Countering Fragmentation with the Web of Things Interoperabiity across IoT patforms Dave Raggett W3C 27 Apri 2016
The Internet of Things Bridging the Sios Sti very immature, but with massive potentia Lack of interoperabiity at the appication eve Many patforms and associated standards Addressing broad range of different requirements End to end security chaenging across patforms Fragmentation and Sios are hoding back the potentia Open or cosed system? Cosed systems incentive: contro Open systems prompt: reduced costs and increased market size Need for wide adoption of shared open standards 2/35
IoT Landscape 3/35
The IoT Standardisation Chaenge 4 4/35
Word Wide Web Consortium Mission: ead the Web to its fu potentia The Web is the word's argest vendor-neutra distributed appication patform Founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web 400+ Members Member-funded internationa organisation Deveops standards for Web and semantic technoogies HTML, CSS, scripting APIs, XML, SVG, VoiceXML, Semantic Web and Linked Data etc. Deveoper oriented, enabing cooperation between organisations with very different backgrounds W3C patent poicy for royaty free standards W3C staff of engineers activey participating in standardisation Increasingy invoved in verticas: Mobie, TV, Automotive, Digita pubishing 5/35
What we want to avoid 6 6/35
Web of Things Inter-Patform standards for interoperabiity The Web wi enabe a transition from costy monoithic software to open markets of apps 7/35
Anaogy with eary days of networking Before the Internet, there were many noninteroperabe network technoogies IP made it simpe to interconnect networks and create interoperabe services independent of the network technoogies The Internet grew exponentiay as the opportunities were reaised Likewise for the Web which took over from isoated information services Direct anaogy with today s IoT sios and their ack of interoperabiity The Web of Things is the equivaent of IP for semantic interoperabiity and end to end security The Web of Things wi enabe exposive growth as the barriers to interoperabiity are torn down 8/35
Web of Things Appications act on software objects that stand for things Loca things Remote things Rich descriptions for every thing Data modes, semantics, metadata Ontoogies that describe things Things don t need to be connected Abstract entities and unconnected physica objects 9/35
Distributed Web of Things Thing descriptions can be used to create proxies for a thing, aowing scripts to interact with a oca proxy for a remote entity Scripts can run on servers or as part of Web pages in Web browser for human machine interface Thing topoogies Peer to Peer, Peer to Peer via Coud, Star, Device to Coud, Star to Coud 10/35
Communications Stack Cean separation of concerns Appication Deveoper (WoT focus) Patform Deveoper (IoT focus) Appication Things Transfer Transport Network Scripts that define thing behaviour in terms of their properties, actions and events, using APIs for contro of sensor and actuator hardware Software objects that hod their state Abstract thing to thing messages Semantics and Metadata, Data modes and Data Bindings of abstract messages to mechanisms provided by each protoco, incuding choice of communication pattern, e.g. pu, push, pub-sub, peer to peer, etc. REST based protocos, e.g. HTTP, CoAP Pub-Sub protocos, e.g. MQTT, XMPP Others, incuding non IP transports, e.g. Buetooth Underying communication technoogy with support for exchange of simpe messages (packets) Many technoogies designed for different requirements 11/35
Scaabiity 12/35
Web of Things for the Maker Community Open source projects are underway, e.g. for the Arduino and more powerfu MCUs Arduino Ethernet Shied 16 KB RAM MicroSD card sot Controed through SPI bus Poing or H/W interrupt Cost: 4.75 GBP on ebay Arduino Uno with ATmega328P MCU 2 KB RAM 1 KB EEPROM 32 KB FLASH Lots of I/O pins Cost: 2.33 GBP on ebay https://github.com/w3c/wot-arduino 13/35
The Web of Things in the Home Browser for HMI Ambient or battery operated IoT devices Gateway Coud based Services Powered, muti-protoco Firewa 14/35
What kinds of metadata do we need for this? Thing ifecyces, data and interaction modes As exposed to the appications How to interoperate with another patform? Mapping from thing descriptions to patform specific protocos IP address and port for IP based protocos Paths for REST based protocos such as CoAP & HTTP What communication patterns to use? Push, pu, pub-sub, peer to peer Rea-time requirements Transactiona robustness & robacks Mutipexing and buffering Seepy ambient & battery powered devices Semantic modes of things and their constraints 15/35
