Indian Institute of Technology

Ropar

Internet of Things (IoT)

Notes

MD RIZWAN AHMAD
Introduction
What is IoT?
The Internet of Things is the network of the devices with sensors, software,
processing abilities that are able to connect with each other and exchange
data over the internet to enable new use cases and business models.

Figure 1: How IoT works

Four Layer IoT Architecture

IoT architecture can be broken into four layers.

1. Application Layer

• Hosts the IoT applications that provide service to various domains.

• Represent the interface between the user and the IoT systems.

1
2. Service and Application Support Layer

• Generic Support : Provides the generic support like the data

processing.
• Specific Support : Provides the specific support for the use case.

3. Network Layer Includes the Network and Transport Capabilities.

• Ensures the data communication between the devices and the sys-
tems.
• Handles data routing, communications and routing.

4. Device Layer

• Contains the Physical Devices or Gateways that collects data or

interact with the environment.
• Devices include sensors, actuators or other IoT hardware devices.

Figure 2: Four Layer Architecture

2
Why IoT is getting famous now?
• Improved VLSI Technology

• Widespread Adoption of the Intellectual Properties.

• Computing Economics - Availability of System-on-Chips

• Data Analytics

• Fast Connectivity

• Rise of the Cloud Computing

Characteristics of IoT
1. Dynamic and Self-Adapting.

2. Self Configuring.

3. Interoperable Communication Protocols.

4. Unique Identity.

5. Integrated into Information Network.

Physical Design of the IoT

The thing in IoT refers to the IoT devices that have the remote sensing,
actuating and monitoring capabilities.
IoT devices can have the following capabilites :

• Exchange data with other connected devices.

• Collect data from other devices and process the data locally.

• Send the data to centralized servers or cloud-based application back-

ends for processing the data.

• Perform some tasks locally and other tasks withing the IoT infrastruc-
ture based on the temporal and space constraints.

3
 An IoT devices can have several interfaces for connections to other devices
both wired and wireless.

• I/O interface for the sensors.

• Interfaces for the internet connectivity.

• Memory and storage interfaces.

• Audio/Video interfaces.

Figure 3: Generic Block Diagram of the IoT device

Protocols
The IoT is divided in the four layer architecture. Each layer is respnosible for
the specific tasks. Each layer has its own protocol which helps in connection,
management, sharing of the data with other devices or over the internet.

4
 Figure 4: IoT protocols

Various Communication Model

There are various communication models used widely.

Request Response Model

• Also known as client-server model.

• Client sends the request to the server and the server responds with the
response.

• When the client receives a request it decides how to respond, fetches

the data, retrieves resource representations, prepare the response and
sends the response to the client.

• Examples:

– A smart thermostat querying weather data from an online API to

adjust temperature settings.

5
 – A mobile app requesting real-time data from a smart home secu-
rity camera.
– An IoT sensor sending periodic updates to a cloud platform and
receiving configuration changes in response.

Figure 5: Request Response Model

Publish-Subscribe Model
Publish-Subscribe Model is the communication models that require the Pub-
lisher, Broker and the Consumers.

• Publishers are the source of the data. They send the data to the
topics which are managed by the Brokers. Publishers are not aware of
the Consumers.

• Consumers subscribe the topics which are managed by the broker.

• When the Broker receives the data from the publisher then it sends the
data to all of the subscribers.

• Examples :

– A smart home system where motion sensors publish alerts on a

”security/motion” topic, and security cameras subscribe to this
topic to start recording when motion is detected.
– A weather station publishing data like humidity or wind speed on
specific topics for apps or services subscribing to those updates.

6
 Figure 6: Publish Subscribe Model

Push-Pull Communication model

• Publisher push the data into the queues and the consumer comsumes
the data ffrom the queues. Publishers are not aware of the consumers.

• Queues act as an buffer where the consumers get the data and pub-
lishers sends the data. It also helps in the situation when there is a
mismatch in speed of the producing and the consuming of the data.

• Example : A smart home system where security cameras push event

recordings to cloud storage, and users pull recordings on demand via a
mobile app.

Figure 7: Push Pull communication model

7
Exclusive Pair Communication Model
• Exclusive Pair Communication model is the bi-directional communica-
tion model that uses the persistent connection between the client and
the server.

• Once the connection is established it will remain open until the client
send the request to close the connection.

