University of Koblenz-Landau Master Thesis Internet of Things (IoT) Development Platforms – A Case of IBM Bluemix Pawan Kumar Master Web Science Matriculation Number: 214202799 Supervised by Professor Dr Susan P. Williams Ms. Clara Greeven September 25, 2016 Universitätsstraße 1 56070 Koblenz-Metternich Germany [email protected] IoT Development Platforms – A Case of IBM Bluemix Erklärung Hiermit bestätige ich, dass die vorliegende Arbeit von mir selbständig verfasst wurde und ich keine anderen als die angegebenen Hilfsmittel – insbesondere keine im Quellenverzeichnis nicht benannten Internet–Quellen – benutzt habe und die Arbeit von mir vorher nicht in einem anderen Prüfungsverfahren eingereicht wurde. Die eingereichte schriftliche Fassung entspricht der auf dem elektronischen Speichermedium (CD-Rom). Ja Nein Mit der Einstellung der Arbeit in die Bibliothek bin ich einverstanden. Der Veröffentlichung dieser Arbeit im Internet stimme ich zu. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. (Ort, Datum) (Unterschrift) University of Koblenz-Landau ii IoT Development Platforms – A Case of IBM Bluemix Table of Contents Contents Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... vii Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... viii Zusammenfassung ................................................................................................................... ix Abstract .................................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 12 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 12 1.2 Motivation ........................................................................................................... 13 1.3 Research Objective and Research Questions ...................................................... 14 1.4 Document Structure ............................................................................................ 15 Chapter 2. Research Methodology .................................................................................... 17 2.1 Design Science Research (DSR) ........................................................................... 17 2.2 Research Design Steps ........................................................................................ 20 Chapter 3. Theoretical Foundations .................................................................................. 22 3.1 Internet of Things (IoT) Domain and Scope ........................................................ 22 3.2 IoT Ecosystem ...................................................................................................... 25 3.3 IoT Challenges ..................................................................................................... 27 3.4 IoT-A Modelling Approach .................................................................................. 29 3.5 Cloud Computing ................................................................................................. 31 3.6 IoT Communication Protocols ............................................................................. 32 3.6.1 HTTP/HTTPS ................................................................................................... 32 3.6.2 WebSocket .................................................................................................... 33 3.6.3 CoAP .............................................................................................................. 33 3.6.4 AMQP ............................................................................................................ 34 3.6.5 MQTT ............................................................................................................. 34 3.6.6 Protocols Comparison ................................................................................... 35 Chapter 4. IoT Development Platforms ............................................................................. 36 4.1 Vendors and their IoT Solution ........................................................................... 36 4.1.1 IBM: Watson IoT for Bluemix ........................................................................ 36 4.1.2 PTC: ThingWorx ............................................................................................. 39 4.1.3 Google: Cloud Platform for IoT ..................................................................... 43 4.1.4 Microsoft: Azure IoT Suite ............................................................................. 45 4.1.5 Amazon: AWS IoT .......................................................................................... 48 4.2 Comparison of IoT Development Platforms........................................................ 50 4.2.1 Comparison Criteria and their Description ................................................... 50 4.2.2 Comparison of Platforms .............................................................................. 53 4.2.3 Summary/Comments .................................................................................... 65 4.3 IBM Bluemix ........................................................................................................ 67 4.4 Watson IoT for Bluemix ....................................................................................... 69 University of Koblenz-Landau iii IoT Development Platforms – A Case of IBM Bluemix 4.4.1 Communication between IoT Device, IBM IoT Platform, and Application ... 70 4.4.2 Visualization of Data in IBM Watson IoT for Bluemix ................................... 71 4.4.3 IBM Watson IoT for Bluemix Case Study ....................................................... 73 Chapter 5. Evaluation of IBM Watson IoT for Bluemix ..................................................... 74 5.1 Cow farming - Introduction and Motivation ....................................................... 74 5.2 System Design ..................................................................................................... 75 5.2.1 Typical Barn Layout ....................................................................................... 75 5.2.2 Domain Model and Information View .......................................................... 76 5.2.3 Part A – Barn Environment Monitoring and Controlling ............................... 78 5.2.4 Part B – Cow Tracking System ....................................................................... 86 5.2.5 Summary/Comment ...................................................................................... 89 Chapter 6. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 90 Appendix A: IoT Platform’s Graphical User Interface ............................................................ 92 IBM Bluemix Console ...................................................................................................... 92 ThingWorx Console (Composer) ..................................................................................... 94 Google Cloud Platform Console ...................................................................................... 96 Microsoft Azure console (Portal) .................................................................................... 98 AWS IoT Console ........................................................................................................... 100 IBM Bluemix Catalogue ................................................................................................. 102 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 103 University of Koblenz-Landau iv IoT Development Platforms – A Case of IBM Bluemix List of Figures Figure 1: Evolution of industry, adapted from (Deloitte, 2014, p. 3) ........................................... 12 Figure 2: Connected devices prediction, adapted from (Evans, 2011; Gartner, 2013; Ericsson, 2016) ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 3: The general methodology of DSR, adapted from (Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2008, p. 20) 18 Figure 4: Design science research cycles, adapted from (Hevner A. R., 2007, p. 2) ..................... 19 Figure 5: Research steps using DSR approach .............................................................................. 21 Figure 6: Internet of Things application areas, adapted from (Impe, 2014) ................................ 22 Figure 7: Sensors adapted from (Williams, 2015) , and Actuators adapted from (Robot shop) .. 23 Figure 8: IoT principal areas of interest, as mentioned in (IEEE, 2015) ........................................ 26 Figure 9: IoT technical and social challenges, own illustration .................................................... 27 Figure 10: Architectural view relationships,