Data & Interaction Modes 16 Must be rich enough to cover broad range of use cases and patforms Properties, actions and events carry vaues Actions are asynchronous and can be passed a vaue, and may return a sequence of vaues Vaues as basic types Nu, true, fase, numbers, strings Compound vaues Arrays Sets of name/vaue pairs Things Streams Integrity constraints On singe vaues, e.g. min/max, integer/foat Across mutipe vaues Cardinaity constraints Need for path expressions Compications Proxy chains Eary and ate binding Partiay defined types Cycic dependencies across things Software dependencies Metadata constraints (versioning) 16/35
Semantics Needed to ensure that patforms share the same meaning for the data they exchange Simpe approach is to define semantics as part of the system specifications But this makes it easy to ose track when data is stored and passed to other systems, or when a system evoves to address changing requirements Better approach is to tag data as beonging to an ontoogy that describes the reationships between concepts in a machine interpretabe way What kind of a thing is it? e.g. a temperature sensor What are the domain constraints? temperature sensors must describe their physica units, which must be from the set {Kevin, Cesius, Fahrenheit} Other ontoogies coud describe the ocation of the sensor and what it is measuring 17/35
Semantics Ontoogies aow information to be exchanged meaningfuy in a way that is independent of the data formats used for its transmission Ontoogies further aow for checks that the information is consistent with the domain modes This can cover richer constraints, e.g. tempora constraints across actions and properties W3C has a suite of standards for the Semantic Web and Linked Data RDF, XML, SPARQL, RDF-S, OWL, RIF, JSON-LD, RDF in CSV,... Enabe semantic based search and composition of services Ensure that compositions wi use interoperabe services 18/35
Open Questions What needs to be standardised and how? What are best practices and how can their use be encouraged? W3C is in a good position to standardise cross domain ontoogies Industry specific groups need to standardise domain specific ontoogies Different contexts pace different requirements on domain modes Ideay the ontoogies are moduarised to aow for easy extension Further chaenges from divergence between weaky couped communities 19/35
What can we earn from the Web? Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, was keen for websites to add semantic annotations Tim s origina hopes for web sites to mark up their data faied to get traction Microformats, a widey taked about aternative to RDFa, aso faied to get traction Web deveopers weren t getting enough benefits for the effort they invested Search engine vendors to the rescue! Simpe fat semantics documented on schema.org Instant benefit via how your website is presented in web search resuts showing a restaurant on Googe maps, aong with the opening times 20/35
Impications for the Web of Things We need a way to search for services based upon their names, human readabe descriptions and machine interpretabe semantic descriptions We need a way to compose services with the assurance that a given composition wi work as expected. This impies the need to check for semantic interoperabiity We need to ook after security* and privacy. End to end security necessitates shared assumptions in respect to trust modes, otherwise, patforms wi ony be abe to share data that is marked as pubicy accessibe Privacy and confidentiaity are about the agreements between consenting parties. This reates to privacy preferences, privacy poicies, sticky poicies that remain associated with data as it is passed through the network, the need to track provenance to ensure that data is handed in accordance with the agreement with the data owner, Service eve agreements, Machine readabe terms & conditions, Payments, and Automated negotiation. * In a genera sense, incuding integrity, safety and resiience 21/35
22 Web of Things Activity 22/35
Where Next? W3C Web of Things Activity W3C is chartering a Web of Things Working Group to standardise horizonta metadata vocabuaries This group is expected to aunch ater this year W3C Web of Things Interest Group is re-chartering Expected to boost its work on reaching out to industry aiances and SDOs Incuding Industrie4.0 Interoperabiity tests across patforms using open source impementations Further joint papers panned on security, privacy and requirements for open markets of services 23/35
W3C Web of Things Interest Group Workshop in Berin (June 2014) Launch of Web of Things IG in 2015 Chaired by Jörg Heuer, Siemens Task forces Thing descriptions APIs and protocos Discovery and provisioning Security, privacy and resiience Communications and coaboration Strong emphasis on impementation experience Demos and pug-fests Heps to buid a shared understanding Montrea Face to Face, 11-13 Apri 2016 24/35
Members of the Web of Things Interest Group 25/35
