Faculty of Technology and Society Computer Engineering Bachelor Thesis Evaluating IoT cloud platforms in the context of smart buildings Utvärdering av IoT-molnplattformar för användning inom området smarta byggnader Gustaf Bohlin Anton Hellbe Exam: Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Examiner: Johan Holmberg Computer Science 180hp Supervisor: Fahed Alkhabbas Area: Computer Science Date for examination: 2018-05-25 Abstract Smart buildings is a common application for both Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cloud services. Recently cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft have started to offer IoT cloud platforms which consist of a class of services that provide a base for cloud applications utilized by IoT devices. However, there are many different providers of IoT cloud platforms and selecting one for an IoT solution for a smart building is difficult. In this thesis two IoT cloud platforms are evaluated in the context of smart buildings as part of an assignment given by Sigma Lundinova. To evaluate the IoT cloud platforms a common smart building scenario is realized by implementing a prototype using two different IoT cloud platforms. The development process makes it possible to evaluate how well the platforms support the development of the system that the scenario describes. The evaluation is based on information and experience from the process of developing the system using the IoT cloud platforms. The evaluation can be used as a guidance when selecting IoT cloud platform for an IoT solution intended for a smart building. i Sammanfattning Smarta byggnader är ett vanligt användningsområde för både Internet of Things (IoT) enheter och molntjänster. På senare tid har molntjänstleverantörer som Amazon, Google och Microsoft börjat erbjuda IoT-molnplattformar. Dessa består av en klass av tjänster som utgör en bas för molnapplikationer som används av IoT-enheter. Idag finns det många olika leverantörer som tillhandahåller denna tjänsten och att välja en för en IoT-lösning är svårt. I denna rapport beskrivs utvecklingen av ett system som är vanligt förekommande i en smart byggnad. I denna rapport utvärderas IoT-molnplattformar för användning inom området smarta byggnader som en del av ett uppdrag från Sigma Lundinova. För utvärderingen implementeras ett vanligt scenario i en smart byggnad som en prototyp med hjälp av två olika IoT-molnplattformar. Syftet med detta är att utvärdera och jämföra hur väl IoT-molnplattformarna stödjer utveckling av systemet beskrivet av scenariot. Genom att implementera en prototyp insamlas underlag i form av kunskap och erfarenhet som används i utvärderingen. Utvärderingen kan användas som ett hjälpmedel för att göra det lättare att välja en IoT-molnplattform när man utvecklar IoT-lösningar för smarta byggnader. ii Acknowledgements We would like to thank Sigma Lundinova for the opportunity to carry out this thesis on their behalf. Furthermore, we would like to thank Mathias Beckius at Sigma Lundinova for all the help and support with our thesis. We would also like to thank Magnus Krampell for his advice and feedback during the thesis work. iii Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background . .1 1.2 Problem statement and purpose . .2 1.2.1 Research questions . .2 1.3 Limitations . .2 2 Theoretical Background 3 2.1 Internet of Things (IoT) . .3 2.2 Cloud services . .3 2.3 IoT cloud platforms . .4 2.4 Software Development Kit (SDK) . .4 2.5 Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) . .4 2.6 Serverless functions . .4 2.7 Smart buildings . .5 2.8 Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) . .5 3 Related Work 6 3.1 "Selecting the right IoT cloud platform" . .6 3.1.1 Comments . .6 3.2 "Fast-paced development of a smart campus IoT platform" . .6 3.2.1 Comments . .7 3.3 "IoT framework for Smart Buildings with Cloud Computing" . .7 3.3.1 Comments . .7 3.4 "What Does I(o)T Cost?" . .8 3.4.1 Comments . .8 3.5 "Design and Implementation of Intelligent HVAC System Based on IoT and Bigdata Platform" . .8 3.5.1 Comments . .8 4 Method 9 4.1 Comparative study . .9 4.1.1 Constructing a scenario . .9 4.1.2 Comparison criteria . 10 4.1.3 Selecting the IoT cloud platforms to evaluate . 10 4.1.4 Evaluation . 10 4.2 Nunamaker and Chen’s system development process . 10 4.2.1 Construct a conceptual framework . 11 4.2.2 Develop a system architecture . 11 4.2.3 Analyze and design the system . 12 4.2.4 Build the (prototype) system . 12 4.2.5 Observe and evaluate the system . 12 5 Results 13 5.1 Constructing a scenario . 13 5.2 Comparison criteria . 13 5.2.1 Requirement Analysis . 13 5.2.2 Comparison criteria . 14 5.3 Selecting the IoT cloud platforms to evaluate . 15 iv 5.4 Construct a conceptual framework . 16 5.4.1 Problem Tree . 16 5.4.2 End device . 