An Analysis of the Application Semantics for the Iot Moving Towards the Iot Convergence
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261959307 Semantic Web of Things: an analysis of the application semantics for the IoT moving towards the IoT convergence Article in International Journal of Web and Grid Services · April 2014 DOI: 10.1504/IJWGS.2014.060260 CITATIONS READS 37 1,431 6 authors, including: Antonio J. Jara Alex Carmine Olivieri HES-SO Valais-Wallis HES-SO Valais-Wallis 160 PUBLICATIONS 1,828 CITATIONS 11 PUBLICATIONS 98 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Yann Bocchi Markus Jung HES-SO Valais-Wallis TU Wien 18 PUBLICATIONS 161 CITATIONS 8 PUBLICATIONS 142 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: SocIoTal View project SmartFIRE View project All content following this page was uploaded by Alex Carmine Olivieri on 09 March 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Int. J. Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, Vol. X, No. X/X, 2012 1 Semantic Web of Things: An analysis of the application semantics for the IoT Moving towards the IoT convergence Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) offers the capability of connecting billions of devices, resources and things together in the Internet. These connected devices are being used for stovepipe solutions with limited applications for a determined resource. These solutions present a semantic description which is limited to a specific domain, but this initial approach of the IoT needs to be pushed towards a more open, interoperable and collaborative IoT. The first step in this direction has been the Web of Things (WoT). WoT makes the IoT possible with a common stack based on Web Services following the RESTful architecture. But, even when a homogeneous access is reached through Internet and Web protocols (HTTP / CoAP), a common understanding is not yet acquired. For this purpose, the Semantic Web of Things (SWoT) is proposed for the integration of the Semantic Web on the WoT. This work analyzes the SWoT, presenting its different levels to offer an IoT convergence in terms of heterogeneous device integration, device abstraction and the different semantic descriptions available for the IoT. Specifically, we analyze the trends for capillary networks, with standards such as IPSO Application Framework and ZigBee-IP, and for cellular networks with standards such as OMA Device Management and the oneM2M initiative. Finally, this work also puts forth an careful look at the impact of the semantic annotations and metadata in the performance of the resources, a comparison with previous works for semantic integration for the IoT, and last but not least an analysis of the vision for future steps of the SWoT to take advantage of its potential for high-level modeling and knowledge engineering with techniques such as the Big Data. Keywords: Semantic Web of Things; Internet of Things; Semantic Web; CoAP; OMA; oneM2M; IPSO; Interoperability; convergence; IPv6 1 Introduction transfer protocol designed for the Web, i.e., the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). This work analyses the growth of the semantic usage in The capabilities of offering an homogeneous the Internet of Things(IoT). An IoT knowledge-driven application protocol in HTTP have been squeezed by can pave the road for the creation of an emerging the Web Services during the last decade. Nowadays, generation of context-awareness solutions, ubiquitous technologies such as Hypertext Markup Language services, and smart cyber-physical systems. (HTML), for the representation of resources, and IoT needs to cope with heterogeneity, since the JavaScript, for building the logic and intelligence, are IoT ecosystem requires connecting and integrating bringing its potential even further. For example, HTML5 heterogeneous resources, devices, objects, systems, etc., and JavaScript enable everyday desktop applications a.k.a. things and smart objects (1). over the Web, at the same time, providing a road on Figure 1 presents the steps in the IoT in order to which to interoperate and exchange information among build a semantic IoT powered by Web technologies. different applications. The first step has been to offer interconnectivity For that reason, the next step in the IoT had been to everything, i.e., connect things to Internet. Once to connect things to the Web, thereby conceiving the the connectivity is achieved we need to cope with the so-called Web of Things. heterogeneity and enable a seamless interoperability Protocols from the Internet Engineering Task Force among the different entities. For this purpose,the (IETF) such as Constrained Application Protocol existing heterogeneous islands of devices has been (CoAP) (5), which is mapped to HTTP, and also focused on moving towards IPv6. Specifically, this lightweight implementations of HTTP make the integration at the connectivity level has been reached interaction with resources from constrained devices with solutions such as 6LoWPAN (2), GLoWBAL IPv6 feasible, through browsers and with the simplicity and (3), and IPv6 Addressing Proxies (4). flexibility that the Web offers nowadays. After the connectivity is reached, then a common In addition, IETF protocols for powering the protocol for the transport and application layer is IoT with Web technology are not limited to Web required. The most extended application in the Internet access, additionally they also offer Web Linking for is the World Wide Web, and consequently the data Copyright c 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Copyright c 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. 2 author resource description and discovery, resource directories for resource allocation and discovery (6), and finally security. The Web of Things allows the different things and systems to interact together. Thereby, composing more complex services and solutions. These interactions are enabled through the definition of application programming interfaces (API) over HTTP or CoAP protocol. Thereby, the applications leverage the HTTP protocol to provide the interface for publishing data updates into the system, for retrieving data updates from the system, and in general exchange of information. The data can be encoded with different envelopes, semantics and metadata. Here I bring to mind that the same data can be gathered in plain text or encapsulated over complex structures such as XML/EXI or simpler Figure 1 Evolution of the market size from the Internet but yet organized structures such as JSON. In addition, of Things to the semantic Web of Things. they can be represented with different format and units, and finally they can offer additional information. The current market of the IoT is focused on Therefore, the challenges to move from the IoT/WoT deployments that are connected vertically, hand to towards the SWoT are several, some of these are to define hand, to the specific sensors and applications for which a common description that allows data to be universally they have been designed in order to address specific understandable, create extensible annotations, i.e., from requirements and target a specific use case. minimal semantic descriptions towards more elaborate For example, IoT platforms, usually called Machine ones, and agree on a catalog of semantic descriptions to Machine (M2M) platforms, are designed for enabling (ontologies). vertical integration. But, the IoT requires horizontal These challenges can be addressed only in an ideal integration of multiple capabilities and resources towards ecosystem, since several products will develop unique a larger ecosystem. features that will be out of the scope of the existing Therefore, IoT is not only a vehicle for standards and each manufacturer is associated to communication, but also is about integration and a different standard organization, and the standards interoperability, and to this end, semantic is the major landscape related to M2M is very large. Nowadays in driver. numbers, the Global Standards Collaboration Machine- The challenge after the Web of Things, is to build a Machine Task Force (GSC MSTF) identifies 143 semantic Web of Things (SWoT) in order to ensure a organizations with a direct or indirect interest in M2M common understanding. standardization (7). The SWoT is, on the one hand, the fusion of This work provides an analysis, on the one hand, the trends of the IoT for moving toward the Web of the key door openers in SWoT in order to allow technologies with protocols such as CoAP, REST heterogeneous device integration, device abstraction, architecture and the Web of Things concept, and on the Web accessible resources, and syntactic/semantic other hand, the evolution of the Web with the Semantic interoperability in the Section 2. Web technologies. Specifically, this looks into the convergence of SWoT promises a seamless extension to the IoT the emerging standards towards an interoperable IoT allowing integration of both the physical and digital ecosystem in the Section 3, where the IoT is studied from worlds. SWoT is focused on providing wide scale the points of view of the capillary and cellular networks. interoperability that allows the sharing and re-use of First, the standards considered for cellular networks these things. Thereby, the use cases and markets of have been initialized by the European side with the ETSI the IoT will not be held back to vertical solutions M2M and extended globally with the oneM2M initiative, or pre-established use cases, In fact, these deployed which is already offering the OMA Lightweight Device infrastructures and available data can