governments, and their spy agencies [4].
IoT versus M2M:
M2M or the machine-to-machine paradigm refers to communications
and interactions between various machines and devices. These interactions can
be enabled through a cloud computing infrastructure, a server, or simply a local
network hub. M2M collects data from machinery and sensors, while also
enabling device management and device interaction.
Telecommunication services providers introduced the term M2M, and
technically emphasized on machine interactions via one or more
communication networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, satellite, public networks).
M2M is part of the IoT and is considered as one of its sub-domains, as
shown in above Figure, M2M standards occupy a core place in the IoT
landscape.
However, in terms of operational and functional scope, IoT is vaster
than M2M and comprises a broader range of interactions such as the
interactions between devices/things, things, and people, things and applications,
and people with applications; M2M enables the amalgamation of workflows
comprising such interactions within IoT. Internet connectivity is central to the
IoT theme but is not necessarily focused on the use of telecom networks.
IoT versus CPS:
Cyber physical systems (CPS) encompasses sensing, control, actuation,
and feedback as a complete package. In other words, a digital twin is attached
to a CPS-based system.
As mentioned earlier, a digital twin is a virtual system–model relation,
in which the system signifies a physical system or equipment or a piece of
machinery, while the model represents the mathematical model or
representation of the physical system’s behavior or operation.
Many a time, a digital twin is used parallel to a physical system,
especially in CPS as it allows for the comparison of the physical system’s
output, performance, and health.
Based on feedback from the digital twin, a physical system can be
easily given corrective directions/commands to obtain desirable outputs. In
contrast, the IoT paradigm does not compulsorily need feedback or a digital
twin system. IoT is more focused on networking than controls.
Some of the constituent sub-systems in an IoT environment (such as
those formed by CPS-based instruments and networks) may include feedback
and controls too. In this light, CPS may be considered as one of the sub-
domains of IoT, as shown in the above Figure.
IoT versus WoT:
From a developer’s perspective, the Web of Things (WoT) paradigm
enables access and control over IoT resources and applications. These resources
and applications are generally built using technologies such as HTML 5.0,
JavaScript, Ajax, PHP, and others. REST (representational state transfer) is one
of the key enablers ofWoT.
The use of RESTful principles and RESTful APIs (application program
interface) enables both developers and deployers to benefit from the
recognition, acceptance, and maturity of existing web technologies without
having to redesign and redeploy solutions from scratch. Still, designing and
building the WoT paradigm has various adaptability and security challenges,
especially when trying to build a globally uniform WoT.
As IoT is focused on creating networks comprising objects, things, people,
systems, and applications, which often do not consider the unification aspect
and the limitations of the Internet, the need for WoT, which aims to integrate
the various focus areas of IoT into the existing Web is really invaluable.
Technically, WoT can be thought of as an application layer-based hat added
over the network layer. However, the scope of IoT applications is much
broader; IoT also which includes non-IP-based systems that are not accessible
through the web.
Enabling IoT and the Complex Interdependence of Technologies:

Figure:The IoT planes, various enablers of IoT,

and the complex interdependencies among
them
IoT is a paradigm built upon complex interdependencies of technologies (both
legacy and modern), which occur at various planes of this paradigm. Regarding
the above Figure, we can divide the IoT paradigm into four planes:
services,
local connectivity,
global connectivity, and
processing.
If we consider a bottom-up view, the services offered fall under the
control and purview of service providers.
The service plane is composed of two parts:
1) things or devices and
2) low-power connectivity.
Typically, the services offered in this layer are a combination of things
and lowpower connectivity. For example, any IoT application requires the basic
setup of sensing, followed by rudimentary processing (often), and a low-power,
low-range network, which is mainly built upon the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol.
The things may be wearables, computers, smartphones, household appliances,
smart glasses, factory machinery, vending machines, vehicles, UAVs,
robots, and other such contraptions (which may even be just a sensor).
The immediate low-power connectivity, which is responsible for connecting the
things in local implementation, may be legacy protocols such as WiFi, Ethernet,
or cellular. In contrast, modern-day technologies are mainly wireless and often
programmable such as Zigbee, RFID, Bluetooth, 6LoWPAN, LoRA, DASH,
Insteon, and others.
The range of these connectivity technologies is severely restricted; they are
responsible for the connectivity between the things of the IoT and the nearest
hub or gateway to access the Internet. The local connectivity is responsible for
distributing Internet access to multiple local IoT deployments. This distribution
may be on the basis of the physical placement of the things, on the basis of the
application domains, or even on the basis of providers of services.
Services such as address management, device management, security, sleep
scheduling, and others fall within the scope of this plane. For example, in a
smart home environment, the first floor and the ground floor may have local
IoT implementations, which have various things connected to the network via
low-power, low-range connectivity technologies. The traffic from these two
floors merges into a single router or a gateway.
 The total traffic intended for the Internet from a smart home
leaves through a single gateway or router, which may be assigned a
single global IP address (for the whole house).
This helps in the significant conservation of already limited
global IP addresses. The local connectivity plane falls under the purview
of IoT management as it directly deals with strategies to use/reuse
addresses based on things and applications.
The modern-day “edge computing” paradigm is deployed in
conjunction with these first two planes: services and local connectivity.
In continuation, the penultimate plane of global connectivity
plays a significant role in enabling IoT in the real sense by allowing for
worldwide implementations and connectivity between things, users,
controllers, and applications.
This plane also falls under the purview of IoT management as it
decides how and when to store data, when to process it, when to
forward it, and in which form to forward it. The Web, data-centers,
remote servers, Cloud, and others make up this plane.
 The paradigm of “fog computing” lies between the planes of
local connectivity and global connectivity. It often serves to manage the
load of global connectivity infrastructure by offloading the computation
nearer to the source of the data itself, which reduces the traffic load on
the global Internet.

