Architecting and Deploying IoT Smart Applications: A Performance-Oriented Approach.

Ivan Zyrianoff,Alexandre Heideker,Dener Silva,Juha-Pekka Soininen,Carlos Kamienski,Tullio Salmon Cinotti,João Kleinschmidt

doi:10.3390/s20010084

Abstract

Layered internet of things (IoT) architectures have been proposed over the last years as they facilitate understanding the roles of different networking, hardware, and software components of smart applications. These are inherently distributed, spanning from devices installed in the field up to a cloud datacenter and further to a user smartphone, passing by intermediary stages at different levels of fog computing infrastructure. However, IoT architectures provide almost no hints on where components should be deployed. IoT Software Platforms derived from the layered architectures are expected to adapt to scenarios with different characteristics, requirements, and constraints from stakeholders and applications. In such a complex environment, a one-size-fits-all approach does not adapt well to varying demands and may hinder the adoption of IoT Smart Applications. In this paper, we propose a 5-layer IoT Architecture and a 5-stage IoT Computing Continuum, as well as provide insights on the mapping of software components of the former into physical locations of the latter. Also, we conduct a performance analysis study with six configurations where components are deployed into different stages. Our results show that different deployment configurations of layered components into staged locations generate bottlenecks that affect system performance and scalability. Based on that, policies for static deployment and dynamic migration of layered components into staged locations can be identified.

Highlights

The internet of things (IoT) has been creating a whole new demand for system architectures, infrastructure and platform deployment approaches, in order to fulfill the requirements of a new breed of highly distributed smart applications
We believe that our concepts related to architecting and deploying IoT smart applications, together with the practical performance analysis results, increased the understanding and awareness involved in the development and operation of a new breed of IoT-enabled systems
Our experiments revealed that FIWARE general enablers—in their current version—are not designed for higher workload applications, which is a paradox because IoT Platforms should be intrinsically able to deal with thousands or millions of sensors simultaneously

Summary

Introduction

The internet of things (IoT) has been creating a whole new demand for system architectures, infrastructure and platform deployment approaches, in order to fulfill the requirements of a new breed of highly distributed smart applications. The reason behind the growing interest in IoT architecture is that a complete solution for IoT smart applications requires different software, hardware, and communication technologies working together and integrating a variety of platforms, components, services, and applications. IoT smart applications require careful consideration and new concepts to be developed as they are inherently distributed, spanning from sensors and actuators in the field up to a cloud datacenter and further to a user smartphone, passing by intermediary stages at different levels of fog computing infrastructure. Layered architectures are critical structures in computer networks and distributed systems as they facilitate the understanding of roles, locations, and levels of abstraction of different networking, hardware, and software components. Soon, a 5-layer architecture was proposed to deal with the rapid development of

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