Introduction to Internet of things(22ETC151/251)

MODULE 1

Basics of Networking
1.1 Introduction
In the present era of data- and information-centric operations, everything—right
from agriculture to military operations—relies heavily on information. The quality of
any particular information is as good as the variety and strength of the data that
generates this information. Additionally, the speed at which data is updated to all
members of a team (which may be a group of individuals, an organization, or a
country) dictates the advantage that the team has over others in generating useful
information from the gathered data. Considering the present-day global scale of
operations of various organizations or militaries of various countries, the speed and
nature of germane information are crucial for maintaining an edge over others in the
same area. To sum it up, today’s world relies heavily on data and networking, which
allows for the instant availability of information from anywhere on the earth at any
moment.
Typically, networking refers to the linking of computers and communication
network devices (also referred to as hosts), which interconnect through a network
(Internet or Intranet) and are separated by unique device identifiers (Internet
protocol, IP addresses and media access control, MAC addresses). These hosts may
be connected by a single path or through multiple paths for sending and receiving
data. The data transferred between the hosts may be text, images, or videos, which
are typically in the form of binary bit streams.

1.2 Network Types

Computer networks are classified according to various parameters: 1) Type of
connection, 2) physical topology, and 3) reach of the network. These classifications
are helpful in deciding the requirements of a network setup and provide insights into
the appropriate selection of a network type for the setup.

1.2.1 Connection types

Depending on the way a host communicates with other hosts, computer networks
are of two types— (Figure 1.1): Point-to-point and Point-to-multipoint.

(i) Point-to-point: Point-to-point connections are used to establish direct

connections between two hosts. Day-to-day systems such as a remote control
for an air conditioner or television is a point-to-point connection, where the
connection has the whole channel dedicated to it only. These networks were
designed to work over duplex links and are functional for both synchronous as
well as asynchronous systems. Regarding computer networks, point to point
connections find usage for specific purposes such as in optical networks.

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(ii) Point-to-multipoint: In a point-to-multipoint connection, more than two

hosts
share the same link. This type of configuration is similar to the one-to-many
connection type. Point-to-multipoint connections find popular use in wireless
networks and IP telephony. The channel is shared between the various hosts either
spatially or temporally. One common scheme of spatial sharing of the
channel is frequency division multiple access (FDMA). Temporal sharing of
channels include approaches such as time division multiple access (TDMA).
Each of the spectral and temporal sharing approaches has various schemes
and protocols for channel sharing in point-to-multipoint networks. Point-to
multipoint
connections find popular use in present-day networks, especially
while enabling communication between a massive number of connected devices.

1.2.2 Physical topology

Depending on the physical manner in which communication paths between the hosts
are connected, computer networks can have the following four broad topologies—
(Figure 1.2): Star, Mesh, Bus, and Ring.

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(i) Star: In a star topology, every host has a point-to-point link to a central
controller
or hub. The hosts cannot communicate with one another directly; they can only
do so through the central hub. The hub acts as the network traffic exchange. For
large-scale systems, the hub, essentially, has to be a powerful server to handle
all the simultaneous traffic flowing through it. However, as there are fewer
links (only one link per host), this topology is cheaper and easier to set up. The
main advantages of the star topology are easy installation and the ease of fault
identification within the network. If the central hub remains uncompromised,
link failures between a host and the hub do not have a big effect on the network,
except for the host that is affected. However, the main disadvantage of this
topology is the danger of a single point of failure. If the hub fails, the whole
network fails.

