Internet of Things

Module code: EEEM048/COM3023

Dr Payam Barnaghi, Dr Chuan H Foh

Institute for Communication Systems
Electronic Engineering Department
University of Surrey

Autumn Semester 2015 1

Module Aims

− The main aim of this module is to introduce the

fundamental concepts of the Internet of Things and its
applications and architecture models;
− Introduction to the technologies and mechanisms for
sensing, actuation, processing and cyber-physical data
communication.
− Discussing semantic technologies, service oriented
solutions and networking technologies that enable the
integration of Internet of Things data and services into
the cyber world (i.e. the Internet and the Web). 
− To develop practical skills that can be transferred into a
real-world environment.

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IBM Mainframe 360, source Wikipedia
3
 Apollo 11 Command Module (1965) had
64 kilobytes of memory
operated at 0.043MHz.

An iPhone 5s has a CPU running at

speeds
of up to 1.3GHz
and has 512MB to 1GB of memory

Cray-1 (1975) produced 80 million Floating

point operations per second (FLOPS)
10 years later, Cray-2 produced 1.9G FLOPS

An iPhone 5s produces 76.8 GFLOPS – nearly

a thousand times more

Cray-2 used 200-kilowatt power

Source: Nick T., PhoneArena.com, 2014

Computing Power

− Smaller size
− More Powerful
− More memory and more storage

− "Moore's law" over the history of computing, the

number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit has
doubled approximately every two years.

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 Cyber-Physical-Social Data

P. Barnaghi et al., "Digital Technology Adoption in the Smart Built Environment", IET Sector Technical Briefing, The Institution 6
of Engineering and Technology (IET), I. Borthwick (editor), March 2015.
7
 Sensor devices are becoming widely available

- Programmable devices
- Off-the-shelf gadgets/tools

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More “Things” are being connected

Home/daily-life devices
Business and
Public infrastructure
Health-care
…

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People Connecting to Things

ECG sensor

Internet

Motion sensor

Motion sensor
Motion sensor

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Things Connecting to Things

- Complex and heterogeneous

resources and networks

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 Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)

End-user

Core network
Gateway e.g. Internet

Sink
Gateway Computer services
node

- The networks typically run Low Power Devices

- Consist of one or more sensors, could be different type of sensors (or actuators)

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How are the networks changing?

− Extensions
− More nodes, more connections
− Any TIME, Any PLACE + Any THING
− M2M, IoT
− Billions of interconnected devices,
− Everybody is connected.
− Expansions
− Broadband
− LTE, 5G
− Enhancements
− Smart networks
− Data-centric and content-oriented networking
− Context-aware (autonomous) systems

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“Thing” connected to the internet

Source: CISCO
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Internet of Things (IoT)

− Extending the current Internet and providing

connection, communication, and inter-networking
between devices and physical objects, or
"Things," is a growing trend that is often referred
to as the Internet of Things.

− “The technologies and solutions that enable

integration of real world data and services into
the current information networking technologies
are often described under the umbrella term of
the Internet of Things (IoT)”

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Why should I learn about IoT?

− Emerging technologies
− Growing IoT Services and Applications in various
areas including smart cities, healthcare,
transport, logistics, retail, safety and security,
etc.
− Business trends and new opportunities

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 Opportunities

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Source: http://blog.trentonsystems.com/internet-of-things-crosses-business-personal-boundaries/
Technology trend

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 Smart product sales

Source: Siemens, http://www.siemens.com/innovation/apps/pof_microsite/_pof-fall-2012/_html_en/facts-and-forecasts-growth-market-of-the-future.html

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 Internet Connected devices

Source: Siemens, http://www.siemens.com/innovation/apps/pof_microsite/_pof-fall-2012/_html_en/facts-and-forecasts-growth-market-of-the-future.html

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Global Data Generation

- Everyday around 20 quintillion (10^18) bytes of

data are produced (Source:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/).

- This data includes textual content (unstructured,

semi-structured, structured) to multimedia
content (images, video and audio), on a variety
of platforms (enterprise, social media, and
sensors).