Joint White Paper on Semantic Interoperabiity Contributors are individuas from a range of industry aiances and standards deveopment organisations Editors from W3C, onem2m, IEEE P2413 Inspiration from many of the papers on semantic interoperabiity Iustrate the concept in terms of some use cases, aong with the requirements, and views on how to enabe semantic interoperabiity within and across IoT patforms Discuss best practices for ontoogy design and distinguish cross domain (horizonta) metadata and domain specific (vertica) metadata Once we have a stabe version we wi invite wider expert review and update the document accordingy We wi seek broad dissemination of the document and wi pubish under a Creative Commons License We hope that the deveopment process wi hep shape a common perspective across contributors and that the white paper wi infuence the agendas of working groups across the industry 26/35
Liaisons and Coaborations Reaching out to industry aiances and SDO s to drive convergence to uneash the potentia Pattform Industrie4.0 Especiay the semantics subgroup Industria Internet Consortium Open Connectivity Foundation OPC Foundation IETF/IRTF onem2m AIOTI AIOTI 27/35
Enabing Vertica and Horizonta Integration for Reaising the Potentia for Digita Automation W3C and OPC coaborating on enabing integration across patforms through metadata standards for semantic interoperabiity and end to end security Business Leve high eves of abstraction integration aong the suppy chain Web of Things integration aong the vaue chain* Things = Industrie 4.0 Components ow eves of abstraction Fied Leve Industrie 4.0 Assets *vaue chain the process or activities by which a company adds vaue to an artice, incuding design, production, marketing, and the provision of after saes service 28/35
Web of Things Working Group The Interest Group (IG) is working on Use cases, requirements, technoogy andscape and pans for aunching working groups (WG) IGs prepare the ground for standards but don t deveop standards WGs are chartered to deveop standards (W3C Recommendations) We re coecting ideas for a Working Group incuding Horizonta metadata vocabuaries (things, security, communications) Seriaisations of metadata, e.g., as JSON-LD APIs and bindings to specific protocos and patforms in coaboration with the patform owners Web of Things Working Group to be aunched in 2016 29/35
30 Web of Things What, why, how, actions 30/35
C-eve corporate decision makers 31 What is the probem to be addressed? Fragmentation of the IoT into many non-interoperabe patforms Why is it important? Soving this wi enabe exponentia growth as we saw with the Internet and the Web The network effect: Metcafe s aw How it is to be soved? Inter-patform standards that pay an anaogous roe to IP for connecting previousy incompatibe networks Decouping appications from protocos Enabing different patforms to interoperate Compementing, not competing, with patforms What action are we seeking? Commit to join W3C & assign staff to participate in Web of Things groups Ensure your company is in the driving seat for the open IoT 31/35
SDO s and Industry Aiances 32 What is the probem to be addressed? Difficuty of creating services spanning different patforms due to a ack of semantic interoperabiity and a miss match of assumptions around trust and security Why is it important? Soving this woud enabe exponentia growth in services ike we saw for IP and the Web How it is to be soved? Inter-patform standards defining an interingua for metadata, and shared assumptions in respect to end to end security across different patforms What action are we seeking? Active coaboration on integration with the Web of Things and aignment of marketing messages 32/35
Engineers and Deveopers 33 What is the probem to be addressed? Fragmentation of patforms and IoT technoogies, and high cost of integration with a piecemea approach Barriers for semantic interoperabiity and end to end security Why is it important? Simper, faster, more fexibe appication deveopment Leveraging existing services and communities in the Web ecosystem Be part of the next big thing, strong growth in job opportunities How it is to be soved? Open standards for Web based abstraction ayer, compementing existing patforms and standards, and enabing patforms to interoperate securey What action are we seeking? Joint work on experimenta impementations that expore what it means to integrate with the web of things hep to create evauation kits, and spread the word Joint work on white papers to forge a shared understanding across companies, aiances and SDOs 33/35
The Bottom Line The Web is essentia for reaizing the fu potentia of the IoT The Web provides a unifying framework for semantic interoperabiity The Web acts as a goba marketpace for suppiers and consumers of services 34/35
Work with us to buid the Web of Things! Thank you! For more information on W3C see: www.w3.org 35/35