COURSE CODE: 20EC0453 R20

SIDDHARTH INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY:: PUTTUR

(AUTONOMOUS)
Siddharth Nagar, Narayanavanam Road – 517583
QUESTION BANK (DESCRIPTIVE)

Subject with Code: INTRODUCTION TO IoT (20EC0453)

Course& Branch: B.Tech &AGRI,CSE,CSM
Year & Sem: IV-B.Tech.& I-Sem. Regulation: R20

UNIT –I
IOT INTRODUCTION & CONCEPTS

1 a) Define IoT and Describe the characteristics of IoT.

Definition of IoT: A dynamic global n/w infrastructure with self-configuring capabilities based
on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and virtual “things”
have identities, physical attributes and virtual personalities and use intelligent interfaces, and
are seamlessly integrated into information n/w, often communicate data associated with users
and their environments.

Characteristics of IoT:

1) Dynamic & Self Adapting: IoT devices and systems may have the capability to dynamically
adapt with the changing contexts and take actions based on their operating conditions, user’s
context or sensed environment.

2) Self-Configuring: IoT devices may have self-configuring capability, allowing a large

number of devices to work together to provide certain functionality.

3) Inter Operable Communication Protocols: IoT devices may support a number of

interoperable communication protocols and can communicate with other devices and also with
infrastructure.

4) Unique Identity: Each IoT device has a unique identity and a unique identifier (IP address).

5) Integrated into Information Network: IoT devices are usually integrated into the
information network that allow them to communicate and exchange data with other devices
and systems.

1 b) Explain the function of each block of communication system.

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The “Things “in IoT usually refers to IoT devices which have unique identities and can perform
remote sensing, actuating and monitoring capabilities. IoT devices can exchange data with
other connected devices and applications (directly or indirectly), or collect data from other
devices and process the data either locally or send the data to centralized servers or cloud-based
application back-ends for processing the data, or perform some tasks locally and other tasks
within the IoT infrastructure, based on temporal and constraints.

An IoT device may consist of several interfaces for communication to other devices both wired
and wireless. These includes (i) I/O interfaces for sensors, (ii) Interfaces for internet
connectivity (iii) memory and storage interfaces and (iv) audio/video interfaces.

2 a) List the applications of IoT.

Applications of IoT:

1) Home Automation: Smart Lighting, Smart Appliances, Intrusion Detection, Smoke/Gas

Detectors.
2) Cities: Smart Parking, Smart Lighting, Smart Roads, Structural Health Monitoring,
Emergency Response.
3) Environment: Weather Monitoring, Air Pollution Monitoring, Noise Pollution Monitoring,
Forest Fire Detection.
4) Energy: Smart Grids, Renewable Energy Systems, Prognostics.
5) Retail: Inventory Management, Smart Payments, Smart Vending Machines.
6) Logistics: Route Generation & Scheduling, Fleet Tracking, Shipment Monitoring, Remote
Vehicle Diagnostics.
7) Agriculture: Smart Irrigation, Green House Control.
8) Industry: Machine Diagnosis & Prognosis, Indoor Air Quality Monitoring.
9) Health & Life Style: Health & Fitness Monitoring, Wearable Electronics.
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2 b) Explain various link layer protocols of IoT.

Link Layer: Link layer protocols determine how the data is physically sent over the network’s
physical layer or medium. The scope of the link layer is the local network connection to which
host is attached. Hosts on the same link exchange data packets over the link layer using link
layer protocols. Link layer determines how the packets are coded and signaled by the hardware
device over the medium to which the host is attached.

Protocols:
• 802.3-Ethernet: IEEE802.3 is collection of wired Ethernet standards for the link layer. For
example, 802.3 is the standard for 10BASE5 Ethernet that uses co-axial cable as a shared
medium, 802.3.i is the standard for 10BASE-T Ethernet over copper twisted pair connection;
802.3.j is the standard for 10BASE-F Ethernet over fiber optic connection; 802.3ae is the
standard for 10Gbits/s Ethernet over fiber and so on. These standards provide data rates from
10Mb/s to 40 Gb/s and higher.

