Chapter 1

Introduction to IoT

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 Outline

• IoT definition
• Characteristics of IoT
• Physical Design of IoT
• Logical Design of IoT
• IoT Protocols
• IoT Levels & Deployment Templates

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 Definition of IoT
What is IOT ?!!
A dynamic global network 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 the information network, often
communicate data associated with users and their environments.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 Characteristics of IoT

• Dynamic & Self-Adapting

• Self-Configuring
• Interoperable Communication Protocols
• Unique Identity
• Integrated into Information Network

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 Physical Design of IoT

• 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 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 space constraints

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 Generic block diagram of an IoT Device

• An IoT device may consist of

several interfaces for
connections to other devices,
both wired and wireless.
• I/O interfaces for sensors
• Interfaces for Internet
connectivity
• Memory and storage interfaces
• Audio/video interfaces.

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 IoT Protocols
• Link Layer
• 802.3 – Ethernet
• 802.11 – WiFi
• 802.16 – WiMax
• 802.15.4 – LR-WPAN
• 2G/3G/4G
• Network/Internet Layer
• IPv4
• IPv6
• 6LoWPAN
• Transport Layer
• TCP
• UDP
• Application Layer
• HTTP
• CoAP
• WebSocket
• MQTT
• XMPP
• DDS
• AMQP
Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015
 IoT Protocols
• CoAP, short for Constrained Application Protocol, is a specialized protocol designed for
constrained devices and constrained networks, such as those found in Internet of Things (IoT)
applications. It is a lightweight and efficient protocol that enables communication between
devices with limited resources, such as memory, processing power, and bandwidth.
• The WebSocket protocol is a communication protocol that provides full-duplex
communication channels over a single TCP connection. It offers several advantages over
traditional HTTP-based communication methods: Full-Duplex Communication, Lower
Overhead, Real-Time Updates, and Cross-Domain Communication.
• MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight messaging protocol designed
for efficient communication between devices in constrained or unreliable network
environments. It is commonly used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications for exchanging
messages between devices and applications.
 IoT Protocols
• XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) is an open-standard communication
protocol designed for real-time messaging, presence information, and data exchange. It is
widely used for instant messaging, voice and video chat, and presence-based applications.
• DDS (Data Distribution Service) is a communication protocol and middleware standard
designed for real-time, scalable, and interoperable data communication in distributed
systems. It is commonly used in mission-critical and high-performance applications that
require reliable and efficient data exchange between different components or devices.
• AMQP (Advanced Message Queuing Protocol) is an open-standard messaging protocol
designed for reliable and interoperable messaging between applications or components in
distributed systems. It provides a framework for sending and receiving messages, ensuring
reliable delivery and enabling communication between different systems and programming
languages.
IoT Protocols

• 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Network) is

a network protocol that enables the transmission of IPv6 packets
over low-power wireless networks, typically used in IoT (Internet of
Things) applications. It allows devices with limited resources, such
as low-power microcontrollers and sensors, to communicate over
wireless networks using the IPv6 protocol.
 2G, 3G, 4G, and LTE
2G, 3G, 4G, and LTE are generations of mobile network technologies that have evolved over time
to provide improved communication capabilities and data speeds for mobile devices. Each
generation represents a significant advancement in terms of speed, capacity, and functionality.
1.2G (Second Generation): 2G was the second generation of mobile network technology
introduced in the early 1990s. It primarily focused on voice communication and introduced
digital cellular networks, replacing the analog networks of 1G. The most widely used 2G
technology is GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). It offered digital voice
transmission, text messaging (SMS), and limited data services with data transmission speeds up
to 64 kbps.
2.3G (Third Generation): 3G was introduced in the early 2000s and brought significant
improvements in data speeds and capabilities. It provided faster data transfer rates, enhanced
voice quality, and the ability to support services like video calling and mobile internet browsing.
The main 3G technologies include UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and
CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000). 3G networks offered data speeds ranging from
384 kbps to several Mbps.
 2G, 3G, 4G, and LTE
3. 4G (Fourth Generation): 4G, also known as LTE (Long-Term Evolution), was
introduced in the late 2000s and brought significant advancements in terms of data
speeds, capacity, and overall network performance. It delivered faster download and
upload speeds, low latency, and improved spectral efficiency. 4G networks enabled
high-quality video streaming, online gaming, and other data-intensive applications. LTE
is the most widely adopted 4G technology, offering peak data rates of up to several
hundred Mbps.
4. LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro: LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro are
enhancements of the LTE technology that further improve data speeds and network
performance. These technologies introduced features like carrier aggregation, which
combines multiple frequency bands to increase data capacity, and support for
advanced antenna technologies for better coverage and throughput. LTE-Advanced and
LTE-Advanced Pro have paved the way for technologies like VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and
IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity.
 Logical Design of IoT

• Logical design of an IoT system

refers to an abstract
representation of the entities
and processes without going
into the low-level specifics of
the implementation.

