IoT and Smart Things
The Internet of Things
Broadly speaking, the term Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the extension of the Internet into the physical realm, by means of the deployment of distributed devices with embedded identification, sensing and/or actuation capabilities. IoT links digital and physical entities by means of information and communication technologies (ICT), to enable a whole new class of applications and services.
Smart Objects
Smart Objects, or simply Things, (with an uppercase T), as part of the IoT, form pervasive computing environments. Embedding electronics into everyday physical objects makes them smart and lets them seamlessly integrate within the resulting cyber-physical infrastructure. Things are entities that:-
- Have physical embodiment with a set of features (size, shape, etc.).
- Have a minimal set of communication functionalities, such as the ability to be discovered and to accept incoming messages and reply to them.
- Possess a unique identifier.
- Are associated with at least one human-readable name, and one machine-readable address, to enable M2M communication.
- Possess at least basic computing capability.
- Possess sensors to sense physical phenomena, and/or actuators to trigger actions having a physical effect on reality.
Embedding computational systems into the environment gives us ubiquitous computing. Environments rich in sensing, computing and actuating capabilities are known as Ambient Intelligence (AmI).
Smart objects share a number of common characteristics with AmI.
AmI applications have mainly been developed for closed environments, where specific functions — known at design time — are supported.
Smart objects expand the AmI concepts to integrate open-ended scenarios, where new functionality needs to be accommodated at run-time without necessarily being considered at design time.
This requires smart object solutions to be inherently autonomic, to provide this greater flexibility, i.e., presenting the self-configuration and self-organization capabilities needed.
Smart objects can be considered a special subset of embedded systems.
Research Challenges
In order to make IoT a well-engineered, commercially viable, mainstream technology, the following research challenges need to be addressed:-
- Computing, communication and identification technologies from the optimisation of energy consumption, the development of duty-cycle protocols and energy harvesting, to developments in micro and nanoelectronics, and near-field communication technologies for identification.
- Distributed systems technology relates to enabling smart objects to build ad-hoc networks, creating a distributed platform. The design of architectures and protocols for distributed systems, such as routing protocols, flow control robustness, fault-tolerance, synchronisation and leader-election problems. Unique object addressing issues — in a similar vein to DNS — requiring a global standardisation effort.
- Distributed intelligence is characterised by huge amounts of data, the IoT and its smart objects, must interpret and reason about all this data. Advances in data mining and AI will be required to address how these autonomous entities, or Agents, can interact with their environment and coordinate themselves to pursue a given goal.
- Security these considerations are orthogonal to the other research areas and encompass communications/networking, platform/data management and application/service levels. Security-specific research challenges can be sub-divided into issues:-
- Data confidentiality the guarantee that only authorised entities — human users and other objects — can access and modify data. This requires the definition of suitable Identity Access Management (IAM) and Identity Management (IdM) mechanisms able to perform in real-time and at scale.
- Privacy wireless communication channels for data exchange will play a prominent role in the IoT. This may pose new risks of privacy violation, due to the remote access capabilities of such channels and the inherent exposure to MitM (Man-in-the-Middle) attacks — such as eavesdropping and masquerade/spoofing. The development of solutions and privacy policies that balance anonymity needs with localisation/tracking needs.
- Trust relying on P2P (Peer-to-Peer) interactions, mutual trust negotiation is the process of credential exchange that allows entities requiring service or resource from another, to obtain it, traditionally achieved through certification by other third-party entities — e.g. Certificate Authorities. This is related to IdM and IAM mentioned above. However, the high-computational overhead of traditional methods of trust negotiation, they do not lend themselves to the IoT domain. Any effective model of trust should account for the highly distributed, dynamic nature of IoT objects, and the response time requirements of IoT applications. A move away from traditionally centralised and static models to one that assumes no trust relationship between system entities is defined a-priori, is needed.
Smart Cities
Smart Cities are an example of how IoT can be applied. Denoting Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) that deploy advanced communication infrastructure and novel services over city-wide scenarios.