• 802.11-WiFi: IEEE 802.11 is a collection of wireless local area network (WLAN)

communication standards including extensive description of link layer. Eg: 802.11a operates
in 5GHz band, 802.11b and 802.11g operates in 2.4GHz band, 802.11n operates in 2.4/5GHz
band, 802.11ac operates in 5GHz band, 802.11ad operates in 60Ghzband. These standards
provide data rates from 1Mb/s to upto 6.75 Gb/s.
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• 802.16 - WiMax: IEEE 802.16 is a collection of wireless broadband standards including
exclusive description of link layer. WiMax provide data rates from 1.5 Mb/s to 1Gb/s. the
recent update provides data rates of 100 Mbit/s for mobile stations and 1 Gbit/s for fixed
stations.
• 802.15.4-LR-WPAN: IEEE 802.15.4 is a collection of standards for low-rate wireless
personal area network (LR-WPAN). These standards from the basis for high level
communication protocols such as ZigBee. LR-WPAN standards provides data rate from 40
Kb/s to250 Kb/s.
• 2G/3G/4G-Mobile Communication: There are different generations of mobile
communication standards including second generation (2G including GSM and CDMA), third
generation (3G including UMTS and CDMA2000) and fourth generation (4G including LTE).
IoT devices based on these standards can communicate over cellular networks. Data rates for
these standards range from 9.6 Kb/s to upto 100 Mb/s and are available from the 3GPP
websites.

3 a) With the help of neat Sketch, describe the levels1-3 and deployment templates
of IoT with an example each.
IoT Level 1: A level-1 IoT system has a single node/device that performs sensing and/or
actuation, stores data, performs analysis and host the application as shown in fig. Level-1 IoT
systems are suitable for modeling low cost and low complexity solutions where the data
involved is not big and analysis requirement are not computationally intensive. An example of
a level-1 IoT system for home automation.

IoT Level-2: A level-2 IoT system has a single node that performs sensing and/or actuating
and local analysis as shown in fig. Data is stored in the cloud and application is usually cloud
based. Level-2 IoT systems are suitable for solutions where data are involved is big, however,
the primary analysis requirement is not computationally intensive and can be done locally
itself. An example of a Level-2 IoT system for Smart Irrigation.
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IoT Level-3: A level-3 system has a single node. Data is stored and analyzed in the cloud
application is cloud based as shown in fig. Level-3 IoT systems are suitable for solutions where
the data involved is big and analysis requirements are computationally intensive. An example
of a IoT level-3 system for tracking package handling.

3 b) With the help of neat Sketch, describe the levels4-6 and deployment templates
of IoT with an example each.

IoT Level-4: A level-4 IoT system has multiple nodes that perform local analysis. Data is
stored in the cloud and application is cloud based as shown in fig. Level-4 contains local and
cloud-based observer nodes which can subscribe to and receive information collected in the
cloud from IoT devices. Observer nodes can process information and use it for various
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applications; however, observer nodes do not perform any control functions. Level-4 IoT
systems are suitable for solutions where multiple nodes are required, the data involved is big
and the analysis requirements are computationally intensive. An example of a Level-4 IoT
system for Noise Monitoring.

IoT Level-5: A level-5 IoT system has multiple end nodes and one coordinator node as shown
in fig. The end nodes that perform sensing and/or actuation. Coordinator node collects data
from the end nodes and sends to the cloud. Data is stored and analyzed in the cloud and
application is cloud based. Level5 IoT systems are suitable for solution based on wireless
sensor network, in which data involved is big and analysis requirements are computationally
intensive. An example of a Level-5 IoT system for Forest Fire Detection.
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IoT Level-6: A level-6 IoT system has multiple independent end nodes that perform sensing
and/or actuation and send data to the cloud. Data is stored in the cloud and application is cloud-
based as shown in fig. The analytics component analyses the data and stores the result in the
cloud data base. The results are visualized with cloud-based application. The centralized
controller is aware of the status of all the end nodes and sends control commands to the nodes.
An example of a Level-6 IoT system for Weather Monitoring System.

4 a) Describe an example of an IoT system in which information and knowledge

are inferred from the data.
IoT comprises things that have unique identities and are connected to the internet. While many
existing devices, such as networked computers or 4G-enabled mobile phones, already have
some form of unique identifiers and are also connected to the internet, the focus on internet is
in the configuration, control and networking via the internet of devices or things that are
traditionally not associated with the internet. These include devices such as thermostats, utility
meters, a Bluetooth-connected headset, irrigation pumps and sensors, or control circuits for an
electric car’s engine. By 2020 there will be a total of 50 billion devices/things connected to
internet. The products include hardware and software components for IoT endpoints, hubs, or
control centers of the IoT universe.

