Internet of Things for Architects

Perry Lea, Parkash Karki

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781788470599
• eBook ISBN: 9781788475747
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Hardware
• Index: Computer Science

Publisher's note: This edition from 2018 is outdated and does not include edge computing. A new second edition, updated for edge computing and the messaging protocols like MQTT 5.0 and CoAP, has now been published.

Key Features

• Build a complete IoT system that is the best fit for your organization
• Learn about different concepts, technologies, and tradeoffs in the IoT architectural stack
• Understand the theory, concepts, and implementation of each element that comprises IoT design?from sensors to the cloud
• Implement best practices to ensure the reliability, scalability, robust communication systems, security, and data analysis in your IoT infrastructure

Book Description

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the fastest growing technology market. Industries are embracing IoT technologies to improve operational expenses, product life, and people's well-being. An architectural guide is necessary if you want to traverse the spectrum of technologies needed to build a successful IoT system, whether that's a single device or millions of devices.

This book encompasses the entire spectrum of IoT solutions, from sensors to the cloud. We start by examining modern sensor systems and focus on their power and functionality. After that, we dive deep into communication theory, paying close attention to near-range PAN, including the new Bluetooth® 5.0 specification and mesh networks. Then, we explore IP-based communication in LAN and WAN, including 802.11ah, 5G LTE cellular, Sigfox, and LoRaWAN. Next, we cover edge routing and gateways and their role in fog computing, as well as the messaging protocols of MQTT and CoAP.

With the data now in internet form, you'll get an understanding of cloud and fog architectures, including the OpenFog standards. We wrap up the analytics portion of the book with the application of statistical analysis, complex event processing, and deep learning models. Finally, we conclude by providing a holistic view of the IoT security stack and the anatomical details of IoT exploits while countering them with software defined perimeters and blockchains.

What you will learn

• Understand the role and scope of architecting a successful IoT deployment, from sensors to the cloud
• Scan the landscape of IoT technologies that span everything from sensors to the cloud and everything in between
• See the trade-offs in choices of protocols and communications in IoT deployments
• Build a repertoire of skills and the vernacular necessary to work in the IoT space
• Broaden your skills in multiple engineering domains necessary for the IoT architect

Who this book is for

This book is for architects, system designers, technologists, and technology managers who want to understand the IoT ecosphere, various technologies, and tradeoffs and develop a 50, 000-foot view of IoT architecture.

Long-Range Communication Systems and Protocols (WAN)

So far, we have discussed Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). These types of communication bridge the sensors to a local net but not necessarily the internet or other systems. We need to remember that the IoT ecosphere will include sensors, actuators, cameras, smart-embedded devices, vehicles, and robots in the remotest of places. For the long haul, we need to address the Wide Area Network (WAN).

This chapter covers the various WAN devices and topologies including cellular (4G-LTE and the upcoming 5G standard) as well as other proprietary systems including Long Range Radio (LoRa) and Sigfox. While this chapter will cover cellular and long-range communication systems from a data perspective, it will not focus on the analog and voice portions of mobile devices. Long-range communication is usually a service, meaning it has a subscription to a carrier providing cellular tower and infrastructure improvements. This is different to the previous WPAN and WLAN architectures as they are usually contained in a device that the customer or developer produces or resells. A subscription or service-level agreement (SLA) has another effect on the architecture and constraints of systems that need to be understood by the architect.

Cellular connectivity

The most prevalent communication form is cellular radio and specifically cellular data. While mobile communication devices, had existed for many years before cellular technology, they had limited coverage, shared frequency space, and were essentially two-way radios. Bell Labs built some trial mobile phone technologies in the 1940s (Mobile Telephone Service) and 1950s (Improved Mobile Telephone Service) but had very limited success. There were also no uniform standards for mobile telephony at the time. It wasn't until the cellular concept was devised by Douglas H. Ring and Rae Young in 1947 and then built by Richard H. Frenkiel, Joel S. Engel, and Philip T. Porter at Bell Labs in the 1960s that larger and robust mobile deployments could be realized. The handoff between cells was conceived and built by Amos E. Joel Jr. also of Bell Labs, which allowed for handoff when moving cellular devices. All these technologies combined to form the first cellular telephone system, first cellular phone, and the first cellular call made by Martin Cooper of Motorola on April 3, 1979. Following is an ideal cellular model where cells are represented as hexagonal areas of optimal placement.

Cellular Theory. The hexagonal pattern guarantees separation of frequencies from the nearest neighbors. No two similar frequencies are within one hex space from each other, as shown in the case of frequency A in two different regions. This allows for frequency reuse.

The technologies and proof of concept designs eventually led to the first commercial deployments and public acceptance of mobile telephone systems in 1979 by NTT in Japan, and then in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in 1981. The Americas didn't have a cell system until 1983. These first technologies are known as 1G, or the first generation of cellular technology. A primer for the generations and their features will be detailed next, however, the next section will specifically describe 4G-LTE as that is the modern standard for cellular communication and data. The following sections will describe other IoT and future cellular standards such as NB-IOT and 5G.

Governance models and standards

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a UN specialized agency and was founded in 1865; it took its present name in 1932, before becoming a specialized agency in the UN. It plays a significant role worldwide in wireless communication standards, navigation, mobile, internet, data, voice, and next-gen networks. It includes 193 member nations and 700 public and private organizations. It too has a number of working groups called sectors. The sector relevant to cellular standards is the Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). The ITU-R is the body that defines the international standards and goals for various generations of radio and cellular communication. These include reliability goals and minimum data rates.

The ITU-R has produced two fundamental specifications that have governed cellular communication in the last decade. The first was the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000), which specifies the requirements for a device to be marketed as 3G. More recently, the ITU-R produced a requirement specification called International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced). The IMT-Advanced system is based on an all-IP mobile broadband wireless system. The IMT-Advanced defines what can be marketed as 4G worldwide. The ITU was the group that approved of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology in the 3GPP roadmap to support the goals of 4G cellular communication in October of 2010. The ITU-R continues to drive the new requirements for 5G.

Examples of the ITU-Advanced set of requirements for a cellular system to be labeled 4G include:

• Must be an all-IP, packet-switched network
• Interoperable with existing wireless
• A nominal data rate of 100 Mbps when the client is moving and 1 GBps while the client is fixed
• Dynamically share and use network resources to support more than one user per cell
• Scalable channel bandwidth of 5 to 20 MHz
• Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks

The issue is that often the entire set of ITU goals are not met, and there exists naming and branding confusion:

Feature	1G	2/2.5G	3G	4G	5G
First Availability	1979	1999	2002	2010	2020
ITU-R Specification	NA	NA	IMT-2000	IMT-Advanced	IMT-2020
ITU-R F...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright and Credits
• Packt Upsell
• Contributors
• Preface
• The IoT Story
• IoT Architecture and Core IoT Modules
• Sensors, Endpoints, and Power Systems
• Communications and Information Theory
• Non-IP Based WPAN
• IP-Based WPAN and WLAN
• Long-Range Communication Systems and Protocols (WAN)
• Routers and Gateways
• IoT Edge to Cloud Protocols
• Cloud and Fog Topologies
• Data Analytics and Machine Learning in the Cloud and in the Fog
• IoT Security
• Consortiums and Communities
• Other Books You May Enjoy