16 5.4.3 Edge device . 17 5.4.4 IoT cloud platform . 17 5.4.5 Web page . 18 5.4.6 Literature study . 18 5.5 Develop a system architecture . 22 5.5.1 End Device . 22 5.5.2 Edge Device . 22 5.5.3 IoT Cloud Platform . 22 5.5.4 Web page . 22 5.6 Analyze and design the system . 23 5.6.1 Hardware . 23 5.6.2 End device . 24 5.6.3 Edge Device . 24 5.6.4 IoT cloud platform . 25 5.6.5 Web page . 26 5.7 Build the (prototype) system . 26 5.7.1 IoT cloud platform . 26 5.7.2 End device . 27 5.7.3 Edge device . 28 5.7.4 Regulation . 29 5.7.5 Web page . 30 5.8 Observe and evaluate the system . 32 5.8.1 Constructing test cases . 32 5.8.2 Testbed . 33 5.9 Evaluation . 34 6 Discussion 45 6.1 Related work . 45 6.2 Comparative study methodology . 45 6.3 Analysis of result . 46 7 Conclusions 47 7.1 Contribution . 47 7.2 Future work . 47 Appendices 50 Appendix . A.. 50 Appendix . B.. 51 Appendix . C.. 52 v 1 Introduction This chapter introduces the concepts of smart buildings and IoT cloud platforms, and how they can be used together. The chapter also introduces the assignment that the thesis is based upon, the research aim and the research questions. 1.1 Background Smart buildings is a common application for both Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cloud services. Usually smart buildings contain a number of IoT devices that together make the building classify as a smart building. For a smart building system to be able to perform data processing and allow for remote controlling of appliances, it can be connected to the cloud. Recently cloud service providers (CSPs) such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft have star- ted to offer IoT cloud platforms which consist of a class of services that provide a base for cloud applications utilized by IoT devices. IoT cloud platforms integrates devices, networks, and applications [1]. These platforms hide implementation complexity from the user, because they support and enable IoT solutions by providing an ecosystem upon which IoT devices are built [1]. An example of an IoT solution that could be supported by an IoT cloud platform is "smart lights", e.g. lights in a building that are connected to an IoT cloud platform to allow for remote controlling as well as scheduling. This could be utilized to have the lights be automatically turned on in the morning, and turned off in the evening. This thesis investigates and evaluates IoT cloud platforms as a part of an assignment given by Sigma Lundinova. Sigma Lundinova is a consulting firm that specializes in electronics and embedded systems software. To carry out this assignment a common scenario for a smart building is realized and an appliance prototype is implemented. The common smart building appliance chosen for the scenario is a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. In the scenario the appliance prototype is connected to an application deployed onto an IoT cloud platform. The development process of the system is meant to provide information and experience to base the evaluation upon. Sigma Lundinova requires that the evaluation covers at least two platforms and that the evaluated platforms satisfies the following requirements: PR1 The cloud service provider should offer technical support. The cloud service provider should offer technical support via both phone and email. PR2 The platform should allow for direct access. No contact with the cloud service provider’s support staff should be needed to create an account and start developing. PR3 The platform should have publicly available documentation. The documentation should be easy to access (e.g. publicly available) and cover basic usage. PR4 The platform should offer free trial. No costs for a certain amount of days or a certain amount of use. 1 PR5 The platform should not require hardware dependency. The platform should not require any hardware dependency such as special embedded hardware boards. PR6 The platform should provide example code. Example code describing how to use the platform in order to shorten time to get started should be available. 1.2 Problem statement and purpose According to Postscapes there exist 122 IoT cloud platforms today [2], and selecting one for a smart building implementation is difficult. Moreover, there appears to exists only a few papers that investigates and evaluates different IoT cloud platforms, and these papers mostly discuss the functional properties of the platforms and their performance [3][4][5]. The purpose of this thesis is to complement the existing papers with a comparative study on the application development process using an IoT cloud platform. 1.2.1 Research questions The research aim of this thesis is to evaluate IoT cloud platforms by implementing a common smart building appliance using an IoT cloud platform.