Data: Raw and unprocessed data obtained from IoT devices/systems.

Information: Information is inferred from data by filtering, processing, categorizing,

condensing and contextualizing data.
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Knowledge: Knowledge is inferred from information by organizing and structuring
information and is put into action to achieve specific objectives.

The scope of IoT is not limited to jus connecting things (devices, appliances, machines) to the
internet. Iot allows these things to communicate and exchange data (control & information,
that could include data associated with users) while executing meaningful applications towards
a common user or machine goal.

4b) What are the protocols associated with network/internet layer of IoT? Explain
them in detail.

Network/Internet Layer: The network layers are responsible for sending of IP datagrams
from source network to destination network. This layer performs the host addressing and packet
routing. The datagrams contain source and destination address which are used to route them
from the source to destination across multiple networks.

Protocols:

• IPv4: Internet Protocol version4 is the most deployed internet protocol that is used to
identify the devices on a network using a hierarchical addressing scheme. IPv4 uses a
32-bit address scheme that allows total of 232 or 4,294,967,296 addresses.
• IPv6: Internet Protocol version6 is the newest version of internet protocol and successor
to IPv4. IPv6 uses 128-bit address scheme that allows total of 2128 or 3.4*1038 addresses.
• 6 LoWPAN: 6LoWPAN brings IP protocol to the low power devices which have
limited processing capability. 6LoWPAN operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency range and
provides data transfer rates of 250 Kb/s.

5 a) With a neat sketch, explain the request-response communication model of

IoT.

Request-Response Model: Request-Response is a communication model in which the client

sends requests to the server and the server responds to the requests. When the server receives
a request, it decides how to respond, fetches the data, retrieves resource representations,
prepares the responses, and then sends the response to the client. Request-Response model is a
state less communication model and each request-response pair is independent of others. It
shows the client-server interactions in the request-response model.
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5 b) Illustrate the physical generic block diagram of an IoT device and explain it
briefly.

It shows a block diagram of a typical IoT device. An IoT device may consist of several
interfaces for connections to other devices, both wired and wireless. These include (i) I/O
interfaces for sensors, (ii) interfaces for internet connectivity, (iii) memory and storage
interfaces and (iv) audio/video interfaces. An IoT device can collect various types of data from
the on board or attached sensors, such as temperature, humidity, light intensity. The sensed
data can be communicated either to other devices or cloud-based servers/storage. IoT devices
can be connected to actuators that allow them to interact with other physical entities in the
vicinity of the device.

6 a) Compare the protocols associated with transport layer of IoT.

Transport Layer: The transport layer provides end-to-end message transfer capability
independent of the underlying network. The message transfer capability can be set up on
connections, either using handshakes (as in TCP) or without handshakes/acknowledgements
(as in UDP). The transport layer provides functions such as error control, segmentation, flow
control and congestion control.
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Protocols:

• TCP: Transmission Control Protocol is the most widely used transport layer protocol, that is
used by web browsers (along with HTTP, HTTPS application layer protocols), email programs
(SMTP application layer protocol) and file transfer (FTP). TCP is a connection oriented and
stateful protocol. While IP Protocol deals with sending packets, TCP ensures reliable
transmission of packets in order. TCP also provides error detection capability so that duplicate
packets can be discarded and lost packets are retransmitted. The congestion control capability
of TCP helps in Avoids network congestion and congestion collapse which can lead to
degradation of network performance.

• UDP: User Datagram Protocol is connectionless protocol. UDP is useful for time sensitive
applications that have very small data units to exchange and do not want the overhead of
connection setup. UDP is Transaction oriented and stateless protocol. UDP does not provide
guaranteed delivery, ordering of messages and duplicate elimination. Higher levels of protocols
can ensure reliable delivery or ensuring connections created are reliable.

6 b) With a neat sketch, explain the push-pull communication model of IoT.

Push-Pull Model: Push-Pull is a communication model in which the data producers push the
data to queues and the consumers pull the data from the queues. Producers do not need to be
aware of the consumers. Queues help in decoupling the messaging between the producers and
consumers. Queues also act as a buffer which helps in situations when there is a mismatch
between the rate at which the producers push data and the rate at which the consumers pull
data. It shows the publisher-queue-consumer interactions in the push-pull model.
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7 a) Describe various Logical functional blocks of IoT.