• An IoT system comprises of a

number of functional blocks
that provide the system the
capabilities for identification,
sensing, actuation,
communication, and
management.

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 Request-Response communication 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
response, and then sends the
response to the client.

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 Publish-Subscribe communication model

• Publish-Subscribe is a
communication model that
involves publishers, brokers and
consumers.
• Publishers are the source of data.
Publishers send the data to the
topics which are managed by the
broker. Publishers are not aware
of the consumers.
• Consumers subscribe to the topics
which are managed by the broker.
• When the broker receives data for
a topic from the publisher, it
sends the data to all the
subscribed consumers.

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 Push-Pull communication 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 rate at which the
consumers pull data.

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 Exclusive Pair communication model

• Exclusive Pair is a
bidirectional, fully duplex
communication model that
uses a persistent connection
between the client and
server.
• Once the connection is setup
it remains open until the
client sends a request to
close the connection.
• Client and server can send
messages to each other after
connection setup.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 REST-based Communication APIs

• Representational State Transfer

(REST) is a set of architectural
principles by which you can design
web services and web APIs that
focus on a system’s resources and
how resource states are
addressed and transferred.
• REST APIs follow the request-
response communication model.
• The REST architectural constraints
apply to the components,
connectors, and data elements,
within a distributed hypermedia
system.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 WebSocket-based Communication APIs

• WebSocket APIs allow bi-

directional, full duplex
communication between
clients and servers.
• WebSocket APIs follow the
exclusive pair
communication model

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 IoT Levels & Deployment Templates

An IoT system comprises of the following components:

• Device: An IoT device allows identification, remote sensing, actuating and
remote monitoring capabilities. You learned about various examples of IoT
devices in section
• Resource: Resources are software components on the IoT device for
accessing, processing, and storing sensor information, or controlling
actuators connected to the device. Resources also include the software
components that enable network access for the device.
• Controller Service: Controller service is a native service that runs on the
device and interacts with the web services. Controller service sends data
from the device to the web service and receives commands from the
application (via web services) for controlling the device.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 IoT Levels & Deployment Templates

• Database: Database can be either local or in the cloud and stores the data
generated by the IoT device.
• Web Service: Web services serve as a link between the IoT device,
application, database and analysis components. Web service can be either
implemented using HTTP and REST principles (REST service) or using
WebSocket protocol (WebSocket service).
• Analysis Component: The Analysis Component is responsible for analyzing
the IoT data and generate results in a form which are easy for the user to
understand.
• Application: IoT applications provide an interface that the users can use to
control and monitor various aspects of the IoT system. Applications also
allow users to view the system status and view the processed data.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 IoT Level-1

• A level-1 IoT system has a

single node/device that
performs sensing and/or
actuation, stores data,
performs analysis and hosts
the application
• Level-1 IoT systems are
suitable for modeling low-
cost and low-complexity
solutions where the data
involved is not big and the
analysis requirements are
not computationally
intensive.

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 IoT Level-2

• A level-2 IoT system has a

single node that performs
sensing and/or actuation and
local analysis.
• Data is stored in the cloud and
application is usually cloud-
based.
• Level-2 IoT systems are
suitable for solutions where
the data involved is big,
however, the primary analysis
requirement is not
computationally intensive and
can be done locally itself.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 IoT Level-3

• A level-3 IoT system has a

single node. Data is stored
and analyzed in the cloud
and application is cloud-
based.
• Level-3 IoT systems are
suitable for solutions
where the data involved is
big and the analysis
requirements are
computationally intensive.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 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.
• Level-4 contains local and cloud-
based observer nodes which can
subscribe to and receive
information collected in the cloud
from IoT devices.
• 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.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 IoT Level-5

• A level-5 IoT system has multiple end

nodes and one coordinator node.
• 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.
• Level-5 IoT systems are suitable for
solutions based on wireless sensor
networks, in which the data involved
is big and the analysis requirements
are computationally intensive.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015

 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.
• The analytics component analyzes
the data and stores the results in
the cloud database.
• The results are visualized with the
cloud-based application.
• The centralized controller is aware
of the status of all the end nodes
and sends control commands to
the nodes.

Book website: http://www.internet-of-things-book.com Bahga & Madisetti, © 2015