(ii) Mesh: In a mesh topology, every host is connected to every other host using a
dedicated link (in a point-to-point manner). This implies that for n hosts in a
mesh, there are a total of n(n-1)/2 dedicated full duplex links between the hosts.
This massive number of links makes the mesh topology expensive. However,
it offers certain specific advantages over other topologies. The first significant
advantage is the robustness and resilience of the system. Even if a link is down
or broken, the network is still fully functional as there remain other pathways
for the traffic to flow through. The second advantage is the security and privacy
of the traffic as the data is only seen by the intended recipients and not by all
members of the network. The third advantage is the reduced data load on a single
host, as every host in this network takes care of its traffic load. However,
owing to the complexities in forming physical connections between devices and
the cost of establishing these links, mesh networks are used very selectively, such
as in backbone networks.
(iii) Bus: A bus topology follows the point-to-multipoint connection. A backbone
cable or bus serves as the primary traffic pathway between the hosts. The hosts
are connected to the main bus employing drop lines or taps. The main advantage
of this topology is the ease of installation. However, there is a restriction
on the length of the bus and the number of hosts that can be simultaneously
connected to the bus due to signal loss over the extended bus. The bus topology
has a simple cabling procedure in which a single bus (backbone cable) can be
used for an organization. Multiple drop lines and taps can be used to connect
various hosts to the bus, making installation very easy and cheap. However, the
main drawback of this topology is the difficulty in fault localization within the
network.
(iv) Ring: A ring topology works on the principle of a point-to-point connection.
Here, each host is configured to have a dedicated point-to-point connection with
its two immediate neighboring hosts on either side of it through repeaters at
each host. The repetition of this system forms a ring. The repeaters at each host
capture the incoming signal intended for other hosts, regenerates the bit stream,
and passes it onto the next repeater. Fault identification and set up of the ring
topology is quite simple and straightforward. However, the main disadvantage
of this system is the high probability of a single point of failure. If even one
repeater fails, the whole network goes down.

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1.2.3 Network reachability

Computer networks are divided into four broad categories based on network
reachability: personal area networks, local area networks, wide area networks, and
metropolitan area networks.

(i) Personal Area Networks (PAN): PANs, as the name suggests, are mostly
restricted to individual usage. A good example of PANs may be connected

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wireless headphones, wireless speakers, laptops, smartphones, wireless keyboards,

wireless mouse, and printers within a house. Generally, PANs are wireless networks,
which make use of low-range and low-power technologies such as Bluetooth. The
reachability of PANs lies in the range of a few centimetres to a few meters.

(ii) Local Area Networks (LAN): A LAN is a collection of hosts linked to a single
network through wired or wireless connections. However, LANs are restricted
to buildings, organizations, or campuses. Typically, a few leased lines connected
to the Internet provide web access to the whole organization or a campus; the
lines are further redistributed to multiple hosts within the LAN enabling hosts.
The hosts are much more in number than the actual direct lines to the Internet to
access the web from within the organization. This also allows the organization
to define various access control policies for web access within its hierarchy.
Typically, the present-day data access rates within the LANs range from 100
Mbps to 1000 Mbps, with very high fault-tolerance levels. Commonly used
network components in a LAN are servers, hubs, routers, switches, terminals,
and computers.

(iii) Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN): The reachability of a MAN lies between
that of a LAN and a WAN. Typically, MANs connect various organizations or buildings
within a given geographic location or city. An excellent example of a MAN is an
Internet service provider (ISP) supplying Internet connectivity to various
organizations within a city. As MANs are costly, they may not be owned by
individuals or even single organizations. Typical networking devices/components in
MANs are modems and cables. MANs tend to have moderate fault tolerance levels.

(iv) Wide Area Networks (WAN): WANs typically connect diverse geographic
locations. However, they are restricted within the boundaries of a state or
country. The data rate of WANs is in the order of a fraction of LAN’s data rate.
Typically, WANs connecting two LANs or MANs may use public switched telephone
networks (PSTNs) or satellite-based links. Due to the long transmission ranges,
WANs tend to have more errors and noise during transmission and are very costly to
maintain. The fault tolerance of WANs is also generally low.

1.3 Layered Network Models

The intercommunication between hosts in any computer network, be it a large-scale

or a small-scale one, is built upon the premise of various task-specific layers. Two
of the most commonly accepted and used traditional layered network models are
the open systems interconnection developed by the International Organization of
Standardization (ISO-OSI) reference model and the Internet protocol suite.

1.3.1 OSI Model

The ISO-OSI model is a conceptual framework that partitions any networked

communication device into seven layers of abstraction, each performing distinct
tasks based on the underlying technology and internal structure of the hosts. These
seven layers, from bottom-up, are as follows: 1) Physical layer, 2) Data link layer,
3) Network layer, 4) Transport layer, 5) Session layer, 6) Presentation layer, and 7)
Application layer.

The major highlights of each of these layers are explained in this section.

