Choices for interaction with things on Internet and underlying issues

Abstract

Currently, a large number of smart objects and different types of devices are interconnected and communicate via Internet Protocol that creates a worldwide ubiquitous and pervasive network called the Internet of Things (IoT). With an increase in the deployment of smart objects, IoT is expected to have a significant impact on human life in the near future. A majorbreakthrough in bridging the gap between virtual and physical worlds came from the vision of the Web of Things (WoT), which employs open Web standards in achieving information sharing and objects interoperability. Social Web of Things (SWoT) further extends WoT to integrate smart objects with social networks and is observed to not only bridge between physical and virtual worlds but also facilitate continued interaction between physical devices and human. This makes SWoT the most promising approach and has now become an active research area.This survey introduces necessary background and fundamentals to understand current efforts in IoT, WoT and SWoT by reviewing key enabling technologies. These efforts are investigated in detail from several different perspectives such as architecture design, middleware, platform, systems implementation, and application in hand. Moreover, a large number of platforms and applications are analyzed and evaluated from various alternatives have become popular during the past decade. Finally, we address associated challenges and highlight potential research to be perused in future.