IoT Functional Blocks: An IoT system comprises of a number of functional blocks that
provide the system the capabilities for identification, sensing, actuation, communication and
management as shown in figure.

These functional blocks are described as follows:

• Device: An IoT system comprises of devices that provide sensing, actuation,

monitoring and control functions.
• Communication: The communication block handles the communication for IoT
system.
• Services: An IoT system uses various types of IoT services such as services for device
monitoring, device control services, data publishing services and services for device
discovery.
• Management: Management functional block provides various functions to govern the
IoT system.
• Security: Security functional block secures the IoT system and by providing functions
such as authentication, authorization, message and context integrity and data security.
• Application: IoT application provide an interface that the users can use to control and
monitor various aspects of IoT system. Applications also allow users to view the system
status and view or analyze the processed data.

7 b) Write down the differences between Rest API & Web Socket API.

Difference between Rest API and Web Socket API:

REST API WEB SOCKET API

S.N
o
It is Stateless protocol. It will not It is Stateful protocol. It will store the data.
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1. store the data.

2. It is Uni-directional. Only either It is Bi-directional. Messages can be

server or client will communicate. received or sent by both server or client.

3. It is Request-response model. It is Full duplex model.

HTTP request contains headers like It is suitable for real-time applications. It
4. head section, title section. does not have any overhead.

5. New TCP connection will be set up Only Single TCP connection.

for each HTTP request.
Both horizontal and vertical scaling
6. (we can add many resources and Only vertical scaling (we can add
number of users both horizontally resources only vertically).
and vertically).
7. It depends upon the HTTP methods to It depends upon the IP address and port
retrieve the data. number to retrieve the data
8. It does not need memory or buffers to It requires memory and buffers to store the
store the data. data.

8 a) Explain the major services used in cloud computing technology.

Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is a transformative computing paradigm that involves

delivering applications and services over the internet. Cloud computing involves provisioning
of computing, networking and storage resources on demand and providing these resources as
metered services to the users, in a “pay as you go” model. Cloud computing resources can be
provisioned on demand by the users, without requiring interactions with the cloud service
provider.

Cloud computing services are offered to users in different forms

• Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS): IaaS provides users the ability to provision

computing and storage resources. These resources are provided to the users as a virtual
machine instances and virtual storage. Users can start, stop, configure and manage the
virtual machine instances and virtual storage.
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): PaaS provides users the ability to develop and deploy
application in cloud using the development tools, APIs, software libraries and services
provided by the cloud service provider. The cloud service provider manages the
underlying cloud infrastructure including servers, network, operating systems and
storage.
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): SaaS provides the user a complete software application
or the user interface to the application itself. The cloud service provider manages the
underlying cloud infrastructure including servers, network, operating systems and
storage and application software, and the user is unaware of the underlying architecture
of the cloud.
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8 b) Explain the role of big data analysis in IoT and Define its Characteristics.

Big Data Analytics: Big data is defined as collections of data sets whose volume, velocity, or
variety, is so large that it is difficult to store, manage, process and analyze the data using
traditional databases and data processing tools. Big data analytics involves several steps
starting from data cleaning, data managing, data processing and visualization. Some examples
of big data generated by IoT are
• Sensor data generated by IoT systems such as weather monitoring stations.
• Machine sensor data collected from sensors established in industrial and energy systems for
monitoring their health and detecting failures.
• Health and fitness data generated IoT devices such as wearable fitness bands.
• Data generated by IoT systems for location and tracking of vehicles.
• Data generated by retail inventory monitoring systems.

The underlying characteristics of big data include:

• Volume: Though there is no fixed threshold for the volume of data to be considered as
big data, however, typically, the term big data is used for massive scale data that is
difficult to store, manage and process using traditional data bases and data processing
architectures.

• Velocity: Velocity is another important characteristic of big data and the primary reason
for exponential growth of data.

• Variety: Variety refers to the forms of the data. Big data comes in different forms such
as structured or unstructured data, including text data, image, audio, video and sensor
data.

9 a) Discuss the role of communication protocols and embedded systems in IoT.