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i)Physical Layer:
This is a media layer and is also referred to as layer 1 of the
OSI model. The physical layer is responsible for taking care of the electrical and
mechanical operations of the host at the actual physical level. These operations
include or deal with issues relating to signal generation, signal transfer, voltages,
the layout of cables, physical port layout, line impedances, and signal loss. This
layer is responsible for the topological layout of the network (star, mesh, bus, or
ring), communication mode (simplex, duplex, full duplex), and bit rate control
operations. The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a
symbol.
ii)Data Link Layer:
This is a media layer and layer 2 of the OSI model. The data link layer is mainly
concerned with the establishment and termination of the connection between two
hosts, and the detection and correction of errors during communication between two
or more connected hosts. IEEE 802 divides the OSI layer 2 further into two sub-
layers [2]: Medium access control (MAC) and logical link control (LLC). MAC is
responsible for access control and permissions for connecting networked devices;
whereas LLC is mainly tasked with error checking, flow control, and frame
synchronization. The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a
frame.

iii) Network Layer:

This layer is a media layer and layer 3 of the OSI model.
It provides a means of routing data to various hosts connected to different
networks through logical paths called virtual circuits. These logical paths may pass
through other intermediate hosts (nodes) before reaching the actual destination
host. The primary tasks of this layer include addressing, sequencing of packets,
congestion control, error handling, and Internetworking. The protocol
data unit associated with this layer is referred to as a packet.

(iv) Transport Layer:

This is layer 4 of the OSI model and is a host layer. The
transport layer is tasked with end-to-end error recovery and flow control to
achieve a transparent transfer of data between hosts. This layer is responsible for
keeping track of acknowledgments during variable-length data transfer between
hosts. In case of loss of data, or when no acknowledgment is received, the
transport layer ensures that the particular erroneous data segment is re-sent to the
receiving host. The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to
as a segment or datagram.

v) Session Layer:
This is the OSI model’s layer 5 and is a host layer. It is responsible
for establishing, controlling, and terminating of communication between
networked hosts. The session layer sees full utilization during operations such
as remote procedure calls and remote sessions. The protocol data unit associated
with this layer is referred to as data.
vi) Presentation Layer:
This layer is a host layer and layer 6 of the OSI model. It
is mainly responsible for data format conversions and encryption tasks such

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that the syntactic compatibility of the data is maintained across the network, for
which it is also referred to as the syntax layer. The protocol data unit associated
with this layer is referred to as data.
vii) Application Layer:
This is layer 6 of the OSI model and is a host layer. It is directly accessible by an
end-user through software APIs (application program interfaces) and terminals.
Applications such as file transfers, FTP (file transfer protocol), e-mails, and other
such operations are initiated from this layer. The application layer deals with user
authentication, identification of communication hosts, quality of service, and privacy.
The protocol data unit associated with this layer is referred to as data.

A networked communication between two hosts following the OSI model is

shown in Figure 1.3. Table 1.2 summarizes the OSI layers and their features,
where PDU stands for protocol data unit.

1.3.2 Internet protocol suite

The Internet protocol suite is yet another conceptual framework that provides levels
of abstraction for ease of understanding and development of communication and
networked systems on the Internet. However, the Internet protocol suite predates
the OSI model and provides only four levels of abstraction: 1) Link layer, 2) Internet
layer, 3) transport layer, and 4) application layer. This collection of protocols is
commonly referred to as the TCP/IP protocol suite as the foundation technologies of
this suite are transmission control protocol (TCP) and Internet protocol (IP) [3], [4],
[6]. The TCP/IP protocol suite comprises the following four layers:

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i)Link Layer:
The first and base layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite is also known as the network
interface layer. This layer is synonymous with the collective physical and data link
layer of the OSI model. It enables the transmission of TCP/IP packets over the
physical medium. According to its design principles, the link layer is independent of
the medium in use, frame format, and network access, enabling it to be used with a
wide range of technologies such as the Ethernet, wireless LAN, and the
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM).

ii)Internet Layer:
Layer 2 of the TCP/IP protocol suite is somewhat synonymous
to the network layer of the OSI model. It is responsible for addressing, address
translation, data packaging, data disassembly and assembly, routing, and packet
delivery tracking operations. Some core protocols associated with this layer
are address resolution protocol (ARP), Internet protocol (IP), Internet control
message protocol (ICMP), and Internet group management protocol (IGMP).
Traditionally, this layer was built upon IPv4, which is gradually shifting to IPv6,
enabling the accommodation of a much more significant number of addresses
and security measures.
iii) Transport Layer:
Layer 3 of the TCP/IP protocol suite is functionally synonymous with the transport
layer of the OSI model. This layer is tasked with the functions of error control, flow
control, congestion control, segmentation, and addressing in an end-to-end manner;
it is also independent of the underlying network. Transmission control protocol (TCP)
and user datagram protocol (UDP) are the core protocols upon which this layer is
built, which in turn enables it to have the choice of providing connection-oriented or
connectionless services between two or more hosts or networked devices.