The final plane of processing can be considered as a top-up of

the basic IoT networking framework. The continuous rise in the
usefulness and penetration of IoT in various application areas such as
industries, transportation, healthcare, and others is the result of this
plane.

The members in this plane may be termed as IoT tools, simply

because they wring-out useful and human-readable information from
all the raw data that flows from various IoT devices and deployments.
 The various sub-domains of this plane include intelligence,
conversion (data and format conversion, and data cleaning), learning
(making sense of temporal and spatial data patterns), cognition
(recognizing patterns and mapping it to already known patterns),
algorithms (various control and monitoring algorithms), visualization
(rendering numbers and strings in the form of collective trends, graphs,
charts, and projections), and analysis (estimating the usefulness of the
generated information, making sense of the information with respect to the
application and place of data generation, and estimating future trends based
on past and present patterns of information obtained).

Various computing paradigms such as “big data”, “machine

Learning”, and others, fall within the scope of this domain.
IoT Networking Components:
An IoT implementation is composed of several components,
which may vary with their application domains.

Various established works such as that by Savolainen et al.

generally outline five broad categories of IoT networking components.

However, we outline the broad components that come into play

during the establishment of any IoT network, into six types:
1) IoT node
2) IoT router
3) IoT LAN
4) IoT WAN
5) IoT gateway
6) IoT proxy.
A typical IoT implementation from a networking
perspective is shown in below figure. The individual components are
briefly described here:
Figure: A typical IoT network ecosystem highlighting the various networking components|
from IoT nodes to the Internet
1) IoT Node: These are the networking devices within an IoT LAN.
Each of these devices is typically made up of a sensor, a processor,
and a radio, which communicates with the network infrastructure
(either within the LAN or outside it). The nodes may be connected to
other nodes inside a LAN directly or by means of a common gateway
for that LAN. Connections outside the LAN are through gateways and
proxies.

2) IoT Router: An I oT router is a piece of networking equipment that is

primarily tasked with the routing of packets between various entities
in the IoT network; it keeps the traffic flowing correctly within the
network. A router can be repurposed as a gateway by enhancing its
functionalities.
3) IoT LAN: The local area network (LAN) enables local connectivity
within the purview of a single gateway. Typically, they consist of
short-range connectivity technologies. IoT LANs may or may not be
connected to the Internet. Generally, they are localized within a
building or an organization.
4) IoT WAN: The wide area network (WAN) connects various network
segments such as LANs. They are typically organizationally and
geographically wide, with their operational range lying between a
few kilometers to hundreds of kilometers. IoT WANs connect to the
Internet and enable Internet access to the segments they are
connecting.

5) IoT Gateway: An IoT gateway is simply a router connecting the IoT

LAN to a WAN or the Internet. Gateways can implement several
LANs and WANs. Their primary task is to forward packets between
LANs and WANs, and the IP layer using only layer 3.

6) IoT Proxy: Proxies actively lie on the application layer and performs
application layer functions between IoT nodes and other entities.
Typically, application layer proxies are a means of providing security
to the network entities under it ; it helps to extend the addressing
range of its network.
 In the above figure, the various IoT nodes within an IoT LAN are
configured to to one another as well as talk to the IoT router whenever they are
in the range of it.
The devices have locally unique (LU-x) device identifiers. These
identifiers are unique only within a LAN. There is a high chance that these
identifiers may be repeated in a new LAN. Each IoT LAN has its own unique
identifier, which is denoted by IoT LAN-x in the above Figure.
A router acts as a connecting link between various LANs by forwarding
messages from the LANs to the IoT gateway or the IoT proxy.
As the proxy is an application layer device, it is additionally possible to
include features such as firewalls, packet filters, and other security measures
besides the regular routing operations.
Various gateways connect to an IoT WAN, which links these devices to
the Internet. There may be cases where the gateway or the proxy may directly
connect to the Internet. This network may be wired or wireless; however, IoT
deployments heavily rely on wireless solutions.
This is mainly attributed to the large number of devices that are
integrated into the network; wireless technology is the only feasible and neat-
enough solution to avoid the hassles of laying wires and dealing with the
restricted mobility rising out of wired connections.
Knowledge is Power…
Learning is Super Power…