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Data Generation

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 Data Lifecycle

Source: The IET Technical Report, Digital Technology Adoption in the Smart Built Environment:
Challenges and opportunities of data driven systems for building, community and city-scale applications, 23
http://www.theiet.org/sectors/built-environment/resources/digital-technology.cfm
“The ultimate goal is transforming the raw
data to insights and actionable knowledge
and/or creating effective representation forms
for machines and also human users and
creating automation.”

This usually requires data from multiple

sources, (near-) real time analytics and
visualisation and/or semantic
representations.

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 Internet of Things

P. Barnaghi, A. Sheth, “Internet of Things, The story so far”, IEEE IoT Newsletter, September 2014.
 Internet of Things Module

Image courtesy: Wilgengebroed

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Topics

− Cyber-Physical systems, smart devices, sensors and

actuators
− Key applications, protocols and architectures
− Networks and Communications (Wireless Multi-hop
Networks (WMN), Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET),
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN))
− Reliability, Security, Privacy and Trust issues and solutions

− Software platforms and services

− Intelligent Data Processing and Semantic technologies
− Connecting Things to the Web (Web of Things)
− Applications, system models, Standards, and Physical-
Cyber-Social systems (invited industry speaker?)

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Module Teaching

− Dr Chuan H Foh: Hardware Platforms, Networking

and Security

− Dr Payam Barnaghi: Software and Services, Data

Processing, Applications

− 3 hours (Lecture + Lab)

− Lecture room: 35 AC 04
− Lab: Duck/Swan/Whale Lab (2nd/3rd Floor, BB Building)
− Tuesdays, 9:00am to 12:00noon

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Assessment

− Written Exam (60%)

− Coursework (40%)

− Coursework
− Lab exercises
− Lab exercises will be done during the lab hours
− Written report
− Will include an essay (details will be provided)- the essay
will be maximum 3 pages (including references).

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Pre-requisites

− We expect you are familiar with hardware

systems.
− We expect you know about basic communication
and networking.
− We expect you have a knowledge of the object
oriented programming (especially C).

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Module Web Link

− All the slides and additional material will be

uploaded to SurreyLearn
− http://surrylearn.surrey.ac.uk

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Some of the related material

− Reading List:
− http://aspire.surrey.ac.uk/lists/35640FC8-892D-E309-E66C-F0
7C3D9BCB28.html

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Topics to be covered

Dr Chuan H Foh: Hardware Platforms,

Networking and Security

Office: 5GIC Building- 07-CII-02

Email: [email protected]

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 Overview: Hardware Platform
IEEE 802.15.4
User/Environment 2 sensors 2.4GHz RF System

Sensors & XM1000

Actuators
Device
“Thing”
level
Communications

Network

Gateway
Network
level
The Internet The
Internet

Servers
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 Sensors & Actuators
− Sensors:
− They are mainly input components
− They sense and collect surrounding information
− Basically three types:
− Passive, omnidirectional (e.g. mic)
− Passive, narrow-beam sensor (e.g. PIR)
− Active sensors (e.g. sonar, radar, etc.)

− Actuators:
− They are mainly output components
− They alter the surrounding. Some examples:
− Adding lighting, heat, sound, etc.
− Controlling motors to move objects
− Displaying messages
− and others…

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 Things
− We can turn almost every object into a “thing”.
− A “thing” still looks much like an embedded system
currently.
− A “thing” generally consists of four main parts:
− Sensors & actuators
− Microcontroller
− Communication unit
− Power supply
− A “thing” has the following properties:
− It’s usually powered by battery. This implies limited source of
energy.
− It’s generally small in size and low in cost. This limits their
computing capability.
− It doesn’t usually perform complicated tasks.
− Power consumption is the main design issue.