iv) Application Layer:

The functionalities of the application layer, layer 4, of the
TCP/IP protocol suite are synonymous with the collective functionalities of the
OSI model’s session, presentation, and application layers. This layer enables an
end-user to access the services of the underlying layers and defines the protocols
for the transfer of data. Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), file transfer protocol
(FTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), domain name system (DNS),
routing information protocol (RIP), and simple network management protocol
(SNMP) are some of the core protocols associated with this layer.
A networked communication between two hosts following the TCP/IP model is
shown in Figure 1.4

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Emergence of IoT
2.1 Introduction
The modern-day advent of network-connected devices has given rise to the
popular paradigm of the Internet of Things (IoT). Each second, the present-day
Internet allows massively heterogeneous traffic through it. This network traffic
consists of images, videos, music, speech, text, numbers, binary codes, machine
status, banking messages, data from sensors and actuators, healthcare data,
data from vehicles, home automation system status and control messages,
military communications, and many more. This huge variety of data is generated
from a massive number of connected devices, which may be directly connected
to the Internet or connected through gateway devices.

According to statistics from the Information Handling Services [7], the total
number of connected devices globally is estimated to be around 25 billion. This
figure is projected to triple within a short span of 5 years by the year 2025.
Figure 4.1 shows the global trend and projection for connected devices
worldwide.

The traffic flowing through the Internet can be attributed to legacy systems as
well as modern-day systems. The miniaturization of electronics and the cheap
affordability of technology is resulting in a surge of connected devices, which in
turn is leading to an explosion of traffic flowing through the Internet.

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One of the best examples of this explosion is the evolution of smartphones. In

the late 1990’s, cellular technology was still expensive and which could be
afforded only by a select few. Moreover, these particular devices had only the
basic features of voice calling, text messaging, and sharing of low-quality
multimedia. Within the next 10 years, cellular technology had become common
and easily affordable. With time, the features of these devices evolved, and the
dependence of various applications and services on these gadgets on packet-
based Internet accesses started rapidly increasing. The present-day mobile
phones (commonly referred to as smartphones) are more or less Internet-based.
The range of applications on these gadgets such as messaging, video calling, e-
mails, games, music streaming, video streaming, and others are solely
dependent on network provider allocated Internet access or WiFi.

Most of the present-day consumers of smartphone technology tend to carry

more than one of these units. In line with this trend, other connected devices
have rapidly increased in numbers resulting in the number of devices exceeding
the number of humans on Earth by multiple times. Now imagine that as all
technologies and domains are moving toward smart management of systems,
the number of sensor/actuator-based systems is rapidly increasing. With time,
the need for location-independent access to monitored and controlled systems
keep on rising. This rise in number leads to a further rise in the number of
Internet-connected devices.

The original Internet intended for sending simple messages is now connected
with all sorts of “Things”. These things can be legacy devices, modern-day
computers, sensors, actuators, household appliances, toys, clothes, shoes,
vehicles, cameras, and anything which may benefit a product by increasing its
scientific value, accuracy, or even its cosmetic value.

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IoT is an anytime, anywhere, and anything (as shown in Figure 4.2) network of
Internet-connected physical devices or systems capable of sensing an
environment and affecting the sensed environment intelligently. This is generally
achieved using low-power and low-form-factor embedded processors on-board
the “things” connected to the Internet. In other words, IoT may be considered to
be made up of connecting devices, machines, and tools; these things are made
up of sensors/actuators and processors, which connect to the Internet through
wireless technologies. Another school of thought also considers wired Internet
access to be inherent to the IoT paradigm. For the sake of harmony, in this
book, we will consider any technology enabling access to the Internet—be it
wired or wireless—to be an IoT enabling technology. However, most of the focus
on the discussion of various IoT enablers will be restricted to wireless IoT
systems due to the much more severe operating constraints and challenges
faced by wireless devices as compared to wired systems. Typically, IoT systems
can be characterized by the following features:

• Associated architectures, which are also efficient and scalable.

