Internet of Things: An Overview 19

Reconfirm Your Understanding

● IoT design involves number of technology areas for IoT applications and services.
● IoT design spans over number of technology areas: hardware, interfaces, firmware, communication
protocols, internet connections, data storage, analytics and machine learning tools.
● IoT hardware needs sensors, actuators and device platform, IDE, development tools.
● IoT software needs device platform communication protocols, number of network communication
protocols and network backbone protocols.
● IoT design needs platforms for prototyping and product development and integration tools.
● Several open-source software and OSs for system development are available.
● Several cloud platforms and data centres for system development are available.

Self-Assessment Exercise
1. List the microcontrollers and device platforms which IoTs can use. ★
2. What are the functions of various functional units in a microcontroller that ★★
embeds in an IoT device?
3. List the device platform communication protocols, network communication ★★
protocols and network backbone protocols which IoTs can use.
4. List the available open-source software which can be used. Specify the features ★★
of RIOT and Eclipse IoT.
5. List the available cloud platform and data centre open sources. ★
6. What does platform and integration tool mean? What are the features of ★★
ThingSpeak?
7. Explain mBedTM application and IoT product development platform. ★★★

1.5 SOURCES OF IoT

LO 1.5 Categorise the
Examples of hardware sources for IoT prototype development resources which
are Arduino Yún, Microduino, Beagle Board and RasWIK. enable the development
of IoT prototype and
Hardware prototype needs an IDE for developing device
product
software, firmware and APIs.

1.5.1 Popular IoT Development Boards

Arduino Yún
Arduino Yún board uses microcontroller ATmega32u4 that supports Arduino and includes
Wi-Fi, Ethernet, USB port, micro-SD card slot and three reset buttons. The board also
combines with Atheros AR9331 that runs Linux.
20 Internet of Things: Architecture and Design Principles

Microduino
Microduino is a small board compatible with Arduino that can be stacked with the other
boards. All the hardware designs are open source.

Intel Galileo
Intel Galileo is a line of Arduino-certified development boards. Galileo is based on Intel
x86 architecture. It is open-source hardware that features the Intel SOC X1000 Quark
based Soc.
Galileo is pin-compatible with Arduino. It has 20 digital I/O (12 GPIOs fully native),
12-bit PWM for more precise control, six analog inputs and supports power over Ethernet
(PoE).

Intel Edison
Intel Edison19 is a compute module. It enables creation of prototypes and fast development
of prototyping projects and rapidly produces IoT and wearable computing devices. It
enables seamless device internetworking and device-to-cloud communication. It includes
foundational tools. The tools collect, store and process data in the cloud, and process rules
on the data stream. It generates triggers and alerts based on advanced analytics.

Beagle Board
Beagle Bone based board has very low power requirement. It is a card-like computer
which can run Android and Linux. Both the hardware designs and the software for the
IoT devices are open source.

Raspberry Pi Wireless Inventors Kit (RasWIK)

RasWIK enables Raspberry Pi Wi-Fi connected devices. It includes documentation for
29 different projects or you can come up with one of your own. There is a fee for the
devices but all of the included code is open source, and you can use it to build commercial
products as well.
Prototype development boards are described in detail in Chapter 8.

1.5.2 Role of RFID and IoT Applications

Earlier IoT systems were internet-connected RFID based systems. RFID enables tracking
and inventory control, identification in supply chain systems, access to buildings and
road tolls or secured store centre entries, and devices such as RFID-based temperature
sensors. RFID networks have new applications in factory design, 3PL-management,
brand protection, and anti-counterfeiting in new business processes for payment, leasing,
insurance and quality management. RFID systems are described in detail in Chapter 7.

19
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/edison/sb/edison_pb_331179002.pdf
 Internet of Things: An Overview 21

1.5.3 Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs)

Sensors can be networked using wireless technology and can cooperatively monitor
physical or environmental conditions. Sensors acquire data from remote locations, which
may not be easily accessible. Each wireless sensor also has communication abilities for
which it uses a radio-frequency transceiver. Each node either has an analog sensor with
signal conditioner circuit or a digital sensor. Sensing can be done to monitor temperature,
light intensity, presence of darkness, metal proximity, traffic, physical, chemical and
biological data etc.