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 Communications
− A “thing” always feature communications for
“team working”
− The Role of Communications
− Providing a data link between two nodes
− Communication type:
− Wireline (e.g. copper wires, optical fibers)
− Wireless (e.g. RF, IR). RF-based communication is the
most popular choice (and also our focus)
− Popular RF-based communication solutions:
− IEEE 802.15.4  used in XM1000
− IEEE 802.11 (or Wifi)
− Bluetooth
− Near Field Communication (NFC), e.g. RFID

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 Networks
− The Roles of Networks
− Managing nodes (discovery, join, leave, etc).
− Relaying data packets from the source to the destination node
in the network.
− Networks are a distributed system. All nodes need to
perform networking related tasks.
− RF-based Network in IoT is usually a Wireless Multi-
hop Network. Some examples:
− Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs)
− Mobile Wireless Ad hoc Networks (MANETs)
− Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs)
− Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs)
− and others...
− Main concern: Reliability & Performance

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 The Internet
− The Internet serves as a wide area networking
for a local network.
− The Internet uses TCP/IP. This implies that things
must also support TCP/IP.
− Gateway (or sink)
− For a practical deployment, a gateway is often needed
in a network.
− It offers relaying packets between the network and the
Internet.

The Internet

Data link
Gateway
Network
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Protocol Stack
Thing Thing

Application Application

TCP/UDP TCP/UDP

Network (IP) Network (IP)

IEEE 802.15.4 IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless
PHY/MAC PHY/MAC
Medium
Server

Application Gateway
TCP/UDP

Network (IP) Network (IP)

IEEE 802.3 IEEE 802.3 IEEE 802.15.4

(Ethernet) (Ethernet) PHY/MAC
The Internet

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 Security & Privacy

− Are they important?

− What is the risk?

− What are the challenges?

− Device level
− Network level
− System level
− User level

− Solutions?

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Topics to be covered

Dr Payam Barnaghi: Software and

Services, Data Processing and
Applications

Office: 09-CII-02
Email: [email protected]
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Software Platforms and Services

− Operating Systems and execution environments

− Contiki, TinyOS
− Relevant protocols and standards
− 6LoWPan, CoAP
− Architecture reference models
− ETSI M2M architecture and components
− Gateway/middleware

− Types of services
− In conventional communication networks the target is moving
bits from one place to another
− In the IoT moving the data is not the actual goal.
− The IoT is expected to facilitate providing meaningful
information/actions.

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Example: Type of Services in IoT

Data
Data

Sender
Receiver

A sample data communication in conventional networks

Fire! Some bits
01100011100

Core network
e.g. Internet End-user

Sink
node Gateway

A sample data communication in WSN

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Intelligent Data Processing

− Sensing and data collection, sensor data and

data-centric networks
− Access, subscription and integration
− Data processing and stream data analysis
− Query and discovery
− Data classification and clustering

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 Things, Data, and lots of it

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image courtesy: Smarter Data - I.03_C by Gwen Vanhee
“Each single data item is important.”

“Relying merely on data from sources that

are unevenly distributed, without considering
background information or social context,
can lead to imbalanced interpretations and
decisions.”

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IoT Data- Challenges

− Multi-modal and heterogeneous

− Noisy and incomplete
− Time and location dependent
− Dynamic and varies in quality
− Crowed sourced data can be unreliable
− Requires (near-) real-time analysis
− Privacy and security are important issues
− Data can be biased- we need to know our data!

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“People want answers, not numbers”
(Steven Glaser, UC Berkley)

Freezing! What is the temperature at home?

Core network
e.g. Internet

Sink
node Gateway
Storing, Handling and Processing
the Data

Image courtesy: IEEE Spectrum

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Semantic technologies and connecting
Things to the Web

− Meta-data models and schemas

− Linked data and Linked IoT data concepts
− Semantic technologies and semantic sensor
networks
− Interoperability issues
− Web of Things

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 Device/Data interoperability

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The slide adapted from the IoT talk given by Jan Holler of Ericsson at IoT Week 2015 in Lisbon.
 Observation and measurement data

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Source: W3C Semantic Sensor Networks, SSN Ontology presentation, Laurent Lefort et al.
System models, Applications and
Standards

− Applications: Smart City, Smart Homes,

Healthcare, Smart Grid,
− Physical-Cyber-Social Systems
− Machine-to-machine communications
− System models and Standards

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Questions?

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