UNIT-03

IOT AND M2M

Syllabus: M2M, Difference between IOT and M2M, SDN AND NFV for IOT

1. MACHINE- TO-MACHINE(M2M):
❖ Machine-to-Machine (M2M) refers to networking of machines(or devices) for
the purpose of remote monitoring and control and data exchange.
❖ Below figure shows the end-to-end architecture for M2M systems consists
of M2M area networks, communication network and application domain.

Figure: M2M system architecture

❖ An M2M area network comprises of machines (or M2M nodes) which have
embedded hardware modules for sensing, actuation and communication.
❖ Various communication protocols can be used for M2M local area networks
such as ZigBee, Bluetooh, ModBus, M-Bus, Wireless M-Bus, Power Line
Communication (PLC), 6LoWPAN, IEEE 802.15.4, etc.
❖ These communication protocols provides the connectivity to remote M2M
area network.
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❖ The communication network provides connectivity to remote M2M area
networks.
❖ The communication network can use either wired or wireless networks (IP-
based).
❖ While the M2M area networks use either proprietary or non-IP based
communication protocols, the communication network uses IP-based
networks.
❖ Since non-IP based protocols are used within M2M area networks, the M2M
nodes within one network cannot communicate with nodes in an external
network.
❖ To enable the communication between remote M2M area networks, M2M
gateways are used.

Figure: Block diagram of M2M gateway

❖ M2M gateway performs protocol translations to enable IP-connectivity for

M2M area networks.
❖ M2M acts as a proxy performing translations from/to native protocols
to/from Internet Protocol(IP).
❖ The M2M data is gathered into point solutions such as enterprise
applications, service management applications or remote monitoring
applications.
❖ M2M has various application domains such as smart metering, home
automation, industrial automation, smart grids etc.

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2. Difference Between IOT and M2M:
❖ The difference between M2M and IOT are described below:
1. Communication Protocols:
❖ M2M uses either proprietary or non-IP based communication protocols for
communication within the M2M area networks like ZigBee, Bluetooh,
ModBus, M-Bus, Wireless M-Bus, Power Line Communication (PLC),
6LoWPAN, IEEE 802.15.4, etc.
❖ The focus of communication in M2M is usually on the protocols below the
network layer.
❖ The focus of communication in M2M is usually on the protocols above the
network layer such as HTTP, CoAP, WebSockets, MQTT,XMPP,DDS,AMQP,
etc.

Figure: Communication in IOT vs M2M

2. Machines in M2M vs Things in IOT:

❖ The "Things" in IOT refers to physical objects that have unique
identifiers(IP addresses or MAC addresses) and can sense and
communicate with their external environment (and user applications) or
their internal physical states.
❖ IOT systems can have heterogeneous things.
❖ M2M systems, typically have homogeneous machine types within an
M2M area network.
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3. Hardware vs Software Emphasis:
❖ The emphasis of M2M is more on hardware with embedded modules
❖ The emphasis of IOT is more on software.
4. Data Collection & Analysis:
❖ M2M data is collected in point solutions and often in on-premises storage
infrastructure.
❖ The data in IOT is collected in the cloud (can be public, private or hybrid
cloud).
❖ The analyze the data and stores the results in the cloud data base.
5. Applications:
❖ M2M data is collected in point solutions and can be accessed by on-
premises applications such as diagnosis applications, service
management applications, and on- premisis enterprise applications.
❖ IoT data is collected in the cloud and can be accessed by cloud applications
such as analytics applications, enterprise applications, remote
diagnosis and management applications, etc.

3. Software-Defined Networking (SDN):

❖ Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a networking architecture that
separates the control plane from the data plane and centralizes the network
controller.
❖ In conventional network architecture the control plane and data plane are
coupled.
❖ Software-based SDN controllers maintain a unified view of the network and
make configuration, management and provisioning simpler.
❖ The underlying infrastructure in SDN uses simple packet forwarding hardware
as opposed to specialized hardware in conventional networks.
❖ Key elements of SDN as follows:
1. Centralized Network Controller:
⚫ With decoupled control and data planes and centralized network controller, the
network administrators can rapidly configure the network.
⚫ SDN applications can be deployed through programmable open APIs.
2. Programmable Open APIs:
⚫ SDN architecture supports programmable open APIs for interface between the
SDN application and control layers (Northbound interface).
⚫ With these open APIs various network services csn be implemented, such as
routing,quality of service, acess control, etc.
3. Standard Communication Interface (OpenFlow):
⚫ SDN architecture uses a standard communication interface between the

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 control and infrastructure layers (Southbound interface).
⚫ OpenFlow, which is defined by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is the
broadly accepted SDN protocol for the Southbound interface.
⚫ With Openflow, the forwardig plane of the network devices can be directly
accessed and manipulated and it will identify network traffic based on pre -
defined match rules.