WSN Definition
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is defined as a network in which each sensor node connects
wirelessly and has capabilities of computations for data compaction, aggregation and
analysis plus communication and networking. WSN node is autonomous. Autonomous
refers to independent computing power and capability to send requests and receive
responses, and data forward and routing capabilities.
A web source defines the WSN as “a wireless network consisting of spatially distributed
autonomous devices using sensors to cooperatively monitor physical or environmental
conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion or pollutants, at
different locations.”

WSN Node
A WSN node has limited computing power. It may change topology rapidly. The WSN
network in the topology-changing environment functions as an ad-hoc network. A WSN
network in that environment is generally self-configuring, self-organising, self-healing
and self-discovering. WSNs are described in detail in Chapter 7.

Reconfirm Your Understanding

● IoT sources are microcontroller-based boards—Arduino, Intel Galileo, Intel Edison, Beagle Board
and Raspberry Pi. The sources have open source IDEs and development tools.
● Arduino uses a microcontroller, for example, ATmega 328 or ATmega 32u4.
● Raspberry Pi uses ARM Cortex and ARM LPC microcontroller-based boards.
● RFIDs are identifying devices which communicate their identity and have number of IoT applications,
such as inventory control, tracking and supply chain.
● Wireless Sensor Nodes are wireless sensors which form a self-configuring and self-discovering
network.
22 Internet of Things: Architecture and Design Principles

Self-Assessment Exercise
1. List the sources of IoT development board which can be used for prototype ★
development.
2. What are the features in Arduino Yún? ★
3. When will Intel Galileo and Intel Edison be preferred in an IoT application? ★★
4. What are RFIDs? Draw the architecture for their inventory control application. ★★★
5. Define Wireless Sensor Network and list its applications. ★

1.6 M2M COMMUNICATION

LO 1.6 Outline the
Machine-to-machine (M2M) refers to the process of functions of M2M
architectural domains
communication of a physical object or device at machine
and relationships of an
with others of the same type, mostly for monitoring but M2M system with an
also for control purposes. Each machine in an M2M system IoT system
embeds a smart device. The device senses the data or status
of the machine, and performs the computation and communication functions. A device
communicates via wired or wireless systems. The communication protocols are 6LowPAN,
LWM2M, MQTT, and XMPP. Each communication device is assigned 48-bits Ipv6 address.

1.6.1 M2M to IoT

IoT technology in industry involves the integration of complex physical machinery M2M
communication with the networks of sensors, and uses analytics, machine learning, and
knowledge discovery software.
M2M technology closely relates to IoT when the smart devices or machines collect
data which is transmitted via the Internet to other devices or machines located remotely.
The close difference between M2M and IoT is that M2M must deploy device to device,
and carry out the coordination, monitoring, controlling of the devices and communicate
without the usage of Internet whereas IoT deploys the internet, server, internet protocols
and server or cloud end applications, services or processes.
M2M has many applications in fields such as industrial automation, logistics, smart grid,
smart cities, health and defence. Initial applications of M2M were found in automation
and instrumentation only, but now these include telemetric applications and Industrial
Internet of Things (IIoT) as well.
 Internet of Things: An Overview 23

Example 1.4
Problem
Give examples of usages of M2M and IIoT.

Solution
1. Examples of M2M usages are coordinated movement of tools, robots, drones, refinery operations and
sequential control at each stage during manufacturing. These include manufacturing of food packets,
assembly in assembly lines, tracking of failures along the railway tracks etc.
2. IIoT finds applications in the fields of manufacturing at multiple locations, railways, mining,
agriculture, oil and gas, utilities, transportation, logistics and healthcare services along with usages
of the internet, and usages of software for analytics, machine learning, and knowledge discovery in
these areas.