• No ambiguity in naming and addressing.
• Massive number of constrained devices, sleeping nodes, mobile devices, and
non-IP devices.
• Intermittent and often unstable connectivity.

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IoT is speculated to have achieved faster and higher technology acceptance as

compared to electricity and telephony. These speculations are not ill placed as
evident from the various statistics shown in Figures 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5.

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According to an International Data Corporation (IDC) report, worldwide spending

on IoT is reported to have crossed USD 700 billion. The projected spending on
IoT based technologies worldwide is estimated to be about USD 1:1 trillion [1].
Similarly, the compounded annual growth rate of IoT between the years 2016
and 2021, as depicted in Figure 4.4, shows that the majority of the market share
is captured by consumer goods, which is closely followed by insurance and
healthcare industries.
However, the combined industrial share of IoT growth (both cross and resource)
is 32% of the collective market, which is again more than that of the consumer
market. In continuation, Figure 4.5 shows the IoT market share of various
sectors. The manufacturing, logistics, and asset management sectors were
purported to be the largest receivers of IoT-linked investments in 2017 [8]. 4.2

2.2 Evolution of IoT

The IoT, as we see it today, is a result of a series of technological paradigm

shifts over a few decades. The technologies that laid the foundation of connected
systems by achieving easy integration to daily lives, popular public acceptance,
and massive benefits by using connected solutions can be considered as the
founding solutions for the development of IoT. Figure 4.6 shows the sequence of

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technological advancements for shaping the IoT as it is today. These sequence of

technical developments toward the emergence of IoT are described in brief:

ATM: ATMs or automated teller machines are cash distribution machines, which
are linked to a user’s bank account. ATMs dispense cash upon verification of the
identity of a user and their account through a specially coded card. The central
concept behind ATMs was the availability of financial transactions even when
banks were closed beyond their regular work hours. These ATMs were ubiquitous
money dispensers. The first ATM became operational and connected online for
the first time in 1974.

• Web: World Wide Web is a global information sharing and communication

platform. The Web became operational for the first time in 1991. Since then, it
has been massively responsible for the many revolutions in the field of
computing and communication.

• Smart Meters: The earliest smart meter was a power meter, which became
operational in early 2000. These power meters were capable of communicating
remotely with the power grid. They enabled remote monitoring of subscribers’
power usage and eased the process of billing and power allocation from grids.

• Digital Locks: Digital locks can be considered as one of the earlier attempts at
connected home-automation systems. Present-day digital locks are so robust
that smartphones can be used to control them. Operations such as locking and
unlocking doors, changing key codes, including new members in the access lists,
can be easily performed, and that too remotely using smartphones.

• Connected Healthcare: Here, healthcare devices connect to hospitals, doctors,

and relatives to alert them of medical emergencies and take preventive
measures.The devices may be simple wearable appliances, monitoring just the
heart rate and pulse of the wearer, as well as regular medical devices and
monitors in hospitals. The connected nature of these systems makes the
availability of medical records and test results much faster, cheaper, and
convenient for both patients as well as hospital authorities.

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• Connected Vehicles: Connected vehicles may communicate to the Internet or

with other vehicles, or even with sensors and actuators contained within it.
These vehicles self-diagnose themselves and alert owners about system failures.

com• Smart Cities: This is a city-wide implementation of smart sensing,

monitoring, and actuation systems. The city-wide infrastructure comunicating
amongst themselves enables unified and synchronized operations and

information dissemination. Some of the facilities which may benefit are parking,
transportation, and others.

• Smart Dust: These are microscopic computers. Smaller than a grain of sand
each, they can be used in numerous beneficial ways, where regular computers
cannot operate. For example, smart dust can be sprayed to measure chemicals
in the soil or even to diagnose problems in the human body.

• Smart Factories: These factories can monitor plant processes, assembly lines,
distribution lines, and manage factory floors all on their own. The reduction in
mishaps due to human errors in judgment or unoptimized processes is
drastically reduced.

