Abstract
This article addresses one of the main challenges related to the practical deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions: the coordinated operation of entities at different infrastructures to support the automated orchestration of end-to-end Internet of Things services. This idea is referred to as “Internet of Things slicing” and is based on the network slicing concept already defined for the Fifth Generation (5G) of mobile networks. In this context, we present the architectural design of a slice orchestrator addressing the aforementioned challenge, based on well-known standard technologies and protocols. The proposed solution is able to integrate existing technologies, like cloud computing, with other more recent technologies like edge computing and network slicing. In addition, a functional prototype of the proposed orchestrator has been implemented, using open-source software and microservice platforms. As a first step to prove the practical feasibility of our solution, the implementation of the orchestrator considers cloud and edge domains. The validation results obtained from the prototype prove the feasibility of the solution from a functional perspective, verifying its capacity to deploy Internet of Things related functions even on resource constrained platforms. This approach enables new application models where these Internet of Things related functions can be onboarded on small unmanned aerial vehicles, offering a flexible and cost-effective solution to deploy these functions at the network edge. In addition, this proposal can also be used on commercial cloud platforms, like the Google Compute Engine, showing that it can take advantage of the benefits of edge and cloud computing respectively.
Highlights
According to the IoT Analytics market update published in August 2018 [1], the number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices by the end of 2018 was expected to be around 7 million, and the expected number of IoT devices in 2025 would be around 21.5 million, exceeding the number of non-IoT devices.Forbes [2] estimates that the revenue growth in IoT will double by 2025 compared to 2017 revenues, endorsing the idea of how promising the IoT market will be in the coming future
This section will cover previous research that has been used as the main reference work for this article, and that is related to the topics of our research
For latency calculation the time between the reading taken at the IoT gateway and the reading taken in the IoT server will be compared for the same temperature measurement for each slice
Summary
According to the IoT Analytics market update published in August 2018 [1], the number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices by the end of 2018 was expected to be around 7 million, and the expected number of IoT devices in 2025 would be around 21.5 million, exceeding the number of non-IoT devices. 5G networks, which are today under development, are designed and planned to cover IoT heterogeneity In relation to this variety of use cases introduced by IoT, a relevant characteristic of the existing commercial IoT platforms is the potential latency introduced by their main components executed in the cloud. For this reason, it is crucial to offer the possibility to execute distinct IoT functions (e.g., gateways, databases, or analytics servers) in different locations of the network, depending on the requirements of the use case under consideration. The Global System for Mobile communications Association (GSMA) [3], one of the most relevant organizations representing the mobile network operator industry, defines a network slice as an “independent end-to-end logical network that runs on a shared physical infrastructure, capable of providing an agreed service quality” and it can be used “to serve a defined business purpose of a customer”
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