Communication Protocols: Communication protocols form the back-bone of IoT systems and
enable network connectivity and coupling to applications.
• Communication protocols allow devices to exchange data over network.
• These protocols define the exchange formats, data encoding, addressing schemes for
device and routing of packets from source to destination.
• Other functions of the protocols include sequence control, flow control and
retransmission of lost packets.

Embedded Systems: An Embedded System is a computer system that has computer hardware
and software embedded to perform specific tasks. Key components of an embedded system
include microprocessor or micro controller, memory (RAM, ROM, cache), networking units
(Ethernet, WiFi, adapters), input/output units (display, keyboard, etc) and storage (such as flash
memory). Some embedded systems have specialized processors such as digital signal
processors (DSPs), graphic processors and application specific processors. Embedded systems
run embedded operating systems such as real time operating systems (RTOS).
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9b) Describe how wireless sensor networks became one of the enabling
technologies of IoT.

Wireless Sensor Networks: A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) Comprises of distributed

devices with sensors which are used to monitor the environmental and physical conditions. A
WSN consist of a number of end nodes and routers and a coordinator. End nodes have several
sensors attached to them. End nodes can also act as routers. Routers are responsible for routing
the data packets from end nodes to the coordinator. The coordinator collects the data from all
the nodes. Coordinator also acts as gateway that connects the WSN to the Internet. Some
examples of WSNs used in IoT systems are described as follows:
• Weather Monitoring Systems use WSNs in which nodes collect temperature, humidity and
other data, which is aggregated and analyzed.
• Indoor air quality monitoring systems use WSNs to collect data on the indoor air quality and
concentration of various gases.
• Soil Moisture Monitoring Systems use WSNs to monitor soil moisture at various locations.
• Surveillance Systems use WSNs for collecting surveillance data (motion data detection).
• Smart Grids use WSNs for monitoring grids at various points.

WSNs are enabled by wireless communication protocols such as IEEE 802.15.4. Zig Bee is
one of the most popular wireless technologies used by WSNs. ZigBee operates at 2.4 GHz
frequency and offers data rates upto 250 KB/s and range from 10 to 100 meters depending on
the power output and environmental conditions.

10 a) Define an internet protocol and compare IPV4 and IPV6.

Internet Protocol: Internet Protocol (IP) is a protocol, or set of rules, for routing and
addressing packets of data so that they can travel across networks and arrive at the correct
destination. Data traversing the Internet is divided into smaller pieces, called packets. IP
information is attached to each packet, and this information helps routers to send packets to the
right place. Every device or domain that connects to the Internet is assigned an IP address, and
as packets are directed to the IP address attached to them, data arrives where it is needed.

S.No
IPv4 IPv6
1. IPv4 is a 32-bit address. IPv6 is a 128-bit address.

IPv4 is a numeric address that IPv6 is an alphanumeric address that

2.
consists of 4 fields which are consists of 8 fields, which are separated
separated by dot (.). by colon.
IPv4 has 5 different classes of IP IPv6 does not contain classes of IP
3. address that includes Class A, Class B, addresses.
Class C, Class D, and Class E.
It generates 4 billion unique addresses It generates 340 undecillion unique
4.
addresses.
It does not provide encryption and It provides encryption and authentication.
5.
authentication.
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6. It consists of 4 octets. It consists of 8 fields, and each field
contains 2 octets.
7. The checksum field is available in IPv4. The checksum field is not available in
IPv6.

10 b) Compare Transmission protocol and user data gram protocol with neat
sketch.

S.No
TCP UDP
TCP is a connection-oriented UDP is a connectionless protocol.
1. protocol.

TCP is slower and less efficient in UDP is faster and more efficient than
2.
performance as compared to UDP. TCP.
Retransmission of data packets is Retransmission of packets is not possible
3. possible in TCP in case packet get lost in UDP.
or need to resend.
TCP uses a variable-length (20-60) UDP has a fixed-length header of 8 bytes.
4. bytes header.
Handshakes such as SYN, ACK, It's a connectionless protocol, which means
5. it doesn't require a handshake.
and SYNACK are used.
Broadcasting is not supported by Broadcasting is supported by UDP.
6. TCP.

7. HTTP, HTTPs, FTP, SMTP, and Telnet DNS, DHCP, TFTP, SNMP, RIP, and
use TCP. VoIP use UDP.
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