• UAVs: UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles have emerged as robust

publicdomain solutions tasked with applications ranging from agriculture,
surveys, surveillance, deliveries, stock maintenance, asset management, and
other tasks. The present-day IoT spans across various domains and applications.
The major highlight of this paradigm is its ability to function as a cross-domain
technology enabler. Multiple domains can be supported and operated upon
simultaneously over IoT-based platforms. Support for legacy technologies and
standalone paradigms, along with modern developments, makes IoT quite
robust and economical for commercial, industrial, as well as consumer
applications. IoT is being used in vivid and diverse areas such as smart parking,
smartphone detection, traffic congestion, smart lighting, waste management,
smart roads, structural health, urban noise maps, river floods, water flow, silos
stock calculation, water leakages, radiation levels, explosive and hazardous
gases, perimeter access control, snow level monitoring, liquid presence, forest
fire detection, air pollution, smart grid, tank level, photovoltaic installations, NFC
(near-field communications) payments, intelligent shopping applications,
landslide and avalanche prevention, early detection of earthquakes, supply chain
control, smart product management, and others.

Figure 4.7 shows the various technological interdependencies of IoT with other
domains and networking paradigms such as M2M, CPS, the Internet of
environment (IoE), the Internet of people (IoP), and Industry 4.0. Each of these
networking paradigms is a massive domain on its own, but the omnipresent
nature of IoT implies that these domains act as subsets of IoT. The paradigms
are briefly discussed here:

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(i) M2M: The M2M or the machine-to-machine paradigm signifies a system of

connected machines and devices, which can talk amongst themselves without
human intervention. The communication between the machines can be for
updates on machine status (stocks, health, power status, and others),
collaborative task completion, overall knowledge of the systems and the
environment, and others.

(ii) CPS: The CPS or the cyber physical system paradigm insinuates a closed
control loop—from sensing, processing, and finally to actuation—using a
feedback mechanism. CPS helps in maintaining the state of an environment
through the feedback control loop, which ensures that until the desired state is
attained, the system keeps on actuating and sensing. Humans have a simple
supervisory role in CPS-based systems; most of the ground-level operations are
automated.

(iii) IoE: The IoE paradigm is mainly concerned with minimizing and even
reversing the ill-effects of the permeation of Internet-based technologies on the
environment [3]. The major focus areas of this paradigm include smart and
sustainable farming, sustainable and energy-efficient habitats, enhancing the
energy efficiency of systems and processes, and others. In brief, we can safely
assume that any aspect of IoT that concerns and affects the environment, falls
under the purview of IoE.

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(iv) Industry 4.0: Industry 4.0 is commonly referred to as the fourth industrial
revolution pertaining to digitization in the manufacturing industry. The previous
revolutions chronologically dealt with mechanization, mass production, and the
industrial revolution, respectively. This paradigm strongly puts forward the
concept of smart factories, where machines talk to one another without much
human involvement based on a framework of CPS and IoT. The digitization and
connectedness in Industry 4.0 translate to better resource and workforce
management, optimization of production time and resources, and better upkeep
and lifetimes of industrial systems.

(v) IoP: IoP is a new technological movement on the Internet which aims to
decentralize online social interactions, payments, transactions, and other tasks
while maintaining confidentiality and privacy of its user’s data. A famous site for
IoP states that as the introduction of the Bitcoin has severely limited the power
of banks and governments, the acceptance of IoP will limit the power of
corporations, governments, and their spy agencies [4].

IoT versus M2M

M2M or the machine-to-machine paradigm refers to communications and
interactions between various machines and devices. These interactions can be
enabled through a cloud computing infrastructure, a server, or simply a local
network hub. M2M collects data from machinery and sensors, while also enabling
device management and device interaction. Telecommunication services
providers introduced the term M2M, and technically emphasized on machine
interactions via one or more communication networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G,
satellite, public networks). M2M is part of the IoT and is considered as one of its
sub-domains, as shown in Figure 4.7. M2M standards occupy a core place in the
IoT landscape. However, in terms of operational and functional scope, IoT is
vaster than M2M and comprises a broader range of interactions such as the
interactions between devices/things, things, and people, things and applications,
and people with applications; M2M enables the amalgamation of workflows
comprising such interactions within IoT. Internet connectivity is central to the
IoT theme but is not necessarily focused on the use of telecom networks.