As more people are forecast to move into cities, making existing physical infrastructure more efficient through usage monitoring and optimisation becomes possible with IoT deployments. As an alternative to building more roads, the better use of existing road networks becomes possible. This promises better quality of life for all citizens, and better use and focus of public funds.
With Smart City IoT deployments, we can collect and use data that was, arguably, always there.
Air Quality Monitoring (AQM) stations and traffic flow data allow us to see which roads in the network are currently over-subscribed, which are under-subscribed and use connected smart signage to re-direct road users to use alternate routes to ease congestion, all in real-time.
Smart Buildings
Smart Cities can also be home to Smart Buildings.
The Edge is a 40,000 sqm office building in the Zuidas business district of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Designed for the global financial firm and main tenant, Deloitte, the project acted as a catalyst for Deloitte’s transition into the digital age. A radical new working environment enabled by sustainable technologies with the world’s highest BREEAM* rating awarded to an office building.
[*]The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method is the world’s longest-established method of assessing, rating and certifying the sustainability of buildings.
The Edge integrates numerous smart technologies to create adaptable and intelligent workspaces, consolidating Deloitte’s employees from multiple sites throughout the city into a single environment.
Occupancy, movement, lighting levels, humidity and temperature are continuously measured, and using smart technology, including Ethernet-powered LED-connected lighting co-developed with Philips, the building systems respond to maximise efficiency.
The building’s lighting system is integrated with 30,000 sensors allowing it to automatically adjust energy use. The Light over Ethernet (LoE) LED system is powered by Ethernet and IP based. This makes the system computer controllable so that changes can be implemented quickly and easily without opening suspended ceilings. Each light is equipped with Philips’ coded-light system allowing for a highly precise localisation via smartphone down to 20cm accuracy, much more precise than WiFi or beacon systems. This reduces the energy requirement by around 50 percent compared to conventional lighting, and daily building use can be monitored. This data is fed to facility managers via the Building Management System (BMS) allowing:-
- Remote insight into the presence of people in the building. Heating, cooling, fresh air and lighting are fully IoT integrated and BMS controlled per 200 sqft based on occupancy. With zero occupancies, there is next-to-zero energy use.
- Predictions of occupancy at lunchtime based on real-time historical data and traffic and weather information to avoid food waste.
- Unused rooms are to be skipped from the cleaning schedule.
- Managerial alerts to lights that need replacing, and printers needing paper.
Every employee is connected to the building via an App on their smartphone. Using the App they can find parking spaces, locate free desks or other colleagues, report issues to the facilities team, or even navigate within the building. Employees can customise the temperature and light levels anywhere they choose to work in the building via the mobile App. The App remembers how they like their coffee, and tracks their energy use so they’re aware of it. The real outcome of The Edge is not just the reduction in water and energy use of its own users, but also the project’s role as a feasible, high-quality example of new technologies, new ways of designing, and new ways of working.
Net Zero Building
British Land’s first net zero building and a leading example of blending digital and physical placemaking to create outstanding places, 100 Liverpool Street is the first major office building in the UK with a converged network and integrated sub-systems for Internet of Things ready infrastructure.
Delivering a wealth of data into a single dashboard, facilitating deep, real-time insights into what’s happening in the building, to optimise operational performance.
Every system within 100 Liverpool Street is specified so it can send and receive data in a common language protocol — from lightbulbs, energy meters and air quality sensors, to chillers, boilers and lifts. This consistent approach to naming and data allows data and commands to be sent and received from both traditional system headends and cloud-based software, via secure gateways.
The building contains 90,000 sq ft of retail and dining space, together with 20,000 sq ft of outdoor terraces over five levels.
Its construction saved 11,000 tonnes of embodied carbon by retaining half the original structure, (the existing structural frame, basement and foundations were retained), using efficient design and low-carbon materials.
Ambitious Future Targets
Smart Things have a major role to play as the industry aims to achieve ambitious net-zero targets. It has the power to transform how buildings are occupied and operated.
Having more granular data about buildings enables construction and the use of datasets to optimise performance and experience.
About the Author:
Sharon Mitchell is an AWS DevOps Engineer here at Version 1.