• Client and Server can send the data to each other after the connection
is setup.

• Example:

– A smartphone pairing with a smart lock via Bluetooth to unlock

a door.
– A fitness tracker syncing data directly with a smartphone app over
Bluetooth.

Figure 8: Exclusive Pair Communication Model

8
REST based Communication API’s
• Represtentational State Transfer(REST) is a set of architectural princi-
ples that is used to design the web servers and web api that focusses on
the system’s resources and how resource are addressed and transferred.

• REST APIs follow the request-response communication model.

• The REST architectural constraints apply to the components, connec-

tors, and data elements, within a distributed hypermedia systems.

Figure 9: REST-based Communication APIs

9
WebSocket based Communication API’s
• WebSocket APIs allow bi-directional, full duplex communication be-
tween clients and servers.

• WebSocket APIs follow the exclusive pair communication model.

Figure 10: WebSocket Based Communication API

Components of the IoT

An IoT system compromises of the following components :

• Device : An IoT device allows identification, remote sensing, actuating

and remote monitoring capabilities.

• Resource : Resource are the software components used for access-

ing, processing, storing senor information, or controlling the actuators
connected to the device.

• Controller Service : Controller service is a native service that runs

on the device and interacts with the web service and receives commands
from the application(via web service) for controlling the device.

• Database : Database can be either local or in the cloud and stores

the data generated by the IoT device.

10
 • 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. Appli-
cation allow users to view the system status and view the processed
data.

Level Of IoT
IoT Level 1
• A level-1 IoT device has a single node device that performs sensing,
saves the data, performs actuation and hosts the application. These all
are done locally.

• It is suitable for those applications which are not complex, does not
generate a lot of data and doesnot require special analysis components.

• Example:

– Smart Homes: A basic setup where smart lights, thermostats,

or sensors communicate locally through a hub without requiring
internet access.
– Wearable Devices: Fitness trackers that store data locally and
sync with a smartphone without cloud dependency.

11
 Figure 11: IoT Level 1

IoT level-2
• In IoT level 2, there is a single node/device that performs the sens-
ing/actuation and local analysis.

• Data is stored in cloud and the application is also the cloud based.

• This is suitable for those devices that produces a lot of data however
data analysis is not that computationally extensive and can be done
locally itself.

• Example:

– Smart Buildings: Systems that control lighting, HVAC (heating,

ventilation, and air conditioning), and security in a building, with
remote access for users via mobile apps.
– Connected Agriculture: A farm using IoT sensors for soil moisture
monitoring and irrigation control, with occasional updates sent to
the cloud for remote supervision.

12
 Figure 12: IoT level 2

IoT level-3
• IoT level 3 has a single node/device that performs sensing/actuation
and sends the data into the cloud.

• Data is analysed on the cloud and the application is cloud based.

• Data is produced in large amounts and is computationally extensive to

analyse it locally.

• Example :

– Healthcare IoT: Remote patient monitoring systems that collect

health data from wearable devices and send it to the cloud for
analysis by healthcare providers.
– Connected Retail: Smart shelves or inventory management sys-
tems in retail stores that send stock data to a central cloud plat-
form for real-time updates.

13
 Figure 13: IoT level 3

IoT Level 4
• It contains multiple nodes that performs analysis and store data on the
cloud. Application is cloud based.

• It contains the local and cloud based observer nodes that can subscribe
and receive information from the cloud stored by the IoT devices.

• Suitable for those applications in which multiples node are required,

the data involved is big and analysis requirements are computationally
intensive.

14
 Figure 14: IoT level 4

IoT Level 5
• It contains multiple end nodes and one co-ordination node.

• End node performs sensing/actuation.

• Co-ordination nodes collect the data from the end nodes.

• Data is stored and analyzed on the cloud and also the application is
also cloud based.

• This is suitable for the solutions based on the wireless sensors in which
data produced is very large and the analysis requirement is computa-
tionally is very extensive.

15
 Figure 15: IoT level 5

IoT level 6
• It has several independent end nodes that performs sensing/actuation
and send data on the cloud.

• Data is stored in the cloud and the application is also the cloud based.

• The analytics component analyzes the data and store the result in the
cloud.

• The results are visualized by the cloud based applications.

• The controller node is aware of the status of the other nodes and sends
the control command to the nodes.

16
Figure 16: IoT level 6

17