IoT versus CPS

Cyber physical systems (CPS) encompass sensing, control, actuation, and
feedback as a complete package. In other words, a digital twin is attached to a
CPS-based system. As mentioned earlier, a digital twin is a virtual system–model
relation, in which the system signifies a physical system or equipment or a piece
of machinery, while the model represents the mathematical model or
representation of the physical system’s behaviour or operation. Many a time, a
digital twin is used parallel to a physical system, especially in CPS as it allows for
the comparison of the physical system’s output, performance, and health. Based
on feedback from the digital twin, a physical system can be easily given
corrective directions/commands to obtain desirable outputs. In contrast, the IoT

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paradigm does not compulsorily need feedback or a digital twin system. IoT is
more focused on networking than controls. Some of the constituent sub-systems
in an IoT environment (such as those formed by CPS-based instruments and
networks) may include feedback and controls too. In this light, CPS may be
considered as one of the sub-domains of IoT, as shown in Figure 4.7.

IoT versus WoT

From a developer’s perspective, the Web of Things (WoT) paradigm enables
access and control over IoT resources and applications. These resources and
applications are generally built using technologies such as HTML 5.0, JavaScript,
Ajax, PHP, and others. REST (representational state transfer) is one of the key
enablers of WoT. The use of RESTful principles and RESTful APIs (application
program interface) enables both developers and deployers to benefit from the
recognition, acceptance, and maturity of existing web technologies without
having to redesign and redeploy solutions from scratch. Still, designing and
building the WoT paradigm has various adaptability and security challenges,
especially when trying to build a globally uniform WoT. As IoT is focused on
creating networks comprising objects, things, people, systems, and applications,
which often do not consider the unification aspect and the limitations of the
Internet, the need for WoT, which aims to integrate the various focus areas of
IoT into the existing Web is really invaluable. Technically, WoT can be thought of
as an application layer-based hat added over the network layer. However, the
scope of IoT applications is much broader; IoT also which includes non-IP-based
systems that are not accessible through the web.

2.3 Enabling IoT and the Complex Interdependence of

Technologies
IoT is a paradigm built upon complex interdependencies of technologies (both
legacy and modern), which occur at various planes of this paradigm. Regarding
Figure 4.8, we can divide the IoT paradigm into four planes: services, local
connectivity, global connectivity, and processing. If we consider a bottom-up
view, the services offered fall under the control and purview of service providers.
The service plan is composed of two parts: 1) things and devices and 2) low-
power connectivity.

Typically, the services offered in this layer are a combination of things and low
power connectivity. For example, any IoT application requires the basic setup of
sensing, followed by rudimentary processing (often), and a low-power, low
range network, which is mainly built upon the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol. The
things may be wearables, computers, smartphones, household appliances, smart
glasses, factory machinery, vending machines, vehicles, UAVs, robots, and other
such contraptions(which may even be just a sensor). The immediate low-power

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connectivity, which is responsible for connecting the things in local

implementation, may be legacy protocols such as WiFi, Ethernet, or cellular. In
contrast, modern-day technologies are mainly wireless and often programmable
such as Zigbee, RFID, Bluetooth, 6LoWPAN, LoRA, DASH, Insteon, and others.
The range of these connectivity technologies is severely restricted; they are
responsible for the connectivity between the things of the IoT and the nearest
hub or gateway to access the Internet.

The local connectivity is responsible for distributing Internet access to multiple

local IoT deployments. This distribution may be on the basis of the physical
placement of the things, on the basis of the application domains, or even on the
basis of providers of services. Services such as address management, device

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management, security, sleep scheduling, and others fall within the scope of this
plane. For example, in a smart home environment, the first floor and the ground
floor may have local IoT implementations, which have various things connected
to the network via low-power, low-range connectivity technologies. The traffic
from these two floors merges into a single router or a gateway. The total traffic
intended for the Internet from a smart home leaves through a single gateway or
router, which may be assigned a single global IP address (for the whole house).
This helps in the significant conservation of already limited global IP addresses.

The local connectivity plane falls under the purview of IoT management as it
directly deals with strategies to use/reuse addresses based on things and
applications. The modern-day “edge computing” paradigm is deployed in
conjunction with these first two planes: services and local connectivity. In
continuation, the penultimate plane of global connectivity plays a significant
role in enabling IoT in the real sense by allowing for worldwide implementations
and connectivity between things, users, controllers, and applications. This plane
also falls under the purview of IoT management as it decides how and when to
store data, when to process it, when to forward it, and in which form to forward
it. The Web, data-centers, remote servers, Cloud, and others make up this
plane. The paradigm of “fog computing” lies between the planes of local
connectivity and global connectivity. It often serves to manage the load of global
connectivity infrastructure by offloading the computation nearer to the source of
the data itself, which reduces the traffic load on the global Internet.