Figure: SDN architecture

4. Network Function Virtualization (NFV):
❖ Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a technology that leverages
virtualization to consolidate the heterogeneous network devices onto industry
standard high volume servers, switches and storage.
❖ NFV is complementary to SDN as NFV can provide the infrastructure on which
SDN can run.
❖ NFV and SDN are mutually beneficial to each other but not dependent.
❖ Below figure shows the NFV architecture.

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 Figure: NFV architecture
❖ Key elements of the NFV architecture are as follows:
1. Virtualized Network Function (VNF):
⚫ VNF is a software implementation of a network function which is capable of
running over the NFV Infrastructure (NFVI).
2. NFV Infrastructure (NFVI):
⚫ NFVI includes compute, network and storage resources that are virtualized.
3. NFV Management and Orchestration:
⚫ NFV Management and Orchestration focuses on all virtualization-specific
management tasks and covers the orchestration and life-cycle management
of physical and/or software resources that support the infrastructure
virtualization, and the life-cycle management of VNFs.
❖ Example for NFV:
⚫ NFV can be used to virtualize the Home Gateway.
⚫ The NFV infrastructure in the cloud hosts a virtualized Home Gateway.
⚫ The virtualized gateway provides private IP addresses to the devices in the
home.
⚫ The virtualized gateway also connects to network services such as VoIP and
IPTV.

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 Figure: Home network with virtualized Home gateway

Conventional Network Architecture:

❖ Conventional network architecture built with specialized hardware like
switches, routers, etc.
❖ Network devices in conventional network architectures are getting
exceedingly complex with the increasing number of distributed protocols
being implemented and the use of proprietary hardware and interfaces.
❖ In the conventional network architecture the control plane and data plane
are coupled.
❖ Control plane is the part of the network that carries the signaling and
routing messages traffic while the data plane is the part of the network that
carries the payload data traffic.

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 Figure: Conventional network architecture
❖ The limitations of the conventional network architecture are as follows:
1. Complex Network Devices:
⚫ Conventional networks are getting increasingly complex with more and
more protocols being implemented to improve link speeds and reliability.
⚫ Network devices use proprietary hardware and software and have slow
product life-cycles limiting innovation.
⚫ The conventional networks were well suited for static traffic patterns and
had a large number of protocols designed for specific applications.
⚫ Due to the complexity of conventional network devices, making changes in
the networks to meet the dynamic traffic patterns has become increasingly
difficult.
2. Management Overhead:
⚫ Conventional networks involve signicant management overhead.
⚫ Network managers find it increasingly difficult to manage multiple network
devices and interfaces from multiple vendors.
⚫ Upgradation of network requires configuration changes in multiple devices.
3. Limited Scalability:
⚫ The virtualization technologies used in cloud computing environments has
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 increased the number of virtual hosts requiring network access.
⚫ IOT applications hosted in the cloud are distributed across multiple virtual
machines that require exchange of traffic.
⚫ The analytics components of IOT applications run distributed algorithm on a
large number of virtual machines that require huge amounts of data
exchange between virtual machines.
⚫ Such computing environments require highly scalable and easy to manage
network architectures with minimal manual configurations, which is
becoming increasingly difficult with conventional networks.

Differences between SDN and NFV:

SDN NFV
SDN architecture mainly focuses on data NFV is targeted at service providers or
centers. operators.
SDN separates the control plane and data NFV helps service providers or operators
forwarding plane by centralizing control to virtualize functions like load balancing,
and programmability of the network. routing, and policy management by
transferring network functions from
dedicated appliances to virtual servers.
SDN uses OpenFlow as a communication There is no protocol determined yet for
protocol. NFV.
SDN supports Open Networking NFV is driven by the ETSI NFV Working
Foundation. group.
Various enterprise networking software Telecom service providers or operators are
and hardware vendors are initiative prime initiative supporters of NFV.
supporters of SDN.
Corporate IT act as a Business initiator Service providers or operators act as
for SDN. Business initiators for NFV.
SDN applications run on industry- NFV applications run on industry-
standard servers or switches. standard servers.
SDN reduces the cost of the network NFV increases scalability and agility as
because now there is no need for expensive well as speeds up time-to-market as it
switches & routers. dynamically allots hardware a level of
capacity to network functions needed at a
particular time.
Application of SDN: Application of NFV:
• Networking • routers, firewalls, gateways
• Cloud orchestration • WAN accelerators
• SLA assurance
• Video Servers
• Content Delivery Networks
(CDN)

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