Rethinking the Internet of Things: A Scalable Approach to Connecting Everything

Rethinking the Internet of Things: A Scalable Approach to Connecting Everything

by Francis daCosta
Released January 2014
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781430257400

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Book description

Over the next decade, most devices connected to the Internet will not be used by people in the familiar way that personal computers, tablets and smart phones are. Billions of interconnected devices will be monitoring the environment, transportation systems, factories, farms, forests, utilities, soil and weather conditions, oceans and resources.

Many of these sensors and actuators will be networked into autonomous sets, with much of the information being exchanged machine-to-machine directly and without human involvement. Machine-to-machine communications are typically terse. Most sensors and actuators will report or act upon small pieces of information - "chirps". Burdening these devices with current network protocol stacks is inefficient, unnecessary and unduly increases their cost of ownership.

This must change. The architecture of the Internet of Things must evolve now by incorporating simpler protocols toward at the edges of the network, or remain forever inefficient. Rethinking the Internet of Things describes reasons why we must rethink current approaches to the Internet of Things. Appropriate architectures that will coexist with existing networking protocols are described in detail. An architecture comprised of integrator functions, propagator nodes, and end devices, along with their interactions, is explored.

What you'll learn

  • Discusses the difference between the "normal" Internet and the Internet of Things.

  • Describes a new architecture and its components in the "chirp" context.

  • Explains the shortcomings of IP for IoT.

  • Describes the anatomy of the IoT.

  • Describes how to build a suitable network to maximize the amazing potential of the IoT.

    • Who this book is for

    Thought leaders, executives, architectural, standards and development leaders in the evolving IoT industry. Corporations and organizations whose commercial products could be adapted simply to be functioning devices on the IOT while saving billions of dollars in unnecessary costs or proprietary designs. Those who wish to capitalize on technology change and those interested in the Internet, its capabilities and the need to improve it.

    Table of contents

    1. Title Page
    2. About ApressOpen
    3. Dedication
    4. Contents at a Glance
    5. Contents
    6. About the Author
    7. About the Project Manager
    8. About the Technical Reviewer
    9. Acknowledgments
    10. Foreword
    11. Introduction
    12. CHAPTER 1: It’s Different Out Here
      1. Why the Internet of Things Requires a New Solution
      2. Economics and Technology of the Internet of Things
      3. Solving the IoT Dilemma
      4. Billions of Devices; Three Functional Levels
    13. CHAPTER 2: Anatomy of the Internet of Things
      1. Traditional Internet Protocols Aren’t the Solution for Much of the IoT
      2. It’s All Relative
      3. Applying Network Intelligence at Propagator Nodes
    14. CHAPTER 3: On the Edge
      1. A World of Different Devices
      2. Intended to be Untended: Some Examples of IoT Systems
      3. Meaning from Many
      4. Converting States to Chirps
      5. The Big Idea: “Small” Data
    15. CHAPTER 4: Building a Web of Things
      1. Versatility in Function and Form
      2. Autonomy and Coordination
      3. The Power of Bias and the Role of the Integrator Function
      4. Degrees of Functionality
      5. Aggregating End Points
      6. Packaging Options
      7. Building Blocks of the IoT
    16. CHAPTER 5: Small Data, Big Data, and Human Interaction
      1. The “Brains” of the IoT
      2. Analysis and Control
      3. Neighborhoods and Affinities
      4. Bias Bonus
      5. Human Interface and Control Points
      6. Packaging and Provisioning
      7. Filtering the Streams
      8. Accessing the Power of the Internet of Things
    17. CHAPTER 6: Architecture for the Frontier
      1. A Necessary Alternative to IP
      2. A Protocol Based on Category Classifications
      3. Skeletal Architecture of Chirp Packets
      4. Extensible, Nonunique, Pattern-driven
      5. Propagator Node Networks and Operation
      6. The Power of Local Agents and Integrator Functions
      7. Higher-level Interchange
      8. Managing Multiple Isochronous Relationships
      9. An Organic Solution for the IoT
    18. CHAPTER 7: Examples and Applications
      1. Controlling the Cacophony
      2. Staying in the Loop(s)
      3. All the World Is a Subscription
      4. Agriculture
      5. Home Health Care
      6. Safe and Efficient Process Control
      7. Better Perimeter Security and Surveillance
      8. Faster Factory Floors
      9. True Home Automation
      10. Wholesale and Retail: Beyond RFID
      11. A Broader “Net” in Natural Sciences
      12. Living Applications
    19. CHAPTER 8: Pathways to the Internet of Things
      1. Data Drives a Change
      2. The Ends are the Means
      3. Making a Mark
      4. Propagator Nodes Provide the “and”
      5. Open-Source Networking Solutions
      6. The Standards Conundrum
      7. OEM Leverage
      8. Call to Constituencies for the IoT
      9. Global Scope, Vast Numbers, Constant Adaptation, New Insights
    20. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Rethinking the Internet of Things: A Scalable Approach to Connecting Everything
    • Author(s): Francis daCosta
    • Release date: January 2014
    • Publisher(s): Apress
    • ISBN: 9781430257400