The final plane of processing can be considered as a top-up of the basic IoT
networking framework. The continuous rise in the usefulness and penetration of
IoT in various application areas such as industries, transportation, healthcare,
and others is the result of this plane. The members in this plane may be termed
as IoT tools, simply because they wring-out useful and human-readable
information from all the raw data that flows from various IoT devices and
deployments. The various sub-domains of this plane include intelligence,
conversion (data and format conversion, and data cleaning), learning (making
sense of temporal and spatial data patterns), cognition (recognizing patterns and
mapping it to already known patterns), algorithms (various control and
monitoring algorithms), visualization (rendering numbers and strings in the form
of collective trends, graphs, charts, and projections), and analysis (estimating
the usefulness of the generated information, making sense of the information
with respect to the application and place of data generation, and estimating
future trends based on past and present patterns of information obtained).
Various computing paradigms such as “big data”, “machine Learning”, and
others, fall within the scope of this domain.

IoT Networking Components

An IoT implementation is composed of several components, which may vary with

their application domains. Various established works such as that by Savolainen
et al. [2] generally outline five broad categories of IoT networking components.

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However, we outline the broad components that come into play during the
establishment of any IoT network, into six types:
1) IoT node, 2) IoT router, 3) IoT LAN, 4) IoT WAN, 5) IoT gateway, and 6)
IoT proxy.

A typical IoT implementation from a networking perspective is shown in

Figure 4.9. The individual components are briefly described here:

(i) IoT Node: These are the networking devices within an IoT LAN. Each of
these devices are typically made up of a sensor, a processor, and a radio, which
communicates with the network infrastructure (either within the LAN or outside
it). The nodes may be connected to other nodes inside a LAN directly or by
means of a common gateway for that LAN. Connections outside the LAN are
through gateways and proxies.
(ii) IoT Router: An IoT router is a piece of networking equipment that is
primarily tasked with the routing of packets between various entities in the IoT
network; it keeps the traffic flowing correctly within the network. A router can be
repurposed as a gateway by enhancing its functionalities.
(iii) IoT LAN: The local area network (LAN) enables local connectivity within the

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purview of a single gateway. Typically, they consist of short-range connectivity

technologies. IoT LANs may or may not be connected to the Internet. Generally,
they are localized within a building or an organization.

(iv) IoT WAN: The wide area network (WAN) connects various network
segments such as LANs. They are typically organizationally and geographically
wide, with their operational range lying between a few kilometres to hundreds of

kilometres. IoT WANs connect to the Internet and enable Internet access to the
segments they are connecting.
(v) IoT Gateway: An IoT gateway is simply a router connecting the IoT LAN to
a WAN or the Internet. Gateways can implement several LANs and WANs. Their
primary task is to forward packets between LANs and WANs, and the IP layer
using only layer 3.

(vi) IoT Proxy: Proxies actively lie on the application layer and performs
application layer functions between IoT nodes and other entities. Typically,
application layer proxies are a means of providing security to the network
entities under it; it helps to extend the addressing range of its network.

In Figure 4.9, various IoT nodes within an IoT LAN are configured to one another
as well as talk to the IoT router whenever they are in the range of it. The
devices have locally unique (LU-x) device identifiers. These identifiers are unique
only within a LAN. There is a high chance that these identifiers may be repeated
in a new LAN. Each IoT LAN has its own unique identifier, which is denoted by
IoT LAN-x in Figure 4.9. A router acts as a connecting link between various LANs
by forwarding messages from the LANs to the IoT gateway or the IoT proxy. As
the proxy is an application layer device, it is additionally possible to include
features such as firewalls, packet filters, and other security measures besides
the regular routing operations. Various gateways connect to an IoT WAN, which
links these devices to the Internet. There may be cases where the gateway or
the proxy may directly connect to the Internet. This network may be wired or
wireless; however, IoT deployments heavily rely on wireless solutions. This is
mainly attributed to the large number of devices that are integrated into the
network; wireless technology is the only feasible and neat-enough solution to
avoid the hassles of laying wires and dealing with the restricted mobility rising
out of wired connections.

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