1.6.2 M2M Architecture

M2M architecture consists of three domains (Figure 1.9):
1. M2M device domain
2. M2M network domain
3. M2M application domain

M2M Application Domain

Integration, Collaboration and M2M Application Services

Application (Reporting, Analysis, Control)

Network Domain
M2M Server, Device Identity Management, Device Management, Device Network Management,
Data Analysis, Data Abstraction (Aggregation and Access) Data Accumulation (Storage) and
Management, Uni-cast and Multicast Message Delivery and Other Core Functionalities for Monitoring
Connectivity (Communication and Processing Units)

M2M Devices Domain

Communication Gateway

Connectivity Interface (Communication and Processing Units) and

Edge Computing (Data Element Analysis and Transformation)

Physical Devices and Controllers (the Things in IoT) [Sensors, Machines, Devices,
Intelligent Edge Nodes of Different Types]

Figure 1.9 Three domains of M2M architecture

24 Internet of Things: Architecture and Design Principles

M2M device communication domain consists of three entities: physical devices,

communication interface and gateway. Communication interface is a port or a subsystem,
which receives the input from one end and sends the data received to another.
M2M network domain consists of M2M server, device identity management, data
analytics and data and device management similar to IoT architecture (connect + collect +
assemble + analyse) level.
M2M application domain consists of application for services, monitoring, analysis and
controlling of devices networks.

1.6.3 Software and Development Tools

Examples of M2M software and development tools are as follows:
● Mango is an open source M2M web-based software. It supports multiple platforms,

multiple protocols, databases, meta points, user-defined events and import/export.20

● Mainspring from M2MLabs is a development tool, and source framework for

developing M2M applications.21 It enables:

❍ Flexible modelling of devices and their configurations

❍ Communication between devices and applications

❍ Validation and normalisation of data

❍ Long-term data storage and data retrieval functions

❍ Programming in Java and Apache Cassandra

❍ Usages of no SQL database.

● is an M2M communication framework. It is an M2M platform and

integration tool. It enables connecting devices to the IoT. It includes web-based
management software that creates security-rules-based e-networks and monitoring
devices. The web software enables prototype projects built with DeviceHub and
online tests to find out how it works.
● Following are the open protocols,
tools and frameworks for M2M:
❍ XMPP, MQTT-OASIS standards group and OMA LWM2M-OMA standard group

for protocol
❍ Various projects of Eclipse M2M industry working groups’ are Koneki, Eclipse

SCADA for open standards for communication protocols, tools and frameworks
❍ ITU-T Focus Group M2M global standardisation initiative for a common M2M

service layer
❍ 3GPPP study group for security aspects of M2M equipment and automatic SIM

activation covering remote provisioning and change of subscription.

❍ Weightless (wireless communications) group for standards and using wireless

spaces for M2M

20
https://lx-group.com.au/mango-worlds-popular-open-source-m2m-platform/
21
www.m2mlabs.com/
 Internet of Things: An Overview 25

Following is an example of M2M/IoT.

Example 1.5
An open-source software for designing connected cars is available with Local Motors (a company) that
collaborates with IBM for software of IoT connected vehicles. Most of the open-source software and design
specifications for the prototype can be downloaded from the Local Motors website22.

Reconfirm Your Understanding

● M2M refers to communication of devices (machines) with others of same type mostly for monitoring
and control purposes.
● M2M technology closely relates to IoT.
● Close differences exist in M2M and IoT. M2M uses device-to-device communication for coordinated
monitoring plus control purposes but IoT uses the Internet and server or cloud end protocols and
applications.
● M2M device communication domain consists of three entities: physical devices, communication
interface and gateway.
● M2M network domain consists of M2M server, device identity management, data analytics, data
management and device management similar to IoT architecture (Connect + Collect + Assemble +
Analyse) level.
● M2M application domain consists of application for services, monitoring, analysis and control of the
devices networks.
● Open protocols, tools and frameworks are available for M2M.
● Various projects of Eclipse M2M industry working groups’ are Koneki, Eclipse SCADA. These are open
standard communication protocols, tools and frameworks.

Self-Assessment Exercise
1. What does M2M mean? ★
2. How does M2M relate to IoT? What are the differences between the two? ★★
3. Give examples of M2M applications. ★
4. What are the three architectural domain functionalities in M2M architecture? ★★
5. What are the levels in M2M having close similarity with IoT? ★★
6. Correlate M2M architectural domains with IoT architecture levels. ★★★
7. What are the features of DeviceHive (M2M) communication framework? ★
8. What are the open protocols, tools and frameworks generally used in M2M? ★★★

